After the Cardinals' pitchers and catchers completed their first official workout of spring training and 20 pitchers took the mound to throw bullpen, ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ baseball writers Lynn Worthy and Derrick Goold discuss on a ready-made roster where there are spots for competition. A…
JUPITER, Fla. — Before the first official workout of spring training begins, Cardinals coaches have worked backward from how they want it to end.
This year it could be vital to how well they start the regular season.
The Cardinals are considering a six-man rotation to open the year because of the demands those opening weeks of the schedule will put on the pitching staff. They’ve not committed to it, officials said, and they intend to get some feedback from the pitchers who are committed to routines. But as camp began Wednesday with the first official workouts for pitchers and catchers, the Cardinals have already geared spring training and prepped a competition for that sixth spot if that’s the direction officials choose to go into the 2024 season.
“There are different ways we’re thinking about it internally,†manager Oliver Marmol said. “Usually guys are on a six-day (rotation) leading into the beginning of the year. There are different ways we’ve mapped it out. As we get closer, we’ll see where we’re at health-wise and make a decision.â€
Zack Thompson and Matthew Liberatore are both in the competition to open the season in the bullpen, but they will spend most of spring training on a starter’s schedule. That will, so far, include starts in exhibition games and stretch innings to build arm strength. It is possible the Cardinals will open the season with one of them in the rotation in addition to the five veteran starters returning — unless one of the young lefties is needed in replacement of a starter.
Either Thompson, who pitched well as a starter late in 2023, and Liberatore, who had sparks of success as a reliever late in 2023, could be in the bullpen to open 2024. The Cardinals will spend the spring weighing their major-league need against their prospects’ long-term potential, their development, and, most of all, their performance.
Big-league need sways the decision.
And a sixth starter could be needed.
Inserting a sixth starter into that opening week of games would allow the starters to maintain the six-day schedule that usually awaits them at the end of spring. It’s common for the season to open with an off day immediately after the first game as a flex for poor weather. It’s always sunny on Vin Scully Avenue so the Cardinals will open with four games in four days.
That is just the beginning of a brutal schedule that awaits the Cardinals when they leave Florida.
They open with a seven-day road trip that starts with four games at Dodger Stadium against the Los Angeles Blockbusters, baseball’s answer to Barbenheimer. They dart south for a three-game series in San Diego before heading home to open the Busch Stadium schedule. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ will play eight consecutive days to open the season without the usual off day. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ will do so in a time zone three hours away from their spring training. Oh, there will be games at night. And then there’s a turnaround of less than 24 hours before the home opener.
On the upside, they also have two spring training games in Arizona to close out the exhibition schedule as part of the Cactus League.
In total, they’ll play eight games in the nine days after leaving Florida.
A sixth starter could be essential to navigating that first road trip.
The Cardinals could shift back to the five-man during the opening home stand, when an off day arrives and the rhythm settles in.
The Cardinals considered a six-man rotation this past season as they headed west for the Huey Lewis Road Trip that took them to Seattle, San Francisco, and then into the heart of rock n’ roll at bombastic Dodger Stadium. Injuries forced them to adjust that plan, stick with five, and then watch as the rotation and the innings it provided cratered. At the end of April, the Cardinals went on a 10-day trip and went 2-8. During that road trip, they demoted Jordan Walker to Class AAA. Four of the eight losses came from the bullpen. Two came in starts by Jordan Montgomery when the offense was shut out. It was the beginning of the end of their contention.
The rigorous schedule goes beyond the California opening.
Within the first two weeks of the season, the Cardinals play the Dodgers, the Padres, Skip Schumaker’s Marlins, the Phillies, and Arizona. In back-to-back series, they’ll face the past two National League championship teams. Their first 16 games are against five opponents that had a combined winning percentage of .543 in 2023, or the equivalent of an 88-win team.
The trip begins with two games against the Cubs out in Arizona, and while the Cardinals can have an unlimited travel roster for those exhibition games they do not have an unlimited travel budget. And those games will be necessary for the starters set to go in San Diego a week later, at the least.
When mapping out the throwing schedules for pitchers, teams usually work backward from a spot early in the season — the first turn or two of the rotation, the annual cluster of off days at the beginning of the season in case of rainouts. The Cardinals did that, but without the anchors of off days to build around. Plus, they have this added wrinkle: They open the Grapefruit League schedule with a split-squad doubleheader.
What they chased all of this past season, they’ll need from Game 1 of spring.
Innings.
“It is a factor,†Marmol said of the opening schedule, even this early in spring. “You’re also trying to play for your opening games here with a doubleheader, which is unusual. So, you’re planning on having enough innings for that, but you are looking at Day 1 of the regular season, that opener, and working backward, always.â€
Extra bases
Yadier Molina won't report to camp as an adviser until later in spring, likely closer to the time minor-league camp opens and after he gets a few weeks with family in Puerto Rico following the end of the winter ball season. ... Brendan Donovan (elbow) is likely to play second base most often when exhibition games begin before moving around the diamond later in the Grapefruit schedule. ... Keynan Middleton (stomach virus) was the only pitcher not in camp for the first official workout. The team expects him back within a few days. ... Packy Naughton (flexor tendon surgery) has been throwing and could be facing hitters later in camp with a possible return to game competition set for May. ... Chaim Bloom, the Cardinals' new front office advisor and former head of Boston's baseball operations, is with the team this week to meet people, get a sense of the facility, and start having input. He will not spend all of spring training in Jupiter as part of his new role.