How can the Cardinals upgrade their bench?

The Cardinals bench leaves a lot to be desired.  As a team, the Cardinals subs are hitting just .198 with a .555 OPS. 

Other than backup catcher Tony Cruz, who is hitting .292, and Jon Jay, who is hitting .279 while splitting time in center with Peter Bourjos (.210), the Cardinals have gotten little or no production from their bench.

Other than those two, the Cards do not have anyone on their bench hitting over the Mendoza line.  Utility infielder, Daniel Descalso, is not known as a great hitter, but his .172 average is far below his normal level.  Backup second baseman Mark Ellis is hitting .181 and the 5th outfielder shuttle of Shane Robinson (.156), Randal Grichuk (.143) and Joey Butler (0 for 5) haven't fared much better.

So, how can the Cardinals improve their bench?

Well, for one, they can promote Oscar Taveras or Stephen Piscotty.  Taveras is hitting .325/.373/.524 and Piscotty is hitting .292/.330/.426 for AAA Memphis.  Either one could be an upgrade over Robinson and could rotate in the outfield spots to give the team's veterans a rest.

Another potential upgrade would be Aledmys Diaz as a utility infielder.  Unfortunately, he has been sidelined since April 26th due to a shoulder injury.  However, once healthy, he would be a upgrade over Deslcaso and is capable of playing second, third and short.

As for Ellis, the Cards are probably stuck with him, as he is looking like this year's version of Ty Wigginton.  Hopefully the team has learned their lesson and will stop signing 35+ year old veteran infielders to fill out their bench. 

Finally, although Tony Cruz has hit well in his limited role as Yadier Molina's backup, the team needs to find someone that Mike Matheny can rely on more so that he doesn't overwork Molina.  Yadi played in 136 games last year and it showed in his second half numbers.

In the first half of the season, Molina hit .341/.386/.489, but he finished the year hitting just .280/.309/.456.  Some extra rest here and there would do a lot to ensure that drop off does not happen again. 

Unfortunately, the Cardinals best catching prospects, Steve Bean and converted third baseman Carson Kelly, are both splitting catching duties for low A Peoria and are not an option, so any catching help will have to come from the outside. 

There are some internal options to improve the bench.  We could see one of those options (most likely Taveras) as early as June 4th and, once he's healthy, Diaz should be able to replace Descalso.  Those two could go a long way to improving the overall performance of the bench.

Cardinals look to shake thing up by demoting Kolten Wong

With their offense continuing to struggle, the Cardinals decided to shake things up by demoting second baseman Kolten Wong to AAA.  Wong has certainly struggled on the season, hitting just .225/.276/.268, but he is not the only one.

Shortstop Jhonny Peralta (.195/.290/.476) is not doing much to make Cardinals fans forget about Pete Kozma and his offensive struggles.  "Clutch" hitter Allen Craig is sporting a .177 average and just 6 rbi's and offseason acquisition Peter Bourjos has lost his starting job to Jon Jay thanks in large part to his .163 average.

Unfortunately, the Cards cannot demote their entire team, so they are making this change to try to light a fire under the team.

The Cardinals have recalled Greg Garcia to replace Wong on the roster. Mark Ellis should get the lion's share of the starts at second, however, with Ellis hitting only .100 since coming off the DL, don't be surprised to see Garcia split time with Ellis.

In addition to Wong's demotion, the Cardinals also sent down Shane Robinson and called up Randal Grichuk.  Grichuk was hitting .313/.356/.542 in AAA and will look to provide a spark off the bench.

Hopefully Wong's demotion will be short-term as he looks to get his stroke back.  However, it is good to have a veteran like Ellis available to plug into the void and hopefully either he or Garcia can provide the offense with a boost.

Catching up with the Cardinals

Well, as often happens with 3 kids and a demanding job, life got in the way of blogging the last couple weeks, so let's all catch up on what's happened during that time.

First, the Cardinals finalized their opening day roster, with the Spring Training Battles being decided, as follows:

5th Starter

Despite having a superior spring, Carlos Martinez was relegated to the bullpen, where his power arm was more desperately needed.  Joe Kelly "won" the 5th starter job, more on last season's performance than this spring's results, which is probably how it should be.

Bench

Thanks in part to an injury to Mark Ellis, both Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma made the opening day roster, along with 4th outfielder Shane Robinson. 

One of Descalso or Kozma will have to go when Ellis is healthy and, if the recent trade rumors are any indication, it will probably be Kozma. 

As for Robinson, he's likely just keeping the seat warm until Oscar Taveras, Stephen Piscotty or even Mike O'Neill is deemed ready to take over the 4th outfield spot. 

Bullpen

The battle for the last bullpen slot came down to Jorge Rondon and Keith Butler, with Butler winning the job.  However, with Jason Motte expected back in early May, it will be interesting to see what the Cards do. 

Will they send Martinez down to stretch him back out as a starter or will they keep him in the pen and jettison Butler?  My hope is that Martinez will be sent down, but the team may keep him up out of necessity, as it already appears that Mike Matheny has few relievers he trusts in the pen.

The Season so Far

With the roster set, the Cardinals have faced the Reds and Pirates in their first 6 games and come out of the road trip with a 3-3 record.  They return home to face the Reds and Cubs this week.

While not a bad road trip, the lack of offense so far is a little bit of a concern.  The Cardinals have scored only 17 runs in those 6 games, including 4 games where they have scored two runs or less.  Hopefully their bats will warm up with the weather.

Overall, not a bad start, but not great either.  Hopefully the Cardinals can make some noise on this 6-game home stand and carry the momentum going forward.

Johnny Peralta signing sets the Cardinals lineup. But what about their bench?

With the signing of Johnny Peralta, the Cardinals starting lineup is set for 2014.  As of right now, the 2014 lineup would look like this:

C - Yadier Molina (Right handed)
1B - Matt Adams (Left handed)
2B - Kolten Wong (L)
SS - Johnny Peralta (R)
3B - Matt Carpenter (L)
LF - Matt Holliday (R)
CF - Peter Bourjos (R)
RF - Allen Craig (R)

Jon Jay (L) will be relegated to the bench and Oscar Taveras (L) will likely start the season in AAA.  However, once Taveras is ready its likely that the Cardinals will trade Jay to make room for him.

With Daniel Descalso (L) likely acting as utility infielder and Tony Cruz (or some other seldom used catcher) acting as Molina's backup, the Cardinals will still have two spots to fill on their bench.

Shane Robinson (R) could fill one spot, as the 4th or 5th outfielder, but the Cardinals could use a right handed hitter for their bench, particularly one who can play the infield (2B, 3B and 1B), as they've got an abundance of lefty-hitting infielders.

Pouring over the options, I think the Cardinals should pursue Jeff Baker.

Not only is he capable of playing 1B, 2B, 3B and the corner outfield spots, but he kills lefties.  For his career, he has hit .298/.353/.522 against left handers, including 35 homers in 751 at bats.  Plus, even though he is 32, he showed no signs of slowing down in 2013, hitting .297/.390/.653 including 10 homers in 101 at bats against lefties.

He would be the perfect compliment to a primarily left handed infield and would basically fill the role that Ty Wigginton was suppose to fill last year.

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.