Should Dylan Carlson start the season with the St. Louis Cardinals?

Should the St. Louis Cardinals bring top prospect Dylan Carlson north with the team when spring training ends in a couple of weeks?

Carlson has performed well up to this point, batting .357 with a 1.010 on base plus slugging mark despite an 0-for-4 day at the plate Sunday as the Cardinals beat the Florida Marlins. Although he didn’t do much at the plate, he was robbed of a double in the gap early in the game, he was responsible for a nice sliding catch on a sinking line drive and he showed his speed on the bases. He’s done nothing to disqualify himself, that’s for sure. But still being under consideration is really the most he can hope for at this point.

While St. Louis fielded a lineup Sunday that appeared to be pretty close to what we might expect to see in a regular season game, we’re still at the point where a lot of minor leaguers are seeing playing time. As we move toward the last two weeks of the Grapefruit League schedule, Carlson can expect to see tougher pitchers on a more consistent basis than he has up to this point. If he continues to hit as more major league pitchers face him, he’s got a shot to stick.

The Cardinals shouldn’t promoted Carlson if he’s going to be the fourth or fifth outfielder. He needs to play every day — or at least almost every day — or else he’d be better off in Class AAA Memphis where he could collect as many plate appearances as possible. It’s what would be better for him in the long run.

As much as I would like the competition to be against Dexter Fowler, it’s really not. Fowler, barring a miracle, is going to be a part of this team on opening day because of his contract. The real competition for Carlson is with Tyler O’Neill and possibly Harrison Bader. Both of those players are doing well enough this spring not to lose their jobs. So Carlson would have to be so dominant that he forces the team to send Bader or O’Neill to the bench.

O’Neill, auditioning to replace Marcell Ozuna in left field, is batting .280 with a .998 OPS so far this spring. Bader is batting .296 with a .923 OPS. Meanwhile Fowler, whom the Cardinals would be loathe to park on the pine because of the $16.5 million he’s to make for each of the next two seasons, is batting .080 with a .293 OPS. Not only is Fowler the worst outfielder for the Cardinals this spring at the plate, but he’s virtually unmovable unless the Cardinals want to eat all of that money. And that’s really not their style.

Disappointed in Yairo Muñoz

I was really bummed to hear the news that Yairo Muñoz was released by the Cardinals this week.

There’s been a lot of scuttlebutt that he’s less than a replacement level player and wasn’t worthy of being a starter. But was he ever expected to be a starter with the Cardinals?

Munoz was a Swiss Army knife. He could play six positions. Regardless of if he wasn’t the best guy on the team at any one of them, he was capable enough at them all to give his manager tremendous flexibility. I know a lot of people discount the value of this given the dumbing down of the game by removing the chess game of batter pitcher match-ups late in games and trying to force the designated hitter down our throats. But you can pinch hit anywhere in the batting order when you need to knowing that you have a guy that can play shortstop, center field or anything besides pitching and catching, basically.

The Cardinals didn’t have a choice but to let go of Munoz when he chose to go AWOL. But it still hurts. On the bright side, Tommy Edman can play a similar role and Edmundo Sosa has shown the talent to be at least a major league backup. Still, if Edman has to be the utility guy, that means that he’s not available to be the starting third baseman if Matt Carpenter doesn’t get his act back together this season. Munoz being gone might actually reduce Edman’s usefulness by forcing the Cardinals to hold him back just in case.

Scott Wuerz

Belleville News-Democrat

Scott Wuerz has written “Cheap Seats,” a St. Louis Cardinals fan blog for the Belleville News-Democrat, since 2007. He is a former BND reporter who covered breaking news and education.