4 Cardinals players who will make the Opening Day cut but remain on the roster bubble

Alec Burleson

Similar to Liberatore, Alec Burleson enters the 2025 campaign bouncing between roles. The lefty put together a solid first half of the season before playing himself into a limited platoon role for the final two months. The announcement of Paul Goldschmidt's mutual departure at the end of the year opened up an audition for Burleson to fill the vacancy, but Willson Contreras' unwillingness to waive his no-trade clause paired with a move to first base, Burleson now finds himself in a competition for at-bats.

While he has shown the ability to put the ball in play at an elite level, his defensive limitations in the outfield may prevent him from entering the outfield conversation full-time. Walker is guaranteed playing time as he continues to improve his defense and offensive approach at the plate and Lars Nootbaar is an option in center or left but is also penciled in for a starting spot. The wild card in the outfield lies with Brendan Donovan and the Cardinals' current holding pattern with Arenado. If the incumbent third baseman were to be traded, Donovan would fill a starting infield position with Gorman and open up a spot in the grass. As the roster is currently structured, though, Burleson is the odd man out of multiple spots.

The lefty knocked 21 home runs last year, but only four of those came during the second half of the season and he saw a drastic fall off in his production. Burleson's power potential may cap out at the 25 homer mark and he has struggled in his limited pinch-hitting opportunities. As is true with most players, he performed best when given more consistent playing time but that may be tough to come by. If he is unable to prove his value in his couple of starts a week or in late game appearances off the bench, the Cardinals could opt to send him down to Memphis for starter's playing time and to concentrate on one position.

Burleson enters the 2025 season with over two years of service time and is only 26 years old, so his age and major league experience could make him an attractive trade target for teams in need of a lefty bat. On the other end of poor performance, if the lefty were to receive an extended opportunity and break out offensively, the Cardinals could field trade offers from what they see may be a position of depth in the organization.