3 Cardinals who won't be on the roster by July 1

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As things continue to slide for the 30-43 St. Louis Cardinals, a whole lot of roster reconstruction may be on the horizon. Entering the day, the last place Cardinals have a 15 percent chance of making the playoffs per FanGraphs, a number that hurts more and more by the day.

With the trade deadline looming and the Cards being one of many teams to be on the fence about what their stance is at the deadline, there could be many, many moving parts on this roster in the coming weeks.

While looking at the active roster, one can quickly identify which players will not be going anywhere, but there are a few candidates with futures much less certain. Even though the deadline is not officially until the end of July, there could be pieces beginning to move around the league at virtually any moment.

Let's identify 3 Cardinals players who won't be on the roster by July 1.

Óscar Mercado

Starting with the low-hanging fruit, Oscar Mercado has swung a decent bat through his first 17 games on the Cardinals, but he does not feel like a player who is long for the roster.

The 28-year-old has bounced around a bit after spending the first four years of his big league career in the Cleveland Guardians organization. After signing a minor league contract with the Cardinals in November of 2022, he began the current campaign in Triple-A Memphis and swung the bat well.

In 34 games, he hit a pair of home runs, drove in 12, stole 15 bases, and had a .278 average paired with a .782 OPS. These numbers, paired with some injuries arising to other members of the outfield, forced the team to select Mercado's contract.

For as long as Mercado is on the active roster, three of the four bench spots are occupied by players who strictly play the outfield. Point blank, he needs to spend time in Triple-A while more flexible options occupy bench spots on the 26-man active roster.

Tyler O'Neill

Nowadays it feels like you can't write "players who are good as gone" pieces without including one of the most controversial players on the Cardinals' roster this year. After fighting through public issues with his manager and enduring a down year at the plate, Tyler O'Neill still feels like a strong candidate to be moved on from in the near future.

Currently on the injured list thanks to a nasty lower back strain, O'Neill could very well have already played his last game as a Cardinal.

In 29 games so far this year, the 28-year-old has a pair of home runs with six runs batted in, striking out 34 times while walking just seven times. In that time, he managed to post a batting average of just .228 and an OPS of .620, both are way off from his career norms. In his absence, a mixture of Jordan Walker, Tommy Edman, Lars Nootbaar, and Dylan Carlson has filled in on offense, so there just doesn't seem to be a solid spot reserved for O'Neill anymore.

While he's experiencing a down year at the plate, O'Neill is still under team control through next season, which will add to his value. Not to mention the fact that he is just two years removed from hitting 34 home runs with 80 RBI and a 148 OPS+.

At some point, he's just going to become more of a liability than an asset, and many believe that this is already the case. There feels like a strong possibility that he will be wearing a new uniform once the trade deadline rolls around. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Alec Burleson

Alec Burleson is one of the three outfielders that currently ride the bench for these Cardinals. Even if that wasn't a weird roster crunch that the club can't possibly stick with forever, there's no reason one of your top prospects should spend the majority of his time sitting on the bench.

Burleson, 24, has some serious pop in his bat and has regularly hit for a high average throughout his minor league career as well. He has made it into just 51 games so far this season and has yet to show much of this offensive prowess that he showed in the high minors, but this could be because he is not being utilized properly.

If the sweet-swinging lefty could spend more time in Triple-A, he could either audition for an expanded role at the big league level or even for another team. If the Cardinals can find a way to get hot and make up some ground in the NL Central, there will be a ton of teams interested in bringing Burleson aboard, and ones that can put him in their everyday starting lineup at that.

Through these 51 games, Burleson has five home runs, 15 runs batted in, a .219 average, and a .647 OPS. He still has displayed an impressive eye at the plate, but he has so much more value to offer than just someone who can draw a bunch of walks.

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As is usually the case for a promising prospect, Burleson should not be on the big league roster just to collect big league service time. He should be playing every day and for as long as that is not a possibility for the Cardinals, he should stay down in Triple-A and continue to rake.

Next. 5 difficult roster decisions the Cardinals must make. 5 difficult roster decisions the Cardinals must make. dark

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Let's identify 3 Cardinals players who won't be on the roster by July 1.

Óscar Mercado

Tyler O'Neill

Alec Burleson

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