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40‑Man
(From Baseball‑Reference & MLB.com 40‑man rosters)

Player Position
Brendan Donovan 2B/UTIL
Masyn Winn SS
Nolan Arenado 3B
Nolan Gorman 2B/DH
Willson Contreras C/1B
Iván Herrera C
Alec Burleson OF
Victor Scott II OF
José Fermín INF/OF

Fermín becomes the only remaining 40‑man position player with enough athleticism and glove reliability to survive in LF.

He has:

above‑average hands

solid reads on the ball

experience at multiple positions

I'd be very surprised if Wetherholt isn't a part of the '26 Cardinals.

earp wrote: ↑20 Dec 2025 14:37 pm 40‑Man
(From Baseball‑Reference & MLB.com 40‑man rosters)

Player Position
Brendan Donovan 2B/UTIL
Masyn Winn SS
Nolan Arenado 3B
Nolan Gorman 2B/DH
Willson Contreras C/1B
Iván Herrera C
Alec Burleson OF
Victor Scott II OF
José Fermín INF/OF

Fermín becomes the only remaining 40‑man position player with enough athleticism and glove reliability to survive in LF.

He has:

above‑average hands

solid reads on the ball

experience at multiple positions

Dearp

There is a decent amount of activity re player transactions going on. The Cards are doing stuff, just not as much as was hyped. I suspect another move or two by CB before Spring Training.

Contreras is catching.

Absolut wrote: ↑20 Dec 2025 16:42 pm Contreras is catching.

No he's not. Oli Marmol said on camera a few days ago that Contreras is not gonna play any catcher at all, none, nada. I saw him myself on my TV on a YouTube channel with the Cat Hayes saying that. He was as certain as possible. No doubt, no Contreras at catcher. Period.

okcardfan wrote: ↑20 Dec 2025 17:30 pm

Absolut wrote: ↑20 Dec 2025 16:42 pm Contreras is catching.

No he's not. Oli Marmol said on camera a few days ago that Contreras is not gonna play any catcher at all, none, nada. I saw him myself on my TV on a YouTube channel with the Cat Hayes saying that. He was as certain as possible. No doubt, no Contreras at catcher. Period.

good

82birds wrote: ↑20 Dec 2025 17:48 pm

okcardfan wrote: ↑20 Dec 2025 17:30 pm

Absolut wrote: ↑20 Dec 2025 16:42 pm Contreras is catching.

No he's not. Oli Marmol said on camera a few days ago that Contreras is not gonna play any catcher at all, none, nada. I saw him myself on my TV on a YouTube channel with the Cat Hayes saying that. He was as certain as possible. No doubt, no Contreras at catcher. Period.

good

This. ^^^^^

earp wrote: ↑20 Dec 2025 14:37 pm 40‑Man
(From Baseball‑Reference & MLB.com 40‑man rosters)

Player Position
Brendan Donovan 2B/UTIL
Masyn Winn SS
Nolan Arenado 3B
Nolan Gorman 2B/DH
Willson Contreras C/1B
Iván Herrera C
Alec Burleson OF
Victor Scott II OF
José Fermín INF/OF

Fermín becomes the only remaining 40‑man position player with enough athleticism and glove reliability to survive in LF.

He has:

above‑average hands

solid reads on the ball

experience at multiple positions

Nah, Arenado, Contreras, Donny and or Noot are gone. Also, JJ will more than likely be there opening day.

I’m going to hold off on speculating about lineups and positions.
Too much time before the season.
Too many trade candidates and the resulting domino affects.
What I will say is that I can’t see the reasoning behind Herrera Catching??
With the prospect depth at Catcher emerging the next two seasons it makes no sense?
Couple that with this being a reset season and you have the perfect opportunity to experiment with him in the field.
His bat is too valuable to risk injury behind the plate also!