St. Louis Cardinals: Four position battles to watch this spring

The St. Louis Cardinals have the majority of the 26-man roster locked in place. However, there are still a few roles that are up for grabs this spring.

On Sunday, St. Louis Cardinals fans were treated to their first look at Nolan Arenado on the field in a real game. The first game of 24 this spring might’ve ended with a tie, but seeing a lineup that would be realistic for Opening Day (with a DH) was a great sight to see.

On paper, adding Nolan Arenado to the team makes a lot of things simpler. No longer are the Cardinals going to have to lean on Matt Carpenter to bounce back at third base and hope that nobody gets hurt. No longer are the Cardinals searching for someone to step up and be a middle-of-the-order complement to Paul Goldschmidt.

On paper, the Cardinals are clear favorites to win the NL Central. With Arenado, this spring got both more exciting and more boring. It’s going to be fun to begin the hopefully long tenure of Arenado at third, but there won’t be much drama in terms of high-impact position battles.

However, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be position battles at all. Let’s take a look at the positions to watch this spring.

5th starter

Like left field, there is an easy choice for who should be able to earn the team’s 5th starter job. Behind Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas, Adam Wainwright, and Kwang Hyun Kim, the job should go to Carlos Martinez. However, that isn’t guaranteed this year after years of inconsistency from the righty.

Coming into spring, the group competing for the role is Martinez, Alex Reyes, John Gant, and Daniel Ponce de Leon, with the possibility of the role going to another young guy like Genesis Cabrera or Zach Thompson.

Looking at this list, separating the odds is pretty easy. Martinez has the best shot, with Reyes and Gant next and then everyone else. For Carlos Martinez, if he just keeps pitching like he’s done over the winter in the Dominican Republic, he’ll be an easy choice.

However, if injuries happen or Martinez looks off, there is a real possibility that a new name could find its way into the Cardinals’ rotation.

Third Base

Just kidding.

Second Base

When the St. Louis Cardinals let Kolten Wong walk at the end of the 2020 season, they committed to Tommy Edman as the second baseman at that point. However, the team also didn’t have such a set-in-stone option at third base.

Now, with third base covered, the Cardinals haven’t addressed second base since the start of spring. While Edman is still the top option, Matt Carpenter is a man without a position and is refusing to admit that he’s a part-time player yet. Fans all know Carpenter very well and should not be surprised by this.

Regardless of the fact that Carp’s last two seasons don’t warrant him anything but a bench spot, Carpenter will no doubt be putting in a ton of work to try and earn a starting job. Carpenter won’t be starting without earning it, so if he does earn a spot then even better.

With Carpenter in his last season under contract, the team has no reason to play him without earning it. If he ends up starting at second, Edman makes a fine option for a utility fielder or maybe another corner outfielder.

Bench Battles

For each winner of these positional battles, there has to be a loser. When it comes to the bench, the best collection of the losers will stick with the team. Assuming a five-man bench, the best guess for the bench right now would consist of Matt Carpenter, Lane Thomas, Justin Williams, Edmundo Sosa, and Andrew Knziner.

This is the guess at the start of spring. At the end of spring training, things could be very different. For one, the Cardinals haven’t talked specifics about their plans for Andrew Knizner. Having brought in Ali Sanchez and Tyler Heineman, either one of them could serve as backups to Yadier Molina if the Cards want Knizner to play regularly at AAA.

More from St Louis Cardinals News

• Cardinals Rumors: 3 pros and cons of signing Carlos Rodon
• Cardinals: Here is Willson Contreras’ first message for St. Louis fans
• How do the St. Louis Cardinals stack up with Willson Contreras?
• Cardinals: The insane asking price the Athletics had for Sean Murphy
• St. Louis Cardinals: Ask me anything with Josh Jacobs – 12/8

Edmundo Sosa is the first in line for the utility infielder role because he’s on the 40-man already, but Max Moroff, Jose Rondon, and maybe even Kramer Robertson could play their way onto the team.

While Carpenter (if on the bench) is a good fill-in at first base and for the top pinch hitter, the team won’t be married to the idea of having five outfielders on the active roster. John Nogowski is one player that the team seems to like a lot. He’s on the 40-man and has taken the Rangel Ravelo role.

Nogowski is interesting because while he’s limited to a corner outfield spot or first base, his contact-first approach is something the team might want on the bench over someone like Justin Williams.

Like everything else, the bench will work itself out but it’ll be fun to watch the fringe guys battle for a spot in the shortened spring

Not having drama in spring training is never a bad thing. The Cardinals are set up in most places and where they aren’t, they’ve got plenty of options.