As Ivan Herrera lands on IL, Cardinals promote catcher Yohel Pozo to majors
PITTSBURGH — Before opening a three-game series Monday in Pittsburgh vs. the Pirates, the Cardinals promoted Class AAA catcher Yohel Pozo to give them a backup to Pedro Pages while opening-day starter Ivan Herrera hits the 10-day injured list with left knee inflammation.
For Pozo to be added to the 40-man roster, left-hander Zack Thompson was moved from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Thompson, 27, was sidelined in early March during spring training and was said to go three to four weeks without throwing before being reevaluated.
Along with the roster moves to add Pozo, right-hander Gordon Graceffo was returned to Class AAA Memphis after serving as the Cardinals’ 27th man for Sunday’s doubleheader in Boston against the Red Sox and providing three innings of relief in the nightcap.
Pozo, 27, joins the big-league club after playing five games for Class AAA Memphis. In 21 at-bats to begin the minor league season, Pozo produced three doubles, two home runs, and drove in six runs. He is a career .297 hitter in 758 minor league games. He has 21 games of major league experience under him, all of which came in 2021 for the Texas Rangers.
The Cardinals signed Pozo to a minor league contract in January. He began spring training in minor league camp before being added to the major-league camp roster as a non-roster invitee in the second week of March. While in Memphis he has served as a backup to the 23-year-old Jimmy Crooks, the club’s top catching prospect and their 2024 minor league player of the year who had yet to start a game in Class AAA before the minor league season began.
While the Cardinals open a three-game set at PNC Park that will mark their first National League Central matchup of the season, Herrera is expected to remain in أغر؟´«أ½ where he will go through additional exams on his left knee after imaging done in Boston on Sunday showed there was not any structural damage, manager Oliver Marmol told reporters Sunday.
Herrera, 24, appeared to be in discomfort after running the bases in the third inning of the afternoon game at Fenway Park and needed to be helped off the field by Marmol and team trainer Adam Olsen. Herrera was replaced by Pages at catcher to begin the bottom of the third inning.
Following the doubleheader, Herrera told reporters including the Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold that he hoped to be “back soon.â€
Two tides have battered Matthew Liberatore, Cardinals at Pirates: First Pitch
It would be difficult for the Cardinals to script a better opening weekend for their "transition" year that an emphatic sweep of the visiting Minnesota Twins. The Cardinals got sturdy performances from the starters, stellar play from the defense, and 19 runs in three days from the offsenese. Lars Nootbaar ignited the weekend with a run scored in three of the Cardinals' first four games, and Victor Scott personified the three-game series sweep of the Twins with a dynamic catch in the opener, two stolen bases in the middle game, and the decisive three-run homer in the series finale.
The Cardinals put on a show.
And some of the smallest crowds in Busch Stadium history were there to see it.
How can the Cardinals grow a team and regrow the crowds? Will one assure the other, or are the Cardinals entering more than a "transition" year in the front office and actually embarking on a whole new product to sell fans?
Maybe reset wasn't the word after all. This is a rebranding.
Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff Gordon joins Best Podcast in Baseball host Derrick Goold to discuss the first four games of the Cardinals season and how they came a late-game bullpen leak away from starting 4-0. The Cardinals established their identity early, and the question becomes whether they can maintain it to be competitive in the National League Central. But that isn't the only question. Competitive is quaint. Competitive is the expectation. Moving merch is essential. Will a style of play be enough? Will winning be enough? After several years of selling nostalgia to fans, the Cardinals need more than a clear message about the future.
They need a brand new way to market the team.
The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of أغر؟´«أ½, is a production of the أغر؟´«أ½ Post-Dispatch, , and Derrick Goold. In its 13th year, BPIB drops weekly and is eager to hear from listeners about what it does well and what it can do better. Yes, we're especially talking to you -- the listener we have in Ireland.
أغر؟´«أ½ Post-Dispatch
The Cardinals open a three-game set in Pittsburgh on Monday, and in order to rebound from a weekend sweep in Boston and salvage a respectable road swing, أغر؟´«أ½, and its starting pitcher, will have to defy some recent trends.
