St. Louis Cardinals' Opening Day roster quashes any attempt at a "transition"

The St. Louis Cardinals offseason went from a "retool" to a "reset" to a "transition" throughout the winter. With the organization wanting to change its direction, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak had to make some difficult decisions.

Team owner and president Bill DeWitt Jr. and Bill DeWitt III no longer found it a viable strategy to pay veterans tens of millions of dollars to provide production that internal, cheaper players could produce. Additionally, there was uncertainty surrounding the organization's TV deal with then-Bally Sports Network. The club was also looking at a multimillion-dollar pitching lab in Jupiter, Florida, and an expansion of the organization's coaching and analytics teams to help catch up to other clubs across the league.

Add all of this together, and you see a path towards payroll reduction, justified in your opinion or not.

Whatever word you want to use to describe the Cardinals' offseason, it was clear that the front office at least intended to open up opportunities for young players. However, a failed attempt at trading eight-time All-Star Nolan Arenado quashed those plans, and a subsequent unwillingness to trade pitchers Erick Fedde and Ryan Helsley showed the team wanted to try to be competitive this year. Now, the Cardinals must start Opening Day 2025 with a roster that's eerily similar to its 2024 version.

A league-leading 17 players on the St. Louis Cardinals 2025 Opening Day roster were present in 2024, too.

The St. Louis Cardinals have the most players returning on their Opening Day roster in 2025 from the previous season with 17 repeat roster spots. The Seattle Mariners are the next closest team with 16 returning players.

Those who are returning for the Cardinals include catchers Willson Contreras and Ivan Herrera; infielders Nolan Gorman, Masyn Winn, and Nolan Arenado; outfielders Victor Scott II, Brendan Donovan, and Jordan Walker; reserves Michael Siani and Alec Burleson; and pitchers Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Ryan Helsley, JoJo Romero, Matthew Liberatore, Andre Pallante, and Ryan Fernandez.

The only nine players who were on last year's roster but didn't make it this year include pitchers Giovanny Gallegos, Andrew Kittredge, Riley O'Brien, Zack Thompson, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson; reserves Matt Carpenter and Brandon Crawford; and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

So much for a reset, huh?

Several young players did indeed start for the Cardinals on Opening Day 2025. Ivan Herrera was catching, Alec Burleson was at DH, Masyn Winn played shortstop, and the outfield of Lars Nootbaar, Victor Scott II, and Jordan Walker was full of young players. On the position side of things, the youth movement is quite evident. The same can't necessarily be said of the pitching staff.

35-year-old pitcher Sonny Gray got the pill for Opening Day. The next two scheduled starters are 32-year-old Erick Fedde and 26-year-old Andre Pallante. Miles Mikolas will make his first start after Pallante.

This has left pitching prospects Michael McGreevy, Quinn Mathews, and even Gordon Graceffo to an extent in Triple-A Memphis. While these three do provide depth should an injury arise at the major-league level, their absence from the majors to start the year doesn't bode well for the transition that the organization is in.

Having 17 repeat players on their Opening Day roster shows that the St. Louis Cardinals may not fully be in a transition. This middle-of-the-road approach could set back the reset by a year if things don't go right for the club.