photo: Victor Scott (St. Louis Cardinals)
On Wednesday, the St. Louis Cardinals made their final changes to their Opening Day roster, adding speedy Victor Scott, sending down Jose Fermin and designating Jared Young for assignment.
St. Louis Cardinals release
The St. Louis Cardinals will open their 133rd season of play in the National League tomorrow afternoon (Thursday, March 28) when they visit the Los Angeles Dodgers at 1:10 p.m. PDT/3:10 p.m. CDT in the opening game of the 162-game Major League Baseball regular season.
The team’s 26-player active roster includes six first-time Cardinals (Brandon Crawford, Ryan Fernandez, Kyle Gibson, Andrew Kittredge, Riley O’Brien and Victor Scott II), five rookies (Ryan Fernandez, Victor Scott II, Michael Siani, Riley O’Brien and Masyn Winn) and 13 players who were developed within the Cardinals organization.
RHP Sonny Gray (15-day, right hamstring strain); RHP Keynan Middleton (15-day, right forearm flexor strain), LHP Drew Rom (15-day, left shoulder biceps tendinitis); OF/IF Tommy Edman (10-day, right wrist sprain); OF Lars Nootbaar (10-day, left rib contusion); OF Dylan Carlson (10-day, left AC sprain) will begin the season on the Injured List. All of the injured list players, except for Dylan Carlson, are backdated to March 25. Carlson’s injury is dated to March 26.
The team selected the contract of Victor Scott II today, and optioned INF José Fermín to the Memphis (AAA) roster. 1B/OF Jared Young was placed on outright waivers, making room for Scott II on the team’s 40-player Major League roster.
The following is the Cardinals 2024 Opening Day active roster and injured list:
PITCHERS (13): Ryan Fernandez-RHP, Giovanny Gallegos-RHP, Kyle Gibson-RHP, Ryan Helsley-RHP, Andrew Kittredge-RHP, Matthew Liberatore-LHP, Lance Lynn-RHP, Steven Matz-LHP, Miles Mikolas-RHP, Riley O’Brien-RHP, Andre Pallante-RHP, JoJo Romero-LHP and Zack Thompson-LHP;
CATCHERS (2): Willson Contreras and Iván Herrera;
INFIELDERS (7): Nolan Arenado, Matt Carpenter, Brandon Crawford, Brendan Donovan, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Gorman and Masyn Winn;
OUTFIELDERS (4): Alec Burleson, Victor Scott II, Michael Siani and Jordan Walker;
INJURED LIST (6): Dylan Carlson-OF, Tommy Edman-OF/INF, Sonny Gray-RHP, Lars Nootbaar-OF, Keynan Middleton-RHP and Drew Rom-LHP.
Brian Walton’s take
The only new news is in the fourth paragraph. We already knew Scott would be added to the 40-man and 26-man active rosters prior to Opening Day. Fermin seemed the obvious corresponding choice to be optioned out. The main unknown coming into Wednesday was which player would be removed from the 40-man to make room for Winn. That is Young.
The speedy center fielder Victor Scott will play daily – at least until Dylan Carlson or Tommy Edman are ready to come off the injured list. Scott, assigned no. 11 with St. Louis, is The Cardinal Nation’s no. 4 prospect.
Fermin is valuable as one of the few infielders in the upper levels who can play a credible shortstop. As Brandon Crawford was slowed by injury in camp, it allowed Fermin to remain up longer than he would have otherwise. He should be the primary shortstop for Memphis.
Seemingly redundant as an infielder/outfielder with another brought in during the off-season, Alfonso Rivas, Young struggled mightily in spring training games, batting .091.
The Cardinals have a week to determine Young’s immediate fate. The former Cub, age 28, could be claimed by another organization, released, traded or outrighted to the minor leagues. With so many other teams also making difficult cuts now, my guess is the latter, that Young will remain in the system and join Memphis.
For more
To see all players in the system by level and position plus every transaction all year ‘round, check out the always free Roster Matrix here at The Cardinal Nation, refreshed today.
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