SO SAD: Louis head coach announced his departure and…
Given that the St. Louis Cardinals added 13 players throughout the summer, it stands to reason that there would be an abundance of competitive opportunities available.
Most of these slots are reserved in advance and guaranteed. The only positions that are actually up for grabs are the bullpen and the last bench place, and even those are all but guaranteed. John Mozeliak strengthened a bullpen in need of some high-leverage help, broke through stalemate situations, and added starting pitchers.
I’ll make an effort—probably a fruitless one—to guess the team’s Opening Day 26-man roster for the 2024 campaign. Once more, the majority of these positions are fixed, but I’ll add my personal opinion to the last handful. Josh Jacobs of Redbird Rants took on this work back in late December, but since then, a few additions have been made, so I’ll take those into consideration.
The starting pitchers are the most reliable position to start with. Mo swiftly finished the rotation this summer after signing Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson before the calendar turned to December.
Rightfully so, Sonny Gray is the presumed ace. We’re probably going to see Miles Mikolas, Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, and Steven Matz in some configuration behind him. Josh Jacobs, the site editor, and I believe that Steven Matz has the biggest ceiling of the four. St. Louis’s rotation might not be all that bad after all if Mikolas can get back to his pre-2023 form. Gibson, Lynn, and Mikolas are guaranteed to pitch more than 170 innings.
There is obviously depth in the rotation as Zach Thompson, Matthew Liberatore, Drew Rom, Gordon Graceffo, Michael McGreevy, Sem Robberse, and Adam Kloffenstein will be ready to play in the minors. Although the ceiling in this group isn’t extremely high, the floor is rather stable—at least more so than it was the previous year.
