Annual swing through Memphis gives fans an early look at Cardinals’ lineup options
In the five years since the St. Louis Cardinals last took on their top minor league affiliate in an exhibition game at AutoZone Park, the entire roster has turned over, save for starter Miles Mikolas.
Five years in professional baseball is nearly a full generation, and while 21 players slated to be active for the Cardinals on opening day have played in Memphis, none have seen and enjoyed this environment.
It serves as an excellent opportunity for the team to tip its metaphorical cap to some of its most important supporters, and Monday night’s rosters and lineup also shed light on some of the choices the major league team has made as they prepare to open their season Thursday at Busch Stadium against the Minnesota Twins.
“It’s nice to be a part of the city where our Triple-A team plays every day,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. “The field looks amazing. The improvement in the outfield wall is great. Seeing all the steps just to improve this as a place to play is amazing.”
Cardinals ownership sold the controlling stake in the franchise to Diamond Baseball Holdings, a conglomerate which owns 42 minor league teams, in the offseason between the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Monday’s exhibition represents the first opportunity for the united operation to compete on the field, and despite the focus being more on a celebration of the game than its more competitive aspects, it’s impossible to eliminate those entirely.
“I would be disappointed if it was not the St. Louis Cardinals,” Mozeliak replied when asked if he had a prediction for the evening’s winner.
Those Cardinals are set to take the field Thursday with a lineup that somewhat differs from that which was frequently used throughout the spring. Manager Oli Marmol confirmed that Monday’s alignment will match Thursday’s, save for the starting pitcher:
Lars Nootbaar, LF
Willson Contreras, 1B
Brendan Donovan, 2B
Nolan Arenado, 3B
Alec Burleson, DH
Iván Herrera, C
Jordan Walker, RF
Victor Scott II, CF
Masyn Winn, SS
“Noot’s done a really nice job with, just, he’s an on-base machine,” Marmol said about the decision to move Nootbaar into the leadoff spot and Winn down to ninth. “Had some really good conversations with Masyn as far as how he’s feeling, where he’s at.”
Winn was just 4-for-50 this spring with no extra base hits and 16 strikeouts. The Cardinals made the decision to break camp with both Scott and Michael Siani on the active roster, and in doing so, did not bring a backup shortstop. As a result, Winn will have to work through his struggles at game speed, and moving him down the lineup offers some competitive protection as he does so.
Sonny Gray, Thursday’s scheduled starter, traveled ahead of the team to St. Louis and worked out there today. Gray, whose velocity sat around 90 miles per hour this spring, down from his typical 92-93, has been dealing with flu-like symptoms in recent days, Mozeliak disclosed. Thursday’s start is not yet considered to be in jeopardy, though if the Cardinals do decide to pivot, either veteran Miles Mikolas or rookie Michael McGreevy could be shifted into the spot.
Utilizing McGreevy would necessitate a further move, such as placing Gray on the injured list. That does not appear to be an option under serious consideration.
The lineup as constructed also leaves lefty slugger Nolan Gorman on the bench. For much of the winter, under the assumption that the Cardinals would find a trade for Nolan Arenado, Gorman was penciled in as the likely starting third baseman.
Instead, the Cardinals will seek to balance his opportunities with those of Burleson and Donovan. There will necessarily be fewer of them, which will put performance at a premium.
“Little trickier in the sense of having to try to find him those at bats,” Mozeliak said of Gorman. “I know our staff is thinking about it, and we’ll try to make sure we can find that for him. But for the most part, all of these guys with less than three or four years of service, we’re trying to figure out what we have.”
Those players, including Burleson, Gorman, Walker, Luken Baker and others, were some of the most popular as they signed autographs for fans along the dugout. Cardinals fans in Arkansas and Tennessee, thanks to the struggles of a pandemic, a lockout, and the business of baseball in between, have themselves gone a long period without seeing some of the players they watched develop here in a real big league setting.
“We’ve gone through the last month and a half, two months of evaluating,” Marmol said. “We have a pretty good sense of where we’re at right now, so this is a little more tilted to fun.”
The manager teased surprises to come as the game unfolded, but Mozeliak did confirm he would stay out of uniform, and resisted any and all entreaties to, say, head to the mound himself to make a pitching change.
Some things, after all, have to stay as business.
