Hopefully, you have been here to the site previously and know what the Cardinals organization roster matrix is all about. If not, here is a quick summary:
The St. Louis Cardinals currently have at least 281 players under contract. The matrix places each one at his current assigned level in the system as well as by position. It is kept updated throughout the season.
The occasion for this refresh is the opening of the Venezuelan Summer League season. Subscribers to Scout.com can read more about what I’ve written there on the subject, but here we have an overview of the 34-man VSL opening roster.
The next update of the roster matrix should be coming within the next ten days to two weeks as the Dominican Summer League will open. Following that, the players in Extended Spring Training will couple with next month’s draftees to define the 2009 Batavia, Johnson City and Gulf Coast League rosters.
For details behind the codes used in the matrix as well as 2009 transactions to date, check out the earlier versions of the Cardinals organization roster matrix as follows:
Link to previous matrices: January – March, 2009, April – May, 2009
Transactions
May 19 update: Signed VSL pitchers John De Aguas, Angelo Echeverria, Johnny Polanco, Ramon Ulacio and Dail Villanueva. New total 281.
May 20 update: RHP Chris Carpenter activated by StL, OF Shane Robinson optioned to Mem.
May 21 update: LHP Jonny Bravo to QC DL. RHR Jason Buursma from EST to QC. Mem C Brandon Yarbrough placed on DL eff 5/20. LHR Charlie Manning outrighted off 40-man roster.
May 23 update: OF Jon Edwards placed on QC DL. OF Jairo Martinez from EST to QC. 1B Mark Hamilton to Spr DL. 1B Matt Arburr from PB to Spr.
May 24 update: OF Rick Ankiel activated from DL, SS Tyler Greene optioned to Mem. Spr LHR Joe Williams released. RHR Eduardo Sanchez from PB to Spr. RHR Casey Mulligan QC to PB. New total 280.
May 25 update: RHS David Kopp from PB to Spr. RHR Joel Pichardo from EST to QC. RHR Kyle Mura to Spr DL. IF Donovan Solano returned to Spr from Mem.
May 27 update: RHS Josh Wilson placed on restricted list from QC active roster. RHS Brett Zawacki from EST to QC. Spr RHR Eddie Degerman to DL.
May 29 update: OF Ryan Ludwick activated from DL. SS Khalil Greene placed on 15-day DL. OF Joe Mather activated from Mem DL. 1B Javier Brito placed on Mem DL. Eff 5/31, QC moves to five-man rotation with Adam Veres and Scott McGregor to the pen.
May 30 update: 2B Aaron Luna activated from QC DL and assigned to PB. LHR Kristhiam Linares activated from Spr DL and assigned to PB.
June 1 update: RHS Deryk Hooker activated from QC restricted list and assigned to EST (Batavia). RHS Nick Additon to PB DL, RHR Shaun Garceau to PB DL. IF Oliver Marmol act from PB DL. RHP Elvis Hernandez activated from Spr DL and assigned to PB.
June 3 update: RHS Tyler Herron released from Spr. RHR Eddie Degerman act from Spr DL. New total 280.
June 4 update: RHR Blaine Boyer DFAed. RHR Jess Todd from Mem to StL. LHR Ian Ostlund act from Mem DL.
June 5 update: RHS Kyle Lohse onto StL DL. IF Tyler Greene from Mem to StL. C Blake Murphy act from QC DL and promoted to PB.
June 6 update: C Nick Derba promoted from PB to Spr. RHS Blake Hawksworth from Mem to StL. RHR Jess Todd from StL to Mem. IF Donovan Solano from Spr to Mem.
