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Latest On Cardinals’ Potential Roster Additions

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The Cardinals placed six players on the injured list yesterday following the team’s Covid-19 outbreak, and they’ll likely be adding infielder Rangel Ravelo to the IL as well. The team confirmed yesterday that he is also among the current players to have tested positive (but did not formally place him on the injured list).

That drops the Cardinals’ roster to 23 players, meaning they’ll still need to make five additions between now and Friday. (Rosters reduce from 30 to 28 players for the remainder of the season tomorrow.) To this point, only one spot has been formally filled: infielder/outfielder Brad Miller was activated from the injured list yesterday. Four more players will still need to be added to the roster between now and Friday.

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch runs through many of the possibilities, reporting within his morning column that infielder Max Schrock will likely be selected to the active roster. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News points out on Twitter that lefty Genesis Cabrera has already revealed via Instagram that he’s in St. Louis, so he’ll fill another of the spots. Alex Reyes will also be called up, per Goold. Jones adds that Cabrera and Reyes are likely to be the only two pitchers added to the roster. Those additions have not yet been announced by the club.

The Cards’ final open roster spot figures to be of particular intrigue among fans — and with good reason. Top prospect Dylan Carlson is among the names available within the 60-man player pool for St. Louis, and at this point in the season, the Cardinals have already delayed his path to free agency by a year. He’d need to be added to the 40-man roster, but the team can easily accommodate some additions due to the fact that players on the Covid-19 injured list don’t count against the 40-man.

Carlson has been widely expected to debut at some point in 2020, and considering that the Cardinals were struggling to score runs even before losing Paul DeJong and Yadier Molina, there is (on paper, at least) some extra incentive to get his bat into the lineup. It’s a small sample, clearly, but St. Louis has batted just .217/.281/.382 as a team through five games. Carlson, meanwhile, raked at a .292/.372/.542 clip with 26 homers, 28 doubles, eight triples and 20 steals in 562 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A last year.

Jones tweets that the final spot could well come down to Carlson, fellow outfielder Justin Williams and infield prospect Elehuris Montero. Both Williams and Montero have been ranked among the organization’s top 20 or so farmhands for the past couple seasons, though neither has generated the expectations associated with Carlson, who entered the season as a consensus Top 25 league-wide prospect. It’d be the first real look in the Majors for any of that trio, and all three would be controllable all the way through the 2026 season should the stick in the Majors following their promotion. Carlson and Montero have yet to appear in the big leagues, while Williams received just a single plate appearance with the 2018 Rays.

Latest On Cardinals, COVID-19

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TODAY: Cabrera, Sanchez, and Montero have all tested positive for a second time, manager Mike Shildt told reporters (including Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).  As such, the trio will continue to remain in quarantine protocol, though all three are asymptomatic.

JULY 5: The Cardinals revealed today that minor leaguer Elehuris Montero has also tested positive for the coronavirus. Montero is the team’s third positive test, following Cabrera and Sanchez yesterday. The Cardinals are still awaiting the results of more tests. Montero, 21, was added to St. Louis’s 60-man player pool at the start of the month. One of the most promising prospects in the organization, he would surely benefit from reps in a big-league environment, especially after a disappointing season at Double-A last year.

JULY 4: Left-handers Genesis Cabrera and Ricardo Sanchez have both tested positive for COVID-19, the Cardinals announced this afternoon.  As detailed by MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters, Cabrera and Sanchez are each currently in quarantine, and both pitchers are asymptomatic.

Cabrera and Sanchez both tested positive during the club’s initial round of intake testing as players arrived in St. Louis for training camp.  They will now remain isolated for a two-week period, and will then have to be symptom-free and deliver negatives on two separate COVID-19 tests before returning to training.

Cabrera was looking to win a job in the Cards’ bullpen in the wake of his 2019 rookie season.  The southpaw’s first taste of the big leagues resulted in a 4.87 ERA, 1.73 K/BB rate, and 8.4 K/9 in 20 1/3 innings, with Cabrera starting his first two games and then working in relief during his 11 other appearances.  Acquired from the Rays in July 2018 as part of the return for Tommy Pham, Cabrera has mostly worked as a starter in the minor leagues, though he has yet to look effective even at the Triple-A level.  Cabrera’s live arm (96.3mph fastball in 2019) could make him a reliever over the long term, and while St. Louis has a number of other starters ahead of him on the depth chart, Cabrera could get the odd spot start or opener assignment depending on how the Cardinals manage their rotation in the short season.