Left-hander Matthew Liberatore (0-0, 4.50) gets the call for the Cardinals for Monday's 5:40 p.m. (أغر؟´«أ½ time) first pitch.
PNC Park has served as a barometer of the Cardinals' status as contender or pretender in recent years. As a team, the Cardinals are 4-8 in Pittsburgh over the last two seasons. If it seeks to contend, أغر؟´«أ½ will have to improve its play on the road against the Pirates, a team yet to win a series this year and not expected to play a part in the National League Central race.
Before those recent struggles, the Cardinals went 26-7 at PNC Park over the previous four seasons (2019-22). أغر؟´«أ½ is well above .500 overall at the park since it opened in 2001.
Liberatore,آ Monday's starter, will also need to find his footing on the banks of the Allegheny River and reverse his struggles there.
Not only has he put up poor numbers at PNC Park (8.79 career ERA), but Liberatore has struggled vs. the Pirates overall (6.33 ERA).
This year's Pirates could help provide a remedy. Entering Monday's games, Pittsburgh ranks 28th in baseball with a .586 team on-base plus slugging percentage.
Pittsburgh will send out right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski (0-1, 9.82). He has a 1.13 ERA vs. the Cardinals in seven appearances, all out of the bullpen.
أغر؟´«أ½ is 4-5, having lost three straight in Boston. Three of أغر؟´«أ½' losses this season have come in extra innings.
The Pirates are 3-7 and are coming off losing two of three to the Yankees in the Bucs' first home series of the season.
The Cardinals' only other trip to PNC is June 30-July 2.
Before the game, the Cardinals placed catcher Ivan Herrera on the 10-day injured list with left knee inflammation, calling up catcher Yohel Pozo, who starts Monday.
Pitcher Zack Thompson was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Third baseman Nolan Arenado was a late scratch from the lineup due to illness and soreness. Thomas Saggese took his place at third and will bat sixth.
Lineups
CARDINALS
1. Lars Nootbaar, LF
2. Willson Contreras, 1B
3. Brendan Donovan, 2B
4. Alec Burleson, DH
5. Jordan Walker, RF
6. Thomas Saggese, 3B
7. Yohel Pozo, C
8. Michael Siani, CF
9. Masyn Winn, SS
P: Matthew Liberatore, LHP
PIRATES
1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Andrew McCutchen, DH
3. Joey Bart, C
4. Oneil Cruz, CF
5. Tommy Pham, LF
6. Alexander Canario, RF
7. Endy Rodrأguez, 1B
8. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS
9. Adam Frazier, 2B
P: Carmen Mlodzinski, RHP
Injury report
Ivan Herrera, C (knee inflammation): Herrera was placed in the injured list Monday, a day after he had to be helped off the field after appearing to feel discomfort while running the bases. Testing revealed he had suffered a bone bruise and will miss at least four weeks. Updated April 7
Nolan Gorman, INF (hamstring strain): Before the start of the weekend series at Fenway Park, the Cardinals placed Gorman on the 10-day injured list due to hamstring pain. The injury happened Tuesday in the 10th inning, and his stint on the IL begins Wednesday. The Cardinals expect him to require five to 10 days to recover, and Gorman has already been cleared for activities such as throwing and hitting. To take his place on the active roster the Cardinals promoted Thomas Saggese. Updated April 4
Zack Thompson, LHP (lat strain): Remained in Jupiter, Florida, to begin a throwing program after a month of limited activity and no throwing. Thompson went through multiple checkups and scans to monitor the healing of a tear in his lat on the left side, and they did not show any setback to delayed Thompson's scheduled move to the injured list. On April 7, Thompson was transferred to the 60-day IL. Updated April 7
Ten Hochman: 50 years ago today, Cardinals’ Bob Gibson made last opening day start
Their catcher injured and pitchers buffeted in Boston, are Cardinals vulnerable vs. Pirates?
Red Sox outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela makes the final out in the ninth inning during the second game of a doubleheader against the Cardinals on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Boston.
