Predicting the Cardinals roster, lineups and pitching staff 3 months from Opening Day

Bullpen

(8) - Ryan Helsley, Giovanny Gallegos, JoJo Romero, free-agent signing, Zack Thompson, Ryan Fernandez, Andre Pallante, and Nick Robertson

The bullpen group, like most years, is the most difficult bunch to predict heading into the season. There are probably 15 or so names who have a good chance of making the bullpen to start the year, and honestly, there's still an addition or two that needs to be made.

While I decided not to project a rotation addition in this, I did predict a bullpen arm being added through free agency, as it's been reported time and time again that it's their intention to add at least one more high-leverage arm to the mix.

That new arm or arms, paired with Helsley, Gallegos, and Romero, would take the bulk of the high-leverage situations late in games. But what I really like about the additions of Fernandez, Robertson, or even a guy like Riley O'Brien that I don't have making the roster initially is all three of them have really interesting arsenals out of the bullpen. Any of those three guys, or even a Wilking Rodriguez or Guillermo Zuniga, could grab larger roles later in the year.

Fernandez is a Rule 5 pick, so barring injury or just being bad, he's making the roster. With so many of these arms having multiple options though, we'll likely see a mix of them at various points.

Just missed - John King, Riley O'Brien, Wilking Rodriguez, and Guillermo Zuniga