Sanchez just joined the Cards in February after being claimed off waivers from the Mariners.  The 23-year-old has yet to reach Triple-A ball, topping out with a 4.33 ERA over 203 2/3 innings at Double-A (with the Seattle and Atlanta affiliates) in 2018-19.

Cardinals Add Elehuris Montero To 60-Man Pool

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The Cardinals have added third base prospect Elehuris Montero to their 60-man player pool for Summer Camp, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak tells reporters (Twitter link via Mark Saxon of The Athletic). He’ll head to their camp at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, bringing their current player total to 45.

Montero, 21, was one of the Cardinals’ very best prospects and landed on Baseball America’s Top 100 list heading into the 2019 season. He’d torn through Class-A in 2018, raking at a .322/.381/.529 batting line (157 wRC+) at just 19 years old. His stock, however, took a tumble in 2019 when he looked overmatched against Double-A opposition, hitting just .188/.235/.317 in 59 games. Montero was nearly four years younger than the average competition he was facing in the Texas League, though, so the downturn in production isn’t as concerning as it might’ve been for an older player.

The lost minor league season won’t do any favors to young players like Montero — those in need of a rebound after a poor season. But by placing him in the 60-man player pool, the Cards will at least be able to give him some developmental reps along with big leaguers and other well-regarded prospects. Montero was added to the team’s 40-man roster this past offseason, though it still seems unlikely that he’d be called to the Majors anytime soon after such pronounced struggles in Double-A a year ago.

Players Added To 40-Man Roster: National League

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We’re going to see a whole lot of players added to 40-man rosters in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. We will use this post to track those contract selections from National League teams that are not otherwise covered on the site.

NL West

  • The Dodgers announced that they’ve selected the contracts of right-hander Mitchell White, infielder/outfielder Zach McKinstry and outfielder DJ Peters. Both White and Peters are considered to be among the club’s top 15 prospects. McKinstry isn’t generally ranked inside L.A.’s top 30, but the 24-year-old had a big season between Double-A and Triple-A in 2019 while appearing at six defensive positions (shortstop, second base, third base and all three outfield slots).
  • The Diamondbacks announced that they’ve selected the contracts of right-handers Taylor Widener and Riley Smith as well as the contracts of infielders Andy Young and Wyatt Mathisen. Widener, 24, was one of the organization’s best pitching prospects coming into the season but was blown up for an eye-popping 8.10 ERA in 100 innings. He’s only a year removed from 137 1/3 innings of 2.75 ERA ball and an 11.5 K/9 mark in Double-A, however. Smith, 24, was sharp in Double-A before struggling in Triple-A — like many pitching prospects throughout the league (and with the D-backs in particular). Young, acquired in the Paul Goldschmidt trade last winter, hit 29 homers while playing three infield positions between Double-A and Triple-A. Mathisen, 26 in December, hit .283/.403/.601 in 345 Triple-A plate appearances.
  • The Giants, surprisingly, did not add anyone to their 40-man roster prior to tonight’s deadline.
  • The Rockies selected the contracts of infielder Tyler Nevin, left-hander Ben Bowden and right-handers Ashton Goudeau and Antonio Santos (Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post first reported the news on Twitter). Those four moves will fill the team’s 40-man roster. Of the four, Bowden and Nevin draw the most fanfare. Nevin, the No. 38 pick in the 2015 draft and son of former MLB slugger Phil Nevin, posted deceptively solid numbers in an extremely pitcher-friendly Double-A environment in 2019 (.251/.345/.399 — good for a 122 wRC+). Bowden, a second-round pick in ’16, posted gaudy strikeout numbers but struggled in Triple-A after dominating in Double-A in 2019.
  • The Padres selected outfielder Jorge Ona’s contract and designated outfielder Nick Martini for assignment, as outlined here.