Mark Stockwell, Associated Press
BOSTON — When Ivan Herrera returned to أغر؟´«أ½ on Monday for additional exams and testing on his injured left knee, the catcher left behind a Cardinals club bruised, battered, and strained — and also seeking an encouraging diagnosis and short-term recovery.
A misspent weekend at Fenway Park ended late Sunday night with an 18-7 drubbing by the Boston Red Sox that completed a doubleheader sweep and series sweep all while leaving the Cardinals’ pitching staff worn and their catcher and leading hitter headed to the injured list. The Cardinals were set to begin a series Monday night in Pittsburgh having lost five of their past six games, and now their bullpen is tenderized by three extra-inning games, a doubleheader and innings left unmanned by the rotation. The relievers pitched 60% of the innings in Boston.
The word manager Oliver Marmol used to describe what happened in Miles Mikolas’ abbreviated, mangled start Sunday could apply to the Cardinals’ current concerns.
Things have “snowballed.â€
The Cardinals left Fenway for their flight to Pittsburgh encouraged by the initial exams of Herrera’s knee. The catcher and team-leader in homers needed help walking off the field Sunday afternoon because of shooting pain in his left knee and his hesitance to put any weight on it. An MRI taken in Boston did not reveal any structure damage, Marmol said. Herrera was able to walk around the clubhouse within an hour of the exam, and he said later he could walk and squat with minimal discomfort.
“I’ll be back soon,†he said.
The Cardinals will put Herrera on the 10-day injured list Monday and promote catcher Yohel Pozo from Class AAA Memphis. A corresponding move will be necessary to open a spot on the 40-player roster so that Pozo can be active for Monday night’s game at PNC Park. Herrera will return to أغر؟´«أ½ for another battery of exams and a meeting with the Cardinals’ team physicians to review results of the MRI in Boston and explore potential root causes for the inflammation and pain.
Herrera felt his knee grab on him when running first to third during the third inning of the doubleheader’s afternoon game.
He asked for help off the field out of caution.
“The way he came off the field, I had no idea what it was going to look like,†Marmol said. “The fact that there’s no tear, that’s a good thing. Really good news.â€
Herrera’s replacement in Game 1 and the Cardinals’ catcher for all of Game 2, Pedro Pages came off the bench to hit two doubles and deliver a two-run lead that the Cardinals took into the ninth inning of the first game. Then the day went sideways before it got even worse. Closer Ryan Helsley blew the save by walking four batters. The Cardinals, having already lost two extra-inning games this past week, lost a third, 5-4, in the 10th.
Helsley threw 37 pitches in his first blown save of the season, and that left him unavailable for the evening game and perhaps Monday, too.
Long reliever Steven Matz was also unavailable because of pitching three innings Friday.
Kyle Leahy pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief in the first game of the doubleheader, and Chris Roycroft pitched 1 2/3 innings in the evening game. Marmol said the team would not need to refresh the bullpen ahead of the series in Pittsburgh, but all of that use was already starting to compound on the bullpen.
They allowed 19 runs in the three-game series at Fenway.
They could have used a break and Mikolas, the team’s veteran innings eater, had that in mind when he began the night game of the doubleheader.
“Trying to fill it up and be efficient,†Mikolas said. “Try to get as deep into that game as possible. A couple of long at-bats. They’re fouling off pitches. Didn’t do what I set out to do, that’s for sure. The goal is to try and get as deep into that game as possible, and I didn’t do it.â€
Of the first nine Red Sox to face Mikolas in the game, six got a hit, and three ultimately scored. Boston bombarded Mikolas with a five-run second inning that included back-to-back doubles from Alex Bregman and Wilyer Abreu. Six of the eight outs that Mikolas collected in the game came from three batters. The rest of the Red Sox lineup rampaged. By the end of the second inning, Mikolas needed 41 pitches to get through nine batters. He allowed three extra-base hits and what had been a 1-0 lead for the Cardinals slipped away into a 6-1 deficit.
