Cardinals Opening Day roster projection with 3 weeks remaining in spring training

The St. Louis Cardinals open up the regular season by hosting the Minnesota Twins at Busch Stadium in just 23 days, and as camp continues to press on, the Cardinals are going to need to make some key decisions regarding their Opening Day roster in the near future.

The club has begun demoting some prospects like Quinn Mathews and Chase Davis recently to trim down the big league camp size, meaning more and more opportunities are going to guys who may have a chance to crack the roster to start the season. There is still plenty of time for players to shine in front of the coaching staff or play themselves out of a roster spot, and injuries have now started to become a storyline as well.

I made my "way-too-early" Opening Day roster prediction prior to spring training beginning, and today I wanted to give an updated projection as things currently stand.

The roster categories I will be predicting are the catcher, infield, outfield, utility, rotation, bullpen, and lineups vs. RHP and LHP

Catcher (2) - Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages

Just missed: Jimmy Crooks and Gavin Collins

No surprises here, and barring an injury to Ivan Herrera or Pedro Pages, there is no reason to expect any other duo handling catching duties for the Cardinals come Opening Day.

The only real question at this point is who will be the "primary" catcher, or the club will end up leaning toward a 50/50 split? Herrera offers far more upside as a player due to his ability to do damage at the plate, but the Cardinals clearly favor Pages' ability behind the plate over Herrera's.

Gone are the days where a catcher is going to be behind the plate 140+ times like Yadier Molina, but the Cardinals would be wise to favor the split toward Herrera as much as possible, especially early in the season with a likely veteran-led pitching staff. If the Cardinals had a bunch of young arms on the mound, it may be worth considering who is calling those games, but for now, there is no reason for Herrera not to be the guy most days.

Pages is a quality back up though, and I do not anticipate him or Herrera losing their jobs this season barring an injury, even with Jimmy Crooks getting closer to an MLB debut.