Cardinals Formalize 2019 Opening Day Roster

St. Louis Cardinals press release

The St. Louis Cardinals will open their 128th season of play in the National League tomorrow afternoon (Thursday, March 28) when they visit the Milwaukee Brewers at 1:10 p.m. CDT.  The Cardinals today announced their 25-man Opening Day roster that includes four first-time Cardinals and 13 players that were developed within their organization.

The Cardinals also announced this afternoon that left-handed pitcher Chasen Shreve, who was designated for assignment on March 22, has been outrighted to the Memphis (AAA) roster.

The following is the Cardinals 25-man active roster and Injured List: (TCN note: The numbers are uniform numbers.)

PITCHERS (12): 60 – John Brebbia-RHP, 22 – Jack Flaherty-RHP, 53 – John Gant- RHP, 49 – Jordan Hicks-RHP, 43 – Dakota Hudson- RHP, 55 – Dominic Leone-RHP, 59 – Mike Mayers- RHP, 21 – Andrew Miller-LHP, 39 – Miles Mikolas-RHP, 29 – Alex Reyes, RHP, 52 – Michael Wacha-RHP, 50 – Adam Wainwright- RHP;

CATCHERS (2): 4 -Yadier Molina, 32 – Matt Wieters;

INFIELDERS (6): 13 – Matt Carpenter, 12 – Paul DeJong, 46 – Paul Goldschmidt, 34 – Yario Muñoz, 33 – Drew Robinson, 16 – Kolten Wong;

OUTFIELDERS (5): 46 – Harrison Bader, 25 – Dexter Fowler, 38 – José Martínez, 41 – Tyler O’Neill, 23 – Marcell Ozuna;

DISABLED LIST (5): 27 – Brett Cecil (10-day, left hand Carpal Tunnel syndrome), 44 – Luke Gregerson (10-day, right shoulder impingement), 18 – Carlos Martínez (right shoulder cuff strain), 3 – Jedd Gyorko (10-day, right calf strain), 67 – Justin Williams (10-day, right hand 2nd metacarpal fracture).


Brian Walton’s take

This announcement merely formalizes the Opening Day roster we had already been told to expect. In case you were wondering, the four first-time Cardinals are Miller, Wieters, Goldschmidt and Robinson.

In terms of the players developed in the system, the Cards appear to be taking liberty with how they label Wainwright and Brebbia, with the former having competed at Double-A with the Braves and the latter reaching high-A before two years in independent ball. The 11 players who have been only Cardinals as professionals are Flaherty, Hicks, Hudson, Mayers, Reyes, Wacha, Molina, Carpenter, DeJong, Wong and Bader.

The Shreve news is new, however. While Shreve he has logged enough MLB service time to enable him to reject the assignment and declare free agency, in doing so he would have forfeited his $900,000 salary for the season, agreed to in December.

I thought it was better than 50-50 odds that Shreve would have been claimed by another club. Then again, his results have not been exceptional and his salary would have followed him. That no other club wanted him to take up a roster spot at that price is another indicator Shreve made the right financial decision (for him) to stay.

Further, this is the time of year – between spring training and the regular season – when most teams are dealing with their own roster crunches.

Speaking of roster crunch, Triple-A Memphis has it in spades.


Bonus

Thursday’s home opener from Milwaukee will begin at 1:10 p.m. CT, televised on FOX Sports Midwest. The television home of the Cardinals shared this video to help fans get ready.


For more

To track the Cardinals’ 25- and 40-man rosters as well as all players in the system by position and level, check out the Roster Matrix, always free and updated here at The Cardinal Nation. Also included is every player transaction across the full organization all year long.


Bonus for members of The Cardinal Nation

Cardinals Open Spring Minors Releases with a Pitching Duo


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