Who should be on the St. Louis Cardinals' NLDS roster?

While recording the latest episode of the VEB Podcast, I had the idea to do a community-sourced St. Louis Cardinals NLDS roster. I said I'd post it on Monday, but that's because it slipped my mind that Yadier Molina was scheduled to undergo an examination on his injured catching hand. Because of that doctor appointment, I decided to hold off on the VEB-community-sourced roster.

As promised, we got news on Molina's health. The official Cardinals Twitter account shared the club's optimism after the exam. Jenifer Langosch wrote a post at MLB.com on the subject:

"We are still optimistic that Yadier will be on our postseason roster," Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said in a statement.

Molina, who sustained a ligament tear in his left thumb during a play at the plate on Sept. 20, will be fitted with a splint that the Cardinals hope will allow him to hit and catch even as he heals. Molina will begin baseball activities wearing that splint this week to see how his hand responds.

A St. Louis-based hand specialist determined that the ligament is still damaged, but had shown improvement in the week since Molina was last examined.

This bit of news with respect to Molina's health gives us some additional insight as we attempt to construct the NLDS roster. Mozeliak has indicated the club may put a roster together with more position players than pitchers—presumably, in order to carry three catchers like in last October's NLCS. But there are other roster permutations. The Cards have quite a few position players to choose from. Any player on the Cardinals' 40-man roster or 60-day DL as of August 31 is eligible for the NLDS roster. A player placed on the 60-day DL after August 1, like Carlos Martinez, is ineligible for any postseason roster.

I put together a Google form for this exercise. I started by asking you to give your four NLDS starters, in order of preferred appearance. After that, it's flexible. Let me know how you'd compose the Cardinals roster for the NLDS. After the Cardinals announce their NLDS roster (which isn't due till Friday), we'll compare the VEB community's preferred St. Louis NLDS roster to the one the Cardinals designate.

October 8, 2015: NLDS roster submission closed