Mikolas did not finish the third inning, though the two runners he left behind scored when Bregman welcomed Gordon Graceffo to the game with a three-run homer. Nine of the Red Sox’s 18 runs came on 11 hits in 2 2/3 innings against Mikolas (0-1).
“If the contact is not at people, it snowballs pretty quickly,†Marmol said.
“I made some good pitches. I made some bad pitches. It didn’t seem to matter,†Mikolas said. “They’ve got some hot bats over there. Sometimes there’s not much you can do. Hope I don’t have any more of these. This is one I’m probably just going to forget about it completely. Toss it aside. Wake up, start getting ready for my next start. Hakuna matata. Keep on rolling.â€
The catch with that is the downstream impact long games and short outings have.
Graceffo alleviated some of the stress on the bullpen by pitching three innings. As the Cardinals’ 27th player for the doubleheader, he’ll return to Class AAA Memphis having provided the bullpen nine outs of relief. He allowed seven runs on nine hits as he did it.
That did thrust more relievers into the night game than preferred ahead of the Cardinals’ first National League Central division series of the season. But Marmol also acknowledged that he made a choice to use a reliever for an additional inning as well. As the Cardinals straddle that fence between maybe contending in a friendly division and definitely pledging to focus on development, there will be decisions like Sunday’s to have Roycroft go out for a second inning.
Like Ryan Fernandez on Friday as that game slipped away, the Cardinals wanted to get Roycroft game action to practice an adjustment to his posture on the mound and see how it helped his sinker. Roycroft wanted game-speed feedback on adjustments.
“The more we do that, we’re going to get better every day,†Marmol said. “Two weeks, a month, 60 days — and you look back, you’ll see some real big gains.â€
Marmol said it was important that Roycroft finish his outing in fewer than 25 pitches so that he would be available in Pittsburgh. Matz was relieved after three so that he did not have to miss the entirety of the Pittsburgh series. Marmol listed JoJo Romero, Phil Maton and Fernandez as also likely to be available as soon as Monday, if needed.
The season that began with 3-0 buoyancy already is starting to show wear. The Cardinals escape Boston with Nolan Gorman (hamstring) and Herrera (knee) on the injured list.
The bullpen pitched 15 1/3 innings to the rotation’s 10.
The pitching staff allowed 36 runs in 27 1/3 innings.
Boston had 46 hits and 66 baserunners in three games.
The Cardinals set the National League record with at least 10 hits in nine consecutive games to start a season, breaking a tie with the 1961 Pirates. And still they were outscored at Fenway by 16 runs.
The way Roycroft described his need for a second inning is a fitting description for where the Cardinals are needing innings going into Pittsburgh.
“It’s one of those things where you get kicked in the mouth and you get punched in the face,†Roycroft said. “And it’s so easy to sit back and work on things, but sometimes you have to get thrown back in the fire and see what you’re made of.â€
It would be difficult for the Cardinals to script a better opening weekend for their "transition" year that an emphatic sweep of the visiting Minnesota Twins. The Cardinals got sturdy performances from the starters, stellar play from the defense, and 19 runs in three days from the offsenese. Lars Nootbaar ignited the weekend with a run scored in three of the Cardinals' first four games, and Victor Scott personified the three-game series sweep of the Twins with a dynamic catch in the opener, two stolen bases in the middle game, and the decisive three-run homer in the series finale.
The Cardinals put on a show.
And some of the smallest crowds in Busch Stadium history were there to see it.
How can the Cardinals grow a team and regrow the crowds? Will one assure the other, or are the Cardinals entering more than a "transition" year in the front office and actually embarking on a whole new product to sell fans?
Maybe reset wasn't the word after all. This is a rebranding.
Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff Gordon joins Best Podcast in Baseball host Derrick Goold to discuss the first four games of the Cardinals season and how they came a late-game bullpen leak away from starting 4-0. The Cardinals established their identity early, and the question becomes whether they can maintain it to be competitive in the National League Central. But that isn't the only question. Competitive is quaint. Competitive is the expectation. Moving merch is essential. Will a style of play be enough? Will winning be enough? After several years of selling nostalgia to fans, the Cardinals need more than a clear message about the future.
