Injuries continue to plague Cardinals

After a spring that has already seen Chris Carpenter and Rafael Furcal lost for the season, the Cardinals have had more injury concerns crop up in the last week.

Yesterday, David Freese was placed on the disabled list with a back injury.  Ryan Jackson was added to the roster to replace him.

What this means for the start of the season is that Matt Carpenter, the Cardinals starting second baseman, will shift over to third while Daniel Descalso mans second.  The Cards hope to have Freese back in time for the April 8th home opener, but considering he injured his back 3 weeks ago and its still bothering him, that is not a given.

The other injury concern is Carlos Beltran.  He's been bothered by a sore right pinkie toe since before the World Baseball Classic and is scheduled to take part in the game today.  It doesn't sound like its a major concern, as Beltran played through the WBC with the injury, but its still worth keeping an eye on.

If a trip to the DL is necessary for Beltran, which doesn't seem likely at this point, it would likely guarantee a roster spot for the Cardinals top prospect Oscar Taveras.

However, what intrigues me with the Beltran injury is that maybe the Cardinals could decide to go with Taveras as their 4th outfielder, instead of Shane Robinson or Adron Chambers.  As Brian Feldman suggested a while back, Taveras could get plenty of at bats at the major league level by splitting time with Beltran while also spelling John Jay and Matt Holliday on occassion.

The Cardinals still have Taveras in major league camp, probably just as insurance in case Beltran is not ready to go, but there's still the possibility that, as Feldman's suggests, Taveras' time is now.

Projecting the Cardinals opening day 25-man roster

With a little over 2 weeks left until opening day, the Cardinals are still trying to decide on a 5th starter.  Despite my speculation that Joe Kelly won the job with his performance yesterday, Mike Matheny stated after the game that no decision had been made, adding that the team could allow both Kelly and Shelby Miller to pitch again before reaching a decision. 

Even with that job still unsettled, the rest of the roster is beginning to take shape, with only a couple spots still in doubt.

Here is my projected opening day roster:

Starting Lineup

C - Yadier Molina
1B - Allen Craig
2B - Matt Carpenter
SS - Pete Kozma
3B - David Freese
LF - Matt Holliday
CF - John Jay
RF - Carlos Beltran

Bench

Daniel Descalso
Ty Wigginton
Tony Cruz
Shane Robinson
Ronny Cedeno

Starting Rotation



1. Adam Wainwright
2. Jake Westbrook
3. Jaime Garcia
4. Lance Lynn
5. Joe Kelly/Shelby Miller

Bullpen

Jason Motte
Mitch Boggs
Edward Mujica
Trevor Rosenthal
Fernando Salas
Randy Choate
Marc Rzepcynski

Notes

The "on the bubble" guy, in my opinion, is Ronny Cedeno, who does not have a guaranteed contract and has not been very impressive this spring.  If the Cardinals decide to go with 13 pitchers to start the season, I could see them release Cedeno and carry the loser of the 5th starter battle as a long reliever.

Ty Wigginton has not hit at all this spring (just 4 for 32), but with a 2-year, $5 million deal, he's not going anywhere.

Adron Chambers has played fairly well this spring, but Shane Robinson's insane hitting (.516/.571/.968) this spring has pretty much locked up the 4th outfielder spot.   The only thing Chambers has going for him is that he is a left handed hitter and the Cardinals may need another lefty on their bench.

There was some speculation that Michael Wacha's strong spring could earn him a spot on the opening day roster, but alas he was reassigned to minor league camp yesterday.

Oscar Taveras is still in play for a roster spot, but he has cooled off a bit since his hot start to the spring and is likely ticketed for AAA as well.