6 Cardinals who are fighting for their jobs this month

With the MLB trade deadline just around the corner, teams are preparing their needs list. St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak made his needs list known this weekend, leading to speculation about who will fight for their jobs over the next few weeks.

Mozeliak said he would be looking for a fifth starter, an innings eater, and a right-handed center fielder while bolstering the bullpen could be another option.

Andre Pallante has most recently been the fifth starter. He stepped into the role after unsuccessful starts from Matthew Liberatore and Zach Thompson due to Steven Matz’s injury earlier in the season. While Pallante has had a couple of good starts, he’s not a veteran who is a consistent innings eater that the Cardinals still need in the long run. Matz has had many injuries that have set him back in his time with the Cardinals. He’s currently in AAA Memphis where he’s struggled in his most recent rehab start.

Another starter would bolster a starting rotation that includes Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, Miles Mikolas, and Kyle Gibson, who have all struggled. If possible, adding some stable consistency would be suitable for the Cardinals’ rotation for this season and beyond.

This season, Tommy Edman was penciled in to become the Cardinals’ everyday center fielder. Edman had offseason surgery to repair his wrist and has been unable to play a game this season. He’s working to rehab his wrist, but a return date is not set. Dylan Carlson was set to take over as centerfielder during spring training. A collision with right fielder Jordan Walker sidelined Carlson on the last day of spring training.

Victor Scott II started the season as the center fielder, but it was quickly determined he needed more development time. Michael Siani then took over the role. Carlson has since returned from his injured list stint and shares duties with Siani.

Lars Nootbaar and Walker were set to be the Cardinals’ corner infielders. Nootbaar has had many injuries, preventing him from consistently gaining the role. Walker struggled mightily to begin the season and was sent to AAA Memphis to work on improving. Brendan Donovan and Alec Burleson have each proven to be super utility players, but they have yet to take over a position.

Let’s discuss who will fight for their jobs over the next few weeks.