

That won’t change with the addition of Carlson. Donovan is an ideal utility player who is expected to start four to five games a week. 840 OPS as a left-handed everyday player - complements Marmol’s preferred lineup construction. But his player prototype - ability to play six positions and a. That may sound like a stretch when considering the overall play of Edman, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado.


He has arguably been one of the club’s most valuable players over the first third of the season. I also don’t see the team moving Donovan down. Although his play at second needs work, it helps that Edman has handled the switch to shortstop pretty seamlessly. He is the team’s preferred starting second baseman against right-handed pitchers. 294 with three homers, along with an OPS two points shy of. I don’t see the organization optioning Gorman, who is hitting.
Groove agent one series#
So, where does that leave Donovan, Yepez, Gorman and Nootbaar? The Cardinals will have to make a roster move when Carlson rejoins the team, which could come as early as Friday’s series opener against the Reds. Both players bring the stellar defense that, when paired with Bader, makes up arguably the best defensive outfield in the league. That OPS is much more indicative of where the Cardinals expect him to be. Carlson sputtered for much of April, but before he landed on the IL with hamstring tightness, he was hitting. The Cardinals are not going to displace either corner outfielder from their starting roles. We will see the same with Carlson when he returns. That was always going to be how things played out, regardless of his slump to start the season. O’Neill returned to his starting left field spot this week. Louis is enjoying a wealth of positional versatility. Tommy Edman, who won the 2021 Gold Glove as a second baseman, was their best fourth outfield option. In May, when both Bader and O’Neill were on the injured list, the Cardinals had virtually no help in Triple A. So far, he has been able to do that, and that was before the Cardinals lost both of their starting corner outfielders to injury.Ī roster logjam is a pretty ideal problem to have. When he first took the helm, Marmol expressed a pretty clear desire to implement a more fluid lineup, one that would allow him to utilize the organization’s depth and position flexibility. Louis, who goes back to Memphis, and who gets shipped off for a rotation arm? - Rory B. Who among Juan Yepez, Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbaar and Nolan Gorman stays with in St. It looks like the Cardinals now have a deluge of young talent that can play any position, but only eight spots to put them in the lineup. When he comes off the IL, is it time to let him go? - Bob C. What do you see the Cardinals doing to make room on the roster for their return? - Austin N.Ĭorey Dickerson, the big free-agent signing, just hasn’t been doing the job. Brendan Donovan and Nolan Gorman are playing too well to head back down to Triple A. Once Carlson and O’Neill are healthy, there seems to be a huge log-jam on the roster. How creative do you see Oli Marmol getting with the lineup once Dylan Carlson and Tyler O’Neill get back from the injured list? - Jack J. That brings us to our midseason mailbag, where discussions ranged from roster logjams to starting pitching concerns and, of course, potential trade deadline scenarios. Still, with the heart of summer approaching and the Cardinals aiming to establish themselves as one of the top clubs in the league, they have plenty of questions to answer. The good news is they remain just a half-game behind a scuffling Milwaukee squad and welcome the sub-.500 Reds and Pirates for their next homestand. It marked the first time this season the Cardinals were swept, as they fell to 32-26 on the year. Louis was swept by the Rays in three games, despite seven one-run innings from Dakota Hudson on Monday and a complete game with a season-high nine strikeouts from Miles Mikolas on Wednesday. What began as a promising road trip that saw the Cardinals claw out three victories in five games against the Cubs ultimately ended with a deflating thud.
