Cards news and notes: High School prospects, So Taguchi, Kolten's burn

Today is Thursday, which means yesterday was Wednesday, which means we were treated to another Draft Preview by resident prospect expert The Red Baron. Each of the three were High school infielders.

First up is Herbert Iser, a High school catcher Baron is confident will remain behind the plate that also could be a good hitter. Considering Yadi's age and the fact that the somewhat underwhelming Carson Kelly is our best bet in the org at the moment to replace him, that sounds perfect. Next up is Ben Baird, a shortstop with the tools to stick, and elite bat speed but with a swing that needs a lot of work. Lastly is 80-grade name Kieboom Carter, who plays 3B and Baron believes is the best pure hitters of among the High School class. Check out the Draft Preview for the entirety of The Red Baron's musings on these three potential future birds.

Next up, Ben Godar covered So Taguchi and his signing with the Cards in the backdrop of Ichiro's amazing rookie season. Ben reviews So's time in the minors and the Majors, and the home run he became known for in game 2 of the 2006 NLCS. So didn't hit many home runs, but at least one of them was a go-ahead home run in a big playoff series. Ben closes by mentioning something I wasn't aware of, which is that he is was recently hired as a manager back in Japan and his goal is to be the first Japanese manager in the majors.

Lil_scooter's Hunt and Peck features a twitter conversation involving Kolten Wong delivering an epic burn on teammate Seth Maness. Check the link for the details and also check out all the links within for everything baseball related that happened yesterday.

Craig covered the Cardinals Opening Day payroll for 2015, which stands at $139M, and also provides a projected Opening Day roster. The only question marks that remain is whether Walden will be ready (and who will take his spot if he isn't), whether Yadi will be ready (and who will be Pena's backup if he isn't), and whether incumbent bench infielder Greg Garcia can be dislodged by the rising Aledmys Diaz.

Lastly, yours truly looked at the non-roster invites to Spring Training this year. None of the NRI's that came from outside the organization look very likely to make the roster out of Spring Training (unlike Carlos Viillanueva in 2015 and Pat Neshek in 2014) but we'll also get looks at prospects Luke Weaver, Carson Kelly, and Corey Littrell, who are not on the 40-man but will be involved in Spring Training games this year.