Winter Recap and Cardinals 40-Man Roster Update

The offseason thus far has been a busy one for the Cardinals. We don’t yet know if they are done making moves, but many of those moves have had a pretty significant effect on the team’s 40-man roster.

As a quick review, here is what the Cardinals 40-man roster looked like back in November.

Craig Edwards

At that time, the Cardinals were preparing for the Rule Five Draft. They needed to protect several players to make sure they were not eligible to be selected. The Cardinals did make those moves, protecting Austin Gomber, Derian Gonzalez, Oscar Mercado, and Tyler O’Neill. The Cardinals, unlike previous seasons, did not lose anyone in this winter’s draft.

The Cardinals next opted to free up a little space on their 40-man roster by dealing Aledmys Diaz to Toronto for J.B. Woodman.

To provide some depth in the rotation, the Cardinals signed Miles Mikolas, who has spent the last few years in Japan.

The Cardinals next move of significance was to sign reliever Luke Gregerson to a two-year deal guaranteeing him $11 million. The move comes with risks given his recent performance, and some of those concerns were addressed here.

After missing out on Giancarlo Stanton, the Cardinals did make a big trade, bringing in Marcell Ozuna and sending out two players on the 40-man roster in Magneuris Sierra and Sandy Alcantara and two players who were not on the 40-man roster in Zac Gallen and Daniel Castano. We will see if Ozuna is for real, but we do know the Cardinals should have plenty of payroll room.

With the Ozuna deal done, the Cardinals had (still have?) a surplus of decent outfielders so the team traded Stephen Piscotty closer to home in Oakland, receiving a pair of minor leaguers, Max Schrock and Yairo Munoz. Of the two players the Cardinals received in the trade, Munoz was added to the 40-man roster.

So this where we stand today.

Craig Edwards

If the players are in blue, they are either going to be on the major league team or in a different organization as they can’t be sent down to the minors. A few players have minor league options, but aren’t going to be sent down for obvious reasons.

So you don’t have to, I’ve added up the number of players listed above. There are currently 39 players on the roster, meaning the Cardinals have room to add one more player at this point without removing anyone. We’ll see where the Cardinals go from here.