NL Central

  • The Cardinals announced the additions of Jake Woodford, Elehuris Montero and Alvaro Seijas while designating righty Dominic Leone for assignment (as detailed here at greater length).
  • Outfielder Corey Ray and right-hander J.P. Feyereisen will head onto the Brewers 40-man, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (via Twitter). It’s not yet known if the team will make further roster additions, but it would have five additional spots to work with to do so. Ray was the fifth overall pick in the 2016 draft but is coming off of a rough season. Feyereisen, who was added in a quiet September swap, will have a chance to challenge for MLB relief opportunities. Milwaukee also added infielder Mark Mathias to the 40-man roster after acquiring him in a trade with the Indians tonight.
  • The Cubs announced that they’ve added catcher Miguel Amaya, infielder Zack Short and right-handers Tyson Miller and Manuel Rodriguez to the 40-man roster. Amaya is the most highly regarded of the bunch, ranking second among Chicago farmhands and drawing some top 100 consideration at MLB.com.
  • Four additions to the 40-man were announced by the Reds, who have selected the contracts of catcher Tyler Stephenson and right-handers Tony Santillan, Ryan Hendrix and Tejay Antone. All four rank within the club’s top 30 at MLB.com, headlined by Santillan at No. 4 and ranging all the way to Antone at No. 30. Santillan thrived in a brief Double-A debut in 2018 but struggled there in a larger 2019 sample (4.84 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 4.8 BB/9 in 102 1/3 innings). He’s still just 22, though, and is regarded as a potential big league starter. Stephenson is a former first-round pick who hit well in a highly pitcher-friendly Double-A setting (.285/.372/.410; 130 wRC+). Hendrix posted big strikeout numbers as a reliever in 2019, while Antone displayed sharp ground-ball skills as a starter and reached Triple-A for the first time.
  • The Pirates added prospects Ke’Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, Will Craig, Blake Cederlind and Cody Ponce to the 40-man roster while also designating four pitchers for assignment (as explored in greater length here). Lefty Williams Jerez and right-handers Dario Agrazal, Montana DuRapau and Luis Escobar were cut loose.

NL East

Cardinals Designate Dominic Leone For Assignment

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The Cardinals announced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Dominic Leone for assignment. St. Louis also selected the contracts of righty Jake Woodford, infielder Elehuris Montero and right-hander Alvaro Seijas.

Leone’s two seasons with the Cardinals didn’t pan out as the organization hoped when acquiring him from Toronto; in 64 2/3 innings as a Cardinal, he pitched to an ugly 5.15 ERA. Leone did manage to punch out 10 hitters per nine innings pitched, but he struggled with walks (4.2 BB/9), home runs (1.7 HR/9) and, in 2019, stranding baserunners (68.2 percent).

The 28-year-old Leone had been eligible for arbitration and was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to be in line for a $1.6MM salary in 2020. Already a non-tender candidate, he was instead cut loose a couple weeks ahead of the early-December tender deadline. The Cardinals will have a week to trade him, release him or pass him through outright waivers. Anecdotally, both players the Cardinals acquired from the Blue Jays prior to the 2018 season in exchange for Randal Grichuk have been designated for assignment in the past hour, as the Royals just designated Conner Greene minutes ago. (Kansas City claimed him from St. Louis last November.)

Both Montero (No. 4) and Woodford (No. 13) rank inside the Cardinals’ top 30 prospects in the most recent rankings at MLB.com. Montero, 21, struggled through a miserable season in Double-A but is regarded as a strong-armed third baseman with plus raw power. Given the pitcher-friendly nature of Double-A in 2019 and Montero’s young age relative to the competition he faced in that setting, the Cards were undeterred by his struggles.

Woodford, meanwhile, posted passable numbers in a deadly Triple-A setting for pitchers, working to a 4.14 ERA with 7.8 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a 36.2 percent grounder rate in 26 starts (151 2/3 innings). He’ll give the Cards some rotation depth for the upcoming season.

The 21-year-old Seijas hasn’t pitched above Class-A Advanced, although as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch points out (via Twitter), the team’s unexpected loss of righty Luis Perdomo a few seasons ago may have contributed to aggressively protecting Seijas despite the fact that he’s a ways from MLB readiness.

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