The St. Louis Cardinals Roster Matrix (effective 06/06/09)
| St. Louis (25+5) | 40-man (38) | ||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Carpenter | Franklin | LaRue | Pujols | Schumaker | K Greene (i) |
Glaus (i) | Ankiel |
| Lohse (i) |
Thompson | Molina | Thurston | Ryan | Duncan | ||
| Pineiro | McClellan | Barden | Ludwick | ||||
| Wainwright | Motte (4) | T Greene (16) | Rasmus (1) | ||||
| Wellemeyer | C Perez | Stavinoha (35) |
|||||
| Ja Garcia (9iL) | Miller (L) | ||||||
| Hawksworth | Reyes (L) | ||||||
| Memphis (24+5) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Boyer (DFA) | Anderson (3) | Brito (i) | Hoffpauir | Solano | Craig (18) | Jay (12) | |
| Mortensen (11) | Salas (31) | Pagnozzi | Rowlett | Freese (5i) | Mather | ||
| Parisi (i) | Scherer | Yarbrough (i) | Wallace (2) | Shorey | |||
| Walters (17) | Kinney (20) | Robinson (27) | |||||
| Ottavino (15) | Maekawa (L) | ||||||
| Boggs (10) | Ostlund (L) | ||||||
| MacLane (L) | Manning (L) | ||||||
| Ring (L) | |||||||
| Todd (7) | |||||||
| Others (1) | |||||||
| Cazana | |||||||
| (Mexico) | |||||||
| Springfield (24+8) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Kopp (28) | Mura (i) | Hill (34) | A Brown (i) | Descalso | Kozma (8) | Folli | Jones (6) |
| M Gonzalez | T Cruz (36) | Hamilton (i) | Jo Martinez (37ti) | Rapoport | |||
| Hearne | Degerman | Derba | C Smith (40) | Ant. DeJesus | |||
| Fiske (iL) | Parise | Arburr | Henley | ||||
| Lynn (14) | Samuel (21) | ||||||
| Kulik (L) | McCormick (i) | ||||||
| Dew (i) | |||||||
| Norrick (L) | |||||||
| Dickson | |||||||
| Furnish (L) | |||||||
| Sanchez | |||||||
| Maiques (susp) | |||||||
| Palm Beach (25+2) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Broderick | Diapoules | Rivera | Marmol | Bolivar | Curtis | Chambers | |
| R Castillo (19) | Eager | Vazquez | Jo Garcia | Sedbrook | Pham | ||
| Additon (26iL) | King | Murphy | Luna (39) | Peterson | |||
| Gorgen (22) | Reifer (24) | Swauger | |||||
| Fick | Linares (L) | ||||||
| Freeman (L) | |||||||
| Garceau (29i) | |||||||
| Mulligan | |||||||
| E Hernandez | |||||||
| Quad Cities (25+4) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Daley, Jr. | Carpenter | Cutler | Morales | Toribio | Vasquez (13) | Parejo | |
| Zawacki | Delgado | Espinoza | A Castellanos | Edwards (23i) | |||
| Buursma | Lilley | P Cruz | |||||
| Bravo (iL) | Rosales | Toribio | Bogany | ||||
| Bradford (i) | M Tapia | Mitchell | |||||
| Nieto | Pichardo | Ja Martinez | |||||
| Cardenas (L) | Veres | ||||||
| Thomas | McGregor | ||||||
| J Wilson (restr) | |||||||
| Ext. Spring (63) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| A Cruz | A Castillo | A Perez | D Medina | Landin | Alvarez | Teran | Babrick |
| Ang. De Jesus | Castro | Rigoli | L Mateo | Y Castillo | R DeLaCruz (38) | Gomez | |
| Arredondo | Calero | Cawley | Scruggs | Mambell | Hage | ||
| Blazek | Frevert | L DeLaCruz | Mosquera | Ingram | |||
| Diaz | Maertz | Moscatel | Obregon | ||||
| Fornataro | Mayes | Polanco | R Ruiz | Lara | |||
| Javier | Munoz | Alcala | Valera | Rivero | |||
| Leach | Orozco | R Rodriguez | |||||
| North | Ortiz | R Rosario | |||||
| Notti | Riportella | ||||||
| R Gonzalez | Rondon | Shepherd | |||||
| Rada | Russell | Swinson | |||||
| Richardson | Y Gonzalez | ||||||
| Rios | J Castellanos (L) | ||||||
| Santos | Siegrist (L) | ||||||
| Hooker (32) | |||||||
| A Ferrara (L) | |||||||
| G Brown (L) | |||||||
| EST (visa delay 2) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Estalis | J Castillo (susp) | ||||||
| Batavia (TBD) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Johnson City (TBD) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| GCL (TBD) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| DSL (32) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| A Tapia | Concepcion | V Ferreira | Pimentel | Avila | Cabrera | Villar | Beras |
| Franco | E Rivera | L Perez | Hiraldo | G Hernandez | Encarnacion | ||
| Jimenez | M Martinez | Montero | J Lopez | J Pena | |||
| Pasen | Pinard | W Perez | Reyes | ||||
| Urena | D Rodriguez (L) | Sandoval | |||||
| Herrera (L) | Mercedes (L) | Taveras | |||||
| L Rosario (L) | P Pena (L) | ||||||
| Uribe (L) | |||||||
| VSL (34+1) | |||||||
| SP | RP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF |
| Avendano | Cedeno | Rivas | R Perez | M Marquez | O Medina | H Garcia | Argenal |
| Bier | F Marquez | Viloria | Vargas | Yegues | Cortez | ||
| Corpas | Guzman | Velazco | Vivas (susp) | H Martina | Fonseca | ||
| Nieves | Polanco | Inojoza | |||||
| Oraa | Ulacio | A Castellano | |||||
| Colorado (L) | Ramos | Martines | |||||
| Solarte | |||||||
| Weffer (L) | |||||||
| R Alvarado (L) | |||||||
| De Aguas (L) | |||||||
| Echeverria (L) | |||||||
| Villanueva (L) | |||||||
Codes:
(#): My Cardinals prospect ranking from over the winter at Scout.com
(i): injured – on the disabled list
(t): temporary inactive list
(susp): suspended list
(restr): restricted list
(L) left-handed pitcher
Bold: on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster
(#+#) number of active players on the roster plus number of inactive (i+t+susp+restr) players
Last night, St Louis area 2006 signee Travis Mitchell went 4 for 4 at Quad Cities. After 3 summers in Johnson City, he should like playing in a different uniform. A little success can help encourage him that he can do well in the Midwest League. Some success begets more success.
