Predicting who makes St. Louis Cardinals Opening Day as Spring Training begins

In an offseason in which the St. Louis Cardinals acquired 13 new players, one would assume that there are plenty of opportunities for competition on the roster. Quite the opposite is true in fact. Through these acquisitions, the team has gained clarity on which players will fill out the Cardinals' illustrious 26-man roster.

The vast majority of these spots are pre-determined and guaranteed. In fact, only the bullpen and final bench spot are truly up for grabs, and even those are virtually penciled in already. John Mozeliak added starting pitchers, cleared up logjams, and beefed up a bullpen that was desperate for some high-leverage assistance.

I will attempt (probably unsuccessfully) to predict the team's Opening Day 26-man roster for the 2024 season. Once again, most of these spots are set in stone, but those final few spots are where I'll add my personal opinion. Redbird Rants' own Josh Jacobs tackled this task back in late December, but a handful of additions have been made since then, so I'll take those into account.

Rotation (5) -- Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, and Steven Matz

Let's start with the most surefire position: the starting pitchers. After signing Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and Sonny Gray all before the calendar was flipped to December, Mo completed the rotation very quickly this offseason.

Sonny Gray is the presumptive ace, and deservedly so. Behind him, we are likely to see some configuration of Miles Mikolas, Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, and Steven Matz. In my opinion (and site editor Josh Jacobs's opinion), Steven Matz has the highest ceiling out of these four. Mikolas, Gibson, and Lynn are locks to pitch greater than 170 innings, and if Mikolas can return to his pre-2023 form, St. Louis's rotation may not be so bad after all.

Zach Thompson, Matthew Liberatore, Drew Rom, Gordon Graceffo, Michael McGreevy, Sem Robberse, and Adam Kloffenstein will be ready to go in the minors, so the depth is clearly there in the rotation. This group doesn't have a very high ceiling, but their floor is quite stable, moreso than last year at least.

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Catchers (2) -- Willson Contreras, Ivan Herrera

This position was also easy to fill out. With Andrew Knizner off the roster, the backup spot was granted to Ivan Herrera. Herrera, 23, has been putting on a show in the Caribbean series, and he is well deserving of a Major League roster spot. Contreras will take the reigns as the lead backstop for the Cardinals next year, though his time spent behind the plate will likely be capped around 110-120 games. His bat is too valuable to leave out of a lineup, so expect Contreras to be the designated hitter on occasion.

Pedro Pages is waiting in the wings should either one of Contreras or Herrera get injured, but if both stay healthy all year, this catching tandem could rank among the best in the National League let alone in all of Major League Baseball.

Infielders (6) -- Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Gorman, Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado, Masyn Winn, and Matt Carpenter

5 of the 6 players listed above are obvious. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado are fixtures on the corners, and they remain in 2024. Brendan Donovan and Nolan Gorman will be fighting for second base starts, but the odd man out will happily take designated hitter at-bats. Masyn Winn has every opportunity to be the team's starting shortstop, but he isn't penned in. Underperformance in spring could detract from his starting spot.

If Winn starts in the minors, this list gets a bit more convoluted. The other challenging aspect of this exercise is who gets the 26th spot. Two months ago, the answer would've been Richie Palacios, but he was traded. One month ago, it was an open competition between Luken Baker, Jared Young, Buddy Kennedy, Jose Fermin, or even Thomas Saggese. Since then, however, Matt Carpenter has returned on a 1-year, $740,000 contract. Given his leadership, familiarity with the organization, and a guaranteed major league contract, it is likely Marp will get the final spot.

I wanted to go bold with the final roster spot and throw in someone like Cesar Prieto or Thomas Saggese, but Carpenter's guaranteed contract complicates things. He's not a very exciting 26th man, but it will be refreshing to see Carpenter back in St. Louis.

Outfielders (5) -- Lars Nootbaar, Tommy Edman, Jordan Walker, Dylan Carlson, Alec Burleson

This part of the lineup is perhaps the deepest. Lars Nootbaar, Tommy Edman, and Jordan Walker are the starting outfielders, barring an injury or an apocalypse. Edman, fresh off a season in which he racked up 5 Outs Above Average in limited time, will claim center field. He should be fully recovered by Opening Day from his wrist surgery. Lars Nootbaar will finally get a full run (assuming he's healthy) in left field, and Jordan Walker will have every opportunity to show off his stuff in right field.

Dylan Carlson is a strong fourth outfielder, and Alec Burleson will fill in both in the outfield and first base. Any one of these players could be a starting outfielder for most teams in baseball, and the Cardinals are lucky to have all 5 on their roster right now. Behind these 5 outfielders, the Cardinals have Moises Gomez, Victor Scott II, and Michael Siani on the ready.

St. Louis's lineup features an array of handedness versatility (5 left-handed batters and two switch hitters), and positional flexibility. Edman can play any position except catcher, Donovan can play every position except center and catcher, Gorman can play second base or third base, Lars Nootbaar and Dylan Carlson can man all three outfield spots, and Alec Burleson can be adept in the corner outfield or first base. This lineup is talented, deep, and versatile.