Cardinals cut ties with infielder Ronny Cedeno.

In a move that is mildly surprising, the Cardinals released infielder Ronny Cedeno yesterday.

Cedeno, who was brought in as a backup to Rafael Furcal, quickly became expendable when it was determined that Matt Carpenter could handle the second base job and Pete Kozma won the short stop job.  This allowed the Cardinals to use Daniel Descalso as their backup short stop and, with Ryan Jackson and Greg Garcia waiting in the wings, Cedeno became redundant.

What this also means is that the Cardinals now have a bench spot open for hard-hittin' Matt Adams.

Adams has hit well this spring (.304/.333/.565 with 3 homers) and deserves a bench spot.  What's more, the Cardinals probably could use his left handed bat off the bench.  With a projected lineup that features only 2 lefties (John Jay and Matt Carpenter), having a left handed bat off the bench, especially one with power, could definitely come in handy.

In addition, with 2 open spots on the 40 man roster, the Cardinals will be keeping a close eye on the waiver wire to see if a team tries to pass anyone useful through.  However, that is pretty unlikely.  More likely the Cardinals will use those 2 spots for a couple players that could help them this year, such as Michael Wacha and Oscar Taveras.

With Cedeno out of the picture, the only battle for the Cardinals bench appears to be that of Shane Robinson and Adron Chambers for 4th outfielder. 

On the pitching side, there are still a few things to sort out, such as the 5th starter and whether the loser of that battle will end up in the pen or at AAA.

But we've still got 11 days to figure that out.