They need a brand new way to market the team.
The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of أغر؟´«أ½, is a production of the أغر؟´«أ½ Post-Dispatch, , and Derrick Goold. In its 13th year, BPIB drops weekly and is eager to hear from listeners about what it does well and what it can do better. Yes, we're especially talking to you -- the listener we have in Ireland.
أغر؟´«أ½ Post-Dispatch
BOSTONآ — Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera had to be helped off the field by his manager and a team trainer so that he could avoid putting weight on his left foot.
The Cardinals' leading hitter in the opening days of this season, Herrera sustained a left knee injury that was initially diagnosed as inflammation in the joint. A team official confirmed the injury during Game 1 of the doubleheader at Fenway Park.
Herrera will go on the 10-day injured list Monday morning, and he will return to أغر؟´«أ½ for additional exams.
An MRI taken in Boston did not show any tears or structural damage, manager Oliver Marmol said. Herrera said he felt better two hours after leaving the field and that he was able to walk with some pain and squat.
He suggested he hoped to be more active in "two days."
The Cardinals want to have Herrera examined by their medical officials back in أغر؟´«أ½ before committing to a timetable and to assure there isn't some root cause of the inflammation and pain that needs to be addressed.آ
The Cardinals will promote Yohel Pozo to the majors to be the backup catcher. He'll join the team in Pittsburgh on Monday at PNC Park.
The Cardinals must clear a spot on the 40-player roster for him.آ
Herrera appeared to feel discomfort while running the bases in the third inning of Sunday's afternoon game against the Boston Red Sox. He went first to third on a single by Nolan Arenado and then looked uncomfortable walking as he retraced his steps to pick up his batting helmet.
At the end of the inning, Herrera could not get from the third base line to the Cardinals dugout on the third base side without help.
Marmol and trainer Adam Olsen carried Herrera to the dugout.
Pedro Pages replaced Herrera at catcher for the bottom of the third inning. The Cardinals and Red Sox have a day-night doubleheader scheduled for Sunday with ESPN in town for a national telecast of the night game. Pages had two doubles in the Cardinals' Game 1 loss, and he caught all eight innings of the Cardinals' 18-7 loss in the second game of the doubleheader.
Herrera leads the Cardinals with four home runs, three of which he hit this past Wednesday against the Angels at Busch Stadium. His three-homer game was a first by a Cardinals catcher in the club's 134 years since joining the National League. Herrera added a home run on Friday in the home opener for the Red Sox.
Red Sox dump Cardinals, 18-7, for emphatic doubleheader sweep that leaves pitching bruised
Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas throws during the first inning in the second game of a doubleheader against the Red Sox on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Boston.
It would be difficult for the Cardinals to script a better opening weekend for their "transition" year that an emphatic sweep of the visiting Minnesota Twins. The Cardinals got sturdy performances from the starters, stellar play from the defense, and 19 runs in three days from the offsenese. Lars Nootbaar ignited the weekend with a run scored in three of the Cardinals' first four games, and Victor Scott personified the three-game series sweep of the Twins with a dynamic catch in the opener, two stolen bases in the middle game, and the decisive three-run homer in the series finale.
The Cardinals put on a show.
And some of the smallest crowds in Busch Stadium history were there to see it.
How can the Cardinals grow a team and regrow the crowds? Will one assure the other, or are the Cardinals entering more than a "transition" year in the front office and actually embarking on a whole new product to sell fans?
Maybe reset wasn't the word after all. This is a rebranding.
Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff Gordon joins Best Podcast in Baseball host Derrick Goold to discuss the first four games of the Cardinals season and how they came a late-game bullpen leak away from starting 4-0. The Cardinals established their identity early, and the question becomes whether they can maintain it to be competitive in the National League Central. But that isn't the only question. Competitive is quaint. Competitive is the expectation. Moving merch is essential. Will a style of play be enough? Will winning be enough? After several years of selling nostalgia to fans, the Cardinals need more than a clear message about the future.
They need a brand new way to market the team.
