5 burning questions as the Cardinals enter spring training

The St. Louis Cardinals are flocking to Jupiter, Florida, over the next few days. Isn’t that a great sentence to read? The Super Bowl is over (what a snooze fest), and so baseball season is upon us. The 2026 season is likely to be one that Cardinals fans have not seen in a generation — some projection systems see it as the worst season ever. Yikes. Move over, Rockies fans. While I’d love one more top draft pick to really round out the high-end talent in the farm system, I don’t want to watch that brand of baseball, and I’m not yet convinced we’re going to be that bad.

So, let’s review five burning questions for this Cardinals team as it stands on the precipice of the unknown. Hopefully we don’t get booted into the bottomless pit Leonidas style in 300, but these questions do matter even if the team is not what we’re accustomed to seeing.

Are Cardinals fans really on board?

Ah yes, the best fans in baseball. What started as an endearing moniker has become a millstone hanging about the necks of the fan base. We’re doomed either way. When the Cardinals are consistently successful, the nation treats us as Stepford wives with ridiculous smiles plastered on our faces. When the team takes a step back in its performance and the stands reflect it, opposing announcers and national voices have the gall to question our loyalty. (I mean, Reds announcers, come on give me a break. You’re the Reds!)

The 21st century has been quite good to Cardinals fans. Which raises the question: What happens when this team isn’t good? Do the fans come out to support a scrappy, “youngry” team with the hope of getting in on the ground floor or the return to an exciting product? Or does the attendance take a hit of Old Testament Egyptian plague proportions and the fanbase finds its collective inner Marlins fans?

I’m going to express some cautious optimism here. Despite the national drooling on the “best fans in baseball,” this fanbase is smart. I’m leaning towards people appreciating the front office being honest about where we’re at and what needs to actually happen in a presidential administration, and that people will be willing to see this young team through some lean times. I do think Cardinals fans are loyal, but this is an overlooked burning question because it’s been veritable eons since it needed to be asked.

Whither JJ Wetherholt?

Jonathan David Wetherholt (JJ is a family nickname) has the makings of a star. For the fans bummed out by the departure of Confederate-general-look-alike Brendan Donovan, Wetherholt is the ready-made replacement with a much higher ceiling. This is not your Dylan Carlson/Jordan Walker/Alex Reyes type of transformative prospect. Wetherholt is going to have a long career in the big leagues as an above-average player. I’m very high on him, but if you put the over/under for All-Star appearances at 4.5, I’m taking the over.

I think he’s ready, he definitely thinks he’s ready (I’m probably not the right age to be judging swag, but the guy has it in droves. I love it), Chaim Bloom, given truth serum, thinks he’s ready — and we still might not see him on opening day. Do they want to start the free agent clock on a Faberge egg, or will he need to work on some “defensive postures” or “get additional time against lefties”? 

Don’t sell me the bill of goods about “how his spring training goes.” I’ve got news for everyone: Spring training doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. It’s so great to see the guys back on the field, but that’s the only thing it’s good for. Why would a smart franchise like the Cardinals make franchise-level decisions based on a handful of games, half of which are played by prospects with numbers but no names on their jerseys? Bring JJ to St. Louis on Opening Day, Chaim! And while I’m dishing out advice, Oli bats him leadoff.

Umm, what about the outfield?

Are we positive the Cardinals have three healthy outfielders? Despite the down season last year, I remain a committed Lars Nootbaar booster. Maybe he never really puts it all together, but he is a Statcast darling, and I haven’t given up hope on him yet. That said, he had very invasive heel surgery this offseason, and former MLB.com writer John Denton was spotted on Twitter saying it’s a nine-month recovery time. Based on past injuries, Noot does not appear to be a particularly quick healer, so what gives? We’re used to this team holding medical information like redacted docs in the Epstein files (Whew, that was a real third-rail reference, huh? Everybody breathe. We’re all right.) But am I wrong for hoping for more transparency in the Bloom era?

What we do know is that Victor Scott II, winner of many watch-out-for-this-guy offseason plaudits and Jordan Walker (read how I think he can be fixed here), are ready to rock. Now, whether that tandem can hit is also forbidden knowledge somewhere in the Epstein files. (I mean, why not do it twice?) But they are ready to play.

If Noot can’t go? In that famous Jurassic Park line, “Hold on to your butts.” John Denton, in the same interview, cited Josh Baez as a name to watch. That would be quite a come-up for a guy who has never played above AA. He scorched AA last year and landed himself on top 100 prospect lists galore, but whew, that was a doozy of a name drop. I’d be surprised if that happened — but I'm here for it.

Who’s really in the rotation?

This seems more up in the air to me than your family trying to pick a dinner spot. Who’s in? Dustin May, Matthew Liberatore, and Michael McGreevy are surefire locks. That leaves Andre Pallante, Hunter Dobbins, Richard Fitts, and bullpen convert Kyle Leahy as potential options, with Quinn Mathews and Tink Hence waiting somewhere in the wings. 

That’s a lot of names, and while some of them inspire as much confidence as the rides at a local fair (you know, the ones held together with duct tape and chewing gum being run by a kid watching TikToks nonstop), there are more legitimate options for a rotation than I can remember in a long time.

If you peek a little further down the road past this year, I wouldn’t be shocked at all to have nearly all those guys swept out of the rotation by a coterie of young strikeout arms electrifying the minors on their march to St. Louis. But, for this year, I do believe we have an old-fashioned roster competition on our hands. It could go a lot of ways, and that’s interesting if nothing else.

How much does Ivan Herrera actually catch?

Let me go on the record here. Ivan Herrera’s bat is the single best tool on the Cardinals roster — at least until Wetherholt surfaces in St. Louis, and maybe even then. He was the only Cardinal mentioned in MLB’s top 100 players. He’s the best we’ve got. The big question moving forward is whether that bat is a lineup anchor or a lineup augmenter. There’s a legitimate chance that the bat is a lineup anchor, and that’s massively exciting.

Which raises the question: Is catcher really the best place to play him? I know you’re thinking about his defense, and that’s a legitimate concern, but I’m thinking about the bat. I’m aware Yadi played seemingly every single inning of the last half-century, but that type of longevity isn’t common in this position. Bloom has stated that Herrera will catch, and took a veiled swipe at Mo in saying that he was never set up for success behind the plate — but I’m still not sure sacrificing at-bats from our best hitter when DH is sitting right there is the best course of action. So I’ll be watching closely to see just how much he’s behind the plate this spring.

Are the Cardinals going to win 100 games this year? Nope. Are they going to achieve at the level that we’ve grown accustomed to? Probably not. But this is our team, and these questions matter to the fanbase, and that’s good enough to keep me paying attention this spring.