Five St. Louis Cardinals who may not be on the roster by the end of the 2023 season

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With as much depth as the Cardinals currently have, it would not be surprising to see these five names gone by the end of the season

The St. Louis Cardinals enter Spring Training as one of the highest-upside teams in the National League. On paper, they should easily win the National League Central, but also have the potential to have one of the best lineups in all of baseball. Pair that with a pitching staff that, while not flashy, should get the job done throughout the year, they could surprise a lot of people.

With that being said, there are still needs on this roster they will likely want to address to become true World Series contenders, as well as some players who have question marks surrounding their future with the club. While I do not necessarily think there will be major turnover across the roster during the season, I would be very surprised if we did not see the club make a major acquisition, and see some key pieces be involved in those moves.

John Mozeliak hinted at this when discussing the allocation of resources, referring to both finances and the team's young assets.

"We could have spent more, but we are not just going to spend to spend. My guess is, by the season’s end, it will probably be spent."
John Mozeliak

Roster changes will likely be made in regard to player performance as well. The Cardinals' have young players in all phases of the game who are ready to get their shot in St. Louis, which will come at the expense of players already on the roster - who may never see playing time with the Cardinals' again after that change is made.

Here are five different players who we may not see on the St. Louis Cardinals' roster by the end of the 2023 season.

Paul DeJong

As I mentioned earlier, this list will be comprised of some valuable names who may find themselves in trade packages, as well as players whose performance just does not justify a roster spot any longer. Paul DeJong could end up being the latter.

There has been so much chatter this off-season about the changes that DeJong has made to his swing to bounce back from a rough two years. What I have found most shocking during these discussions is how open the Cardinals have been about DeJong's reluctance to change prior to this off-season. That may indicate that these changes he is making are not just minor adjustments but a legitimate overhaul of what he does.

Regardless, DeJong has lost a ton of trust within the Cardinals' organization, and if he does not perform to begin 2023, I don't see how they'll allow him to remain on the roster very long.

The 2022 season was downright awful for the Cardinals' shortstop, slashing .157/.245/.286 with 6 HR and 25 RBI in 77 games for the club. After a long demotion to Triple-A Memphis, DeJong came back with a hot back for a few weeks but then fell right back into being unplayable for St. Louis. Even if he can just bounce back a bit, he'll likely be able to manage a backup role on the club. But if it's more of the same from DeJong in 2023, he'll be off the roster rather quickly.

Who could fill his spot internally should he be let go? Masyn Winn is a season away from being Major League ready, so barring a massive step forward from him, names like Jose Fermin, Kramer Robertson, or Taylor Motter could factor in, or someone from outside the organization.

Genesis Cabrera

After becoming one of the Cardinals' go-to arms in 2021, Genesis Cabrera was unable to remain on the Major League roster by the end of the season after losing his feel for his stuff and imploding down the stretch.

After pitching really well in the first half of the season, posting a 2.60 ERA in 34.2 innings of work, he only managed to appear in 10 games during the second half, with an 11.70 ERA and awful 2.00 WHIP.

While his mid-season injury likely played a role in his struggle, he did see diminished velocity and an increase in home runs that is a bit alarming going into 2023. With the Cardinals not going out and acquiring any veteran left-handed bullpen options to this point, they are likely hoping to see a big bounceback from Cabrera this season. If those struggles do continue though, I'd expect the Cardinals to option, release, or trade Cabrera, and rely on a number of young arms who are looking to establish themselves in the Cardinals bullpen.

Again, this is not predicting he will be gone, but based on last season, he is one of the guys on the Cardinals' roster whose spot appears to be in flux until proven otherwise.

Tyler O'Neill

You probably won't find a bigger fan of Tyler O'Neill than me. But it pains me to say that he could end up being the outfielder the Cardinals part with by August 1st.

After finishing top-10 in MVP voting in 2021 and taking the league by storm with his powerful bat and elite defense, injuries saw O'Neill take a major step back at the plate and he was nowhere near the same player that he was the year prior. While I am a part of the crew that believes O'Neill will bounce back in a big way in 2023, should he not be one of the best Cardinal outfielders this season, he likely will be shipped somewhere else.

Why would I think that? First, the Cardinals have an abundance of options for their outfield, including the likes of Lars Nootbaar, Jordan Walker, Dylan Carlson, Alec Burleson, Moises Gomez, and even other options in the minors who could factor in here really soon. Second, O'Neill is set to be a free agent after 2024, meaning long-term, it makes sense to commit to their other outfielders.

If O'Neill looks like his 2021 self, or even something close to it, I doubt the Cardinals would move on from him. That kind of bat in the middle of your order makes you elite, and they'd rather risk him walking after 2024 than give up that level of a player.

But should O'Neill bounce back but not separate himself from the other Cardinal outfielders, he could be one piece of the package to acquire a front-line starter come July.

Matthew Liberatore

Matthew Liberatore is one of the most polarizing prospects that the Cardinals have in their organization. Once heralded as a front-line starter, it is becoming clear that his ceiling is middle-of-the-rotation at best. That does not make Liberatore a bad pitcher. In fact, he could be very useful for the Cardinals moving forward.

The question becomes though - is he better used within the Cardinals' organization or elsewhere? St. Louis has five starters already for 2023, a swingman in Dakota Hudson, and will likely look to add pitching from outside the organization as well. Couple that with other young arms such as Gordon Graceffo, Michael McGreevy, Connor Thomas, and eventually guys like Tink Hence and Connor Hjerpe looking for a shot, and Liberatore's place in the organization seems really muddy.

We need to remember that Liberatore is just 23 years old and that he still has plenty of time to develop for St. Louis. His fastball velocity did drop in 2022 and the pitch as a whole is a major issue for him at the moment, but getting back on track in 2023 should not be ruled out by any means.

Even so, does that just increase the likelihood that he joins other Cardinals' in any potential deals this summer? Should the Cardinals make a splash move, Liberatore would be a quality piece to include, and based off the club's other options, it probably wouldn't hurt them much to part with him.

With four of the five projected starters in 2023 set to be free agents, the Cardinals may want to hold onto Liberatore anyways, to give them as many arms as possible to compete for a rotation spot in 2024, but if there was an odd man out right now, he could be that guy.

Andrew Knizner

I talked about this a few days ago, but the more I look at the Cardinals' current catching situation, the more I think Andrew Knizner may be off the Cardinals' roster before the end of 2023.

Knizner just turned 28 and is coming off a pretty disappointing 2022 season where he failed to show why the Cardinals should trust him with playing time behind the plate long-term. Ivan Herrera is right around the corner and still figures to be a valuable big-league catcher, leaving a lot of room to question how Knizner would fit in with the Cardinals' plans.

He is also arbitration eligible in 2024, meaning he'll become a little bit more expensive to have around next season. If Knizner would like to remain on the roster, he'll need to improve both his defense behind the plate and his career .579 OPS at the plate.

I would bet Knizner is replaced by Herrera at some point this season, and we see Knizner as a part of another organization by the season's end.

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