It is nearing the annual time when major league clubs disclose their non-roster players (NRIs) invited to major league camp. They will join the members of the 40-man roster who by definition attend big-league training.
Currently, the St. Louis Cardinals have 39 players in the latter group and according to a report from Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch, there will be 19 players in the former group. While the 19 have been informed of their selection, the club has not yet released their names. That could come as soon as this weekend, during Winter Warm-Up.
We already are pretty sure about 10 of the 19. They include prospects Shelby Miller, Tyrell Jenkins, Kolten Wong, Matt Adams, Jordan Swagerty, Joe Kelly and Nick Greenwood. Then, there are three veteran NRIs in Koyie Hill, R.J. Swindle and Eugenio Velez.
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to guess the identities of the other nine players. Post your guess below, but only one guess per person, please. If someone ends up on the target or very close, I may come up with a prize in recognition.
For quick assistance, refer to the Roster Matrix, always kept up to date here at The Cardinal Nation Blog. There, you can see all players in the system by level and position, including the 39 players currently on the roster. Click here or you can always access current as well as past matrices from the “Players/Staff” > “Depth Charts/Roster Matrix” dropdown on the menu bar at the top of this page.
Cardinals pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to Jupiter, FL on February 18 and conduct their first workout on February 19. The remainder of the Cardinals’ players will be scheduled to report February 23 with their first workout on February 24.
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Martinez
Rosenthal
Taveras
Jo Garcia
Ryan Jackson
Pham
Blazek
Derba
Addition
Thanks for being the first to boldly go on record, rchiii!
Marte
Browning
Additon
Todd
Derba
Stock
R. Jackson
A. Cazana
Swauger
Yadi has backed out of the Winter Warmup again this year. This year’s excuse is “scheduling conflict”. I find this behavior disturbing. Maybe early signs that he is planning to Pujols the Cardinals after this season?
Well said.
Disturbing is a good work, c-wmn. I wonder what’s on his schedule for those particular days…another trip to the tattoo parlor? Not a good vibe.
Matheny will earn his salary this year, don’t you think?
Shame, such a good ballplayer. Rolemodels really are hard to find these days.
my guess at the 9.
Shooter Hunt P
Barrett Browning LP
Nick Additon LP
Jess Todd
Brian Broderick
Ryan Jackson SS
Steven Hill C-1B
Nick Derba C
Xavier Scruggs 1B
My guess is:
Pitchers:
Hunt
Broderick
Browning
Gast
Catchers:
A. Perez
Derba
Infielders:
R. Jackson
Jo. Garcia
Outfielders:
Cazana
Welcome, ks!
I’ll go on record as saying Shooter Hunt won’t be on the list!
The only change I would make to Brian’s list is that Nick Additon would be off and Jose Garcia would be in but that might leave too few pitchers in camp.
There might be a few like Shelby a couple of years ago that are brought to camp but aren’t considered Spring Training invites.
Are the Cards repeating there minor league early mini-camp this year?
Yes, in fact I discussed the early camp at the end of the NRI article on the main site.
You expect me to read the whole article
It is not about baseball in Boston, either.
Leach said this regarding the 2B merry-go-round:
“The hope is that that trend stops within a few years, as Kolten Wong (or perhaps Zack Cox) arrives to nail down the keystone for a few years.”
http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120112&content_id=26330986&vkey=news_stl&c_id=stl
So, is the Cox part in ( ) part of “The hope”, as in the org’s thinking, or just his own bright idea?
Only he can answer that but I have never heard anyone in a position of authority suggest it is realistic. If I see Cox working out at second in Florida, I might feel differently. The old Cards would have waited until he reached St. Louis to begin the test. Maybe the new Cards will plan ahead – if there is anything to plan about.
Ditto. The ‘Wallace affair’ has me convinced Luhnow wouldn’t know a 3B if it kicked him in the groin.
Funny that its his problem again in Houston.
One of the issues I had coming up with a NRI guess list was knowing the readiness of guys who ended the year on a DL, or at least who have a DL next to their name on whatever roster they were on. (from the rosters on the main site). So I stayed away from them, like S. Hill and Pham. I figured even if they are now 100%, maybe big league camp isn’t the place to have a guy trying to bounce back from a DL stint.
As to outfielders, I figured there might easily be need to call somebody up in a hurry to fill in so maybe the new regime would want to have a good look at guys with some seasoning at higher levels, to see if we need to go get a AAAA guy, rather than more legit MLB prospects who will not be emergency call up candidates.
I figured Marte might be rewarded for good results last year.
I bet Matheney has butterflies opening the MLB season a day ahead of everybody else, on national TV, ESPN. Rolling out the post Albert world champs.
Given equal health and nice STs, you have to go with Carp over Wainy for the opener.
Mo likely with butterflies too. And Freese. And Lance.
Catchers: Nick Derba, Audry Perez, Robert Stock
Pitchers: Additon, Marte, Gast
SS: Jackson
1b: Adams
OF: Taveras
Correction: I will delete Adams since in the first 10. I will instead replace him with Steven Hill.
For extra points, I will guess Carlos Martinez as an NRI, instead of Tyrell Jenkins, who has not reached A ball yet.
Also I will guess Nick Greenwood does not make the NRI list, so will add Barrett Browning over him.
I think we will have to take points away since Brian has already broken the news that Jenkins is in!
Strauss has written Jenkins is in. Brian must not trust Strauss 100 percent, because Brian wrote “we are pretty sure.” Martinez seems likelier than Jenkins, since Carlos has already pitched 3 rungs higher.
However, I would not have either in ML camp. I’d prefer to give an invite to Amaury Cazana, so he gets to play with the adults.
Jenkins actually broke it himself on Twitter.
I just want to ensure MLB camp invites aren’t being confused with early minor league camp invitations. Until it is official, it is obviously unofficial.
nick derba, audry perez, luis de la cruz, steven hill, ryan jackson, thomas pham
victor marte, nick additon, keith butler