When staffing Quad Cities at onset of the season, the Cards may have given precedence to starting pitchers, having 8 to 10 slots for tandem starts. This has kept some relievers in EST who could probably perform well in the Midwest League, if only room for everyone. One reliever, Buursma, is now getting a chance at QC.
I thought Big Matt Arburr was washed up, on the bubble. Boy was that wrong. He just slapped his 4th recent FSL homer and elevated his batting average north of .200. Way to go Matt. Show them no mercy.
Coming out of high school in 2005, at the same time as Bryan Anderson, catcher Charlie Cutler was ranked 31st in California and 160-something in the nation. He stole 39 bases in 41 attempts his final two years of high school, with a batting average around .630. He went undrafted, because committed to college. He then played 3 years for U-Cal Berkeley, a team the Cards follow (Allen Craig, Grossman, and another catcher Brussiere). Cutler’s junior spring, he played OF. The Cards found him still available at round 14 and have focused him back at catcher. He’s over-matching the Midwest League as a hitter, no surprise.
Could Hamilton’s injury provide Scruggsie the X-man’s chance to break out of EST?
Hopefully Springfield will be big enough for Big Matt.
It would be nice to see Santo Maertz elude EST too.
Jumbo, I have to give you a deep bow as I see Jermaine Curtis playing second base for Palm Beach.
Any bow is needless, because Jumbo drew on public information. Lets start with Descalso. He was a 3rd baseman at UC-Davis, reported pre-draft to project as a 2Bman. IIRC, he played 3B at Batavia and the Cards converted him to 2B at PB. Descalso was drafted with 2B in mind. He did not have the arm for 3B and was not a power hitter normal for 3B. Descalso was Adam Kennedy minus base-stealing. (Adam was a college SS who had to convert to 2B.)
Curtis similarly pre-draft was said not to have the arm for 3B. He seems not to have any power. Unless he could handle SS, 2B is his only place on the field.
The matrix give a view of everybody, so is a convenient way to think about whose stock has risen during the first third of the season.
RHP Kopp, 1B Hamilton, and LHP Norrick were highish draft picks who had injuries and have bounced back. Some fans have been skeptical of Descalso and Tyler Greene. They seem to be overcoming doubts.
Among 2008 signees, 3B Wallace, RHP Lynn, and OF Peterson are meeting the high expectations for high picks. Catcher Cutler is exceeding expectations, as is RHP Veres. 1B Curt Smith is confirming that he can hit. LHP Freeman has been good. LHP Kulik is doing pretty well as a AA starter, given he went to a small school. Mulligan started pitching as a pro last summer and has been outstanding.
SS Solano is holding his own with the stick at AAA. RHP Hawksworth is having a good season.
OF Tyler Henley has been doing pretty well at AA. LHP Additon is continuing to pitch very well, while reliever Blake King has been good too at Palm Beach.
The DSL roster is now up at minor league baseball.
Missing: A. Tapia, Franco, Rosario, E. Rivera, D. Rodriguez, P.Pena, Uribe, Hiraldo, Villar.
M. Martinez (Marco?) is listed among infielders.
Q: Wily Paulino is listed among the “coaches” but his DOB is 6/21/90.
Is that a misprint? or a very good 18-y-o coach? !
Thanks, ArR. I did see it but am convinced there are errors as there was with VSL. Cards have been promising me a valid roster since last Thursday morning. I hope to have it soon and will post an article on Scout, including info on the new pitching signees. I apologize for the delay.
Thanks, Brian.
I figured it was something like that.
Mainly I was surprised not to see Franco there
and got to thinking…maybe he’s headed to GCL,
but that would be a little odd.
I’d missed the signings/news releases of new pitchers Lopez, Mata, Rudecinda, and Segundo.