5 key questions for Cards to answer this spring

This week, the first Cardinals Spring Training of the Chaim Bloom Era officially kicked off. When Bloom addressed the clubhouse this week, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the message was one of opportunity:

“One of the things that we’re all excited to see happen is what they make of it,” Bloom said. “This is their time. It is their chapter to write.”

The Cardinals' roster is remarkably young: If Lars Nootbaar isn’t ready for Opening Day, there likely won’t be a single player in the lineup older than 27, and the oldest pitcher in the rotation with starting experience is 28-year-old Dustin May -- who, of course, the Cardinals just signed this offseason. (Nootbaar is the player on the roster who has played the most games as a Cardinal, at 527. Second place is Nolan Gorman at 426. Third is Alec Burleson at 414. Only six Cardinals have played more than 200 games as a member of the team: Masyn Winn, Jordan Walker and Iván Herrera are the others.) That will lead to some wobbles this year, no question. But it also will lead to that opportunity -- immediately.

As the Cardinals prepare for their first Grapefruit League game on Saturday against the Nationals in Jupiter, Fla., here’s a look at five big questions they will need to answer this very spring. It will be fascinating to see how they play out.

Will JJ Wetherholt hit his way to the leadoff spot?
One of the most important questions facing Bloom and the Cardinals as they build for the second half of this decade: Who’s the star(s)? The Cardinals, traditionally, have been a team built on them. Assuming Nolan Arenado and Yadier Molina reach Cooperstown, St. Louis will have had a Hall of Famer on its roster every year since 2000. (And if Mark McGwire ever makes it, that streak would go all the way back in 1914.)

It is hard to find a future Hall of Famer on this current roster, so there is a need for someone with charisma and All-Star-level game to step up and become the guy whose jersey everyone starts wearing. Winn could be that player, but Wetherholt (MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 prospect) looks like the best bet. He has an outsized personality -- something that was apparent the night the Cardinals drafted him -- and he is exciting to watch, the sort of natural hitter fans absolutely adore.

• On the doorstep of the Majors, Wetherholt eager to take that big step

The Brendan Donovan trade cleared out second base for Wetherholt, who would have to endure a truly miserable spring not to be an Opening Day starter. But if he shines the way the potential NL Rookie of the Year plans to, he could end up taking the Cardinals’ first plate appearance of the season. There would be no better way to show that a new era of Cardinals baseball is beginning.

Who is the left fielder?
After the last World Baseball Classic in 2023, when Nootbaar became a cult hero playing for Japan, it looked like he was on the cusp of stardom. He could get on base, he had sneaky power and the fans loved him, chanting “Nooooot” every time he stepped to the plate. But stardom never did happen. After a few years of injury interruptions and inconsistency at the plate, Nootbaar is once again rehabbing, this time from October surgery on both heels.

It's not yet clear if Nootbaar will be ready for Opening Day, which means the Cardinals don’t know for sure who will be starting in left field for them on March 26 at Busch Stadium. If Nootbaar is healthy, it’ll be him, but that’s looking increasingly unlikely. It had been thought the Cardinals might bring in a veteran like Randal Grichuk or Tommy Pham (both former Cardinals), but it doesn’t look like that’s the plan. There have been rumblings that Thomas Saggese could get some outfield reps, and Herrera -- if he’s not the Opening Day catcher or DH -- could play out there as well.

But what the Cardinals would love to see would be MLB Pipeline’s No. 87 prospect Joshua Baez smash his way through the front door. Baez has played more right field than left -- he’s a reason Walker finally has some upward pressure on him to produce this year -- but the progress he has made the last two years is undeniable. The Cardinals need power, and Baez certainly provides that. It might be a bit of a rush -- he still doesn’t have any Triple-A at-bats -- but he’ll certainly be on the big league roster at some point this year. Maybe he could push his way there in March?

How do they sort out the catching situation?
The Cardinals, organizationally, are stacked with catchers. They currently have five on the 40-man roster -- Herrera, Pedro Pagés, Yohel Pozo, Jimmy Crooks and Leonardo Bernal -- and that doesn’t even count No. 37 overall prospect Rainiel Rodriguez, who could be starting for this team by 2028.

But how will they be deployed? The pitching staff has always loved Pagés, but his bat lags well behind his glove and he’s older than most of the roster; he looks like a better fit as a backup. Pozo lost weight in the offseason and had some offensive flashes last year, but he is actually the oldest position player on the roster, if you can believe that. And while the Cardinals want to give Herrera more opportunities to catch, his bat is so important to this lineup that you wonder if eventually they just stop messing with it and put him at DH or give him a first baseman’s mitt (or both). The Cardinals would love Crooks to improve at the plate -- he’s a terrific defensive catcher -- and he’d better; Bernal (Pipeline’s No. 98 prospect) is charging fast behind him.

Right now, Pagés looks like the Opening Day starter, but that may only be temporary. Who emerges after that is the truly intriguing thing to watch in 2026.

How does the back of the rotation fill out?
Barring injury, the Cardinals have their No. 1 and No. 2 spots set: It’s Matthew Liberatore (still only 26 years old) and the newly signed May, in whatever order you want to put them in. (I bet Liberatore gets the Opening Day nod.)

After that? Good question! The Cardinals have three options among returning pitchers: Andre Pallante is back after a disappointing 2025, Michael McGreevy is a former first-round pick who was mostly average in 16 starts last year and Kyle Leahy is getting a chance to start after being an effective reliever for two years. But for the first time in a while, the Cardinals have some other options. There are the newly acquired Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins from Boston, and switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje (Pipeline’s No. 91 prospect) from Seattle, and there are prospects with something to prove like Tink Hence, Quinn Mathews and even Brycen Mautz.

• Ambidextrous bird: Cijntje pitching with both arms at Cards camp

Interestingly, the Cardinals have been experimenting with different schedules for their starting pitchers, with Goold reporting that they’ve “loosened the convention of the five-day turn for a rotation and made spring more individualized for pitchers to prioritize health, their own preferences and also time to work on things, not just prepare the arm.”

We’ll have a much better idea of what the plan is this spring, but whatever it turns out to be, it will look far different than anything we’ve seen from the Cardinals before.

Which young player leaps up?
The Cardinals have a long history of prospects coming out of nowhere and wowing everyone in the spring, securing their place on the Opening Day roster. (The most famous of these was some kid named Albert Pujols back in 2001.) Could anyone be that person this year? Maybe it’s Baez. Bryan Torres has surprised some people with his power. There have even been rumblings about the loquacious Minor League veteran Mike Antico. In reality, it’s probably a bullpen arm we’re not even thinking about yet.

The point is that the opportunities are very much there, for whomever can grasp them. The Cardinals look new, in every possible way. That will come with some pitfalls. But it will be utterly compelling to watch.