The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of أغر؟´«أ½, is a production of the أغر؟´«أ½ Post-Dispatch, , and Derrick Goold. In its 13th year, BPIB drops weekly and is eager to hear from listeners about what it does well and what it can do better. Yes, we're especially talking to you -- the listener we have in Ireland.
أغر؟´«أ½ Post-Dispatch
BOSTON — In the hours between games of Sunday’s doubleheader, as he faced questions about a lead blown in the ninth inning and a disquieting injury, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol just pivoted out of a question to share a blunt assessment of the Game 1 loss.
“Today (stinks),†he said. “That game (stinks).â€
The evening would only get much worse.
On ESPN’s national broadcast, the Red Sox hammered Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas for nine runs before the right-hander could get a ninth out and Boston did not let up from there for, steamrolling toward a 18-7 romp Sunday night at Fenway Park.
The debacle capped a doubleheader sweep by the Red Sox on Sunday and a sweep of their first home series of the regular season. Storms on Saturday forced a doubleheader Sunday, and chills crept through the ballpark all day Sunday, but it turns out the weather wasn’t the only thing poor.
The Cardinals botched a two-run lead in Sunday’s afternoon game when closer Ryan Helsley walked four, struggled to throw a strike, and allowed two runs on the way to a 5-4 loss. Boston won Game 1 in the 10th.
Game 2 was effectively over in the second.
The problem for the Cardinals became navigating all of the outs leftover as Boston piled on and relievers paraded in. Now, the Cardinals must figure out how to patch together their pitching with a thinned bullpen for a series in Pittsburgh. They will also reach PNC Park without catcher Ivan Herrera, who is expected to go on the 10-day injured list with left knee inflammation following an awkward step Sunday afternoon. For the Cardinals, losers in five of their past six games, the situation – to borrow from Marmol’s description – (stinks).
Alex Bregman had the first of his four hits with a two-run double in the second inning. The Red Sox’s prized free-agent signing that ended their trade talks with the Cardinals for Nolan Arenado, Bregman tied a career high with six RBIs, three of them coming immediately after Mikolas left the game with two outs in the third inning. Rafael Devers, who struggled to start the season for the Sox, joined the wild rumpus by reaching base in his first five plate appearances of the game.
Devers had a walk and a run in Boston’s five-run second inning.
He singled in Boston’s four-run third inning.
He doubled and scored in Boston’s five-run sixth inning.
And Boston did not stop their scoring until Chris Roycroft authored a zero in his second inning of relief work, the eighth.
The 18 runs were the most allowed by the Cardinals in eight innings since 2020.
Thomas Saggese’s home run lifted the Cardinals in their four-run ninth inning that also included a National League record. They are the first NL team to start a season with at least 10 hits in their first nine consecutive games. The MLB record is 10, set by Cleveland in 1999.
Mikolas hurls a dud
By the time he threw his first pitch, Mikolas had a 1-0 lead thanks to a pair of doubles by Willson Contreras and Brendan Donovan. That lead answered quickly for the blown save in the first game, but it was a lead that did not last long. The same player who provided the walk-off single for Boston in Game 1 – outfielder Wilyer Abreu – tied Game 2 with an RBI single in the first.
The trouble was just beginning for Mikolas.
His first time through the Red Sox lineup, Mikolas allowed six hits. Four of those batters came around to score. By the time he got through the second inning, Boston was 8 for 14 against the right-hander, and that 1-0 lead he started with had been vaporized and turned into a 6-1 deficit. Mikolas saw his ERA for the season balloon to 11.25 through two starts, and that comes after having one of the highest ERAs in the majors for a starter, at 5.35.
What the Cardinals elect to do with the rotation is not the most pressing issue for a team left groping for innings because of extra innings, a doubleheader, and duds like Sunday night’s that include few innings from the team’s innings-eater.
Graceffo shoulders leftovers
Guaranteed only a day in the majors as the Cardinals’ 27th player for the doubleheader, Graceffo had to shoulder as many innings as possible remaining from Mikolas’ abbreviated start.
His cleanup started rocky and finished worse, but in the middle the right-hander up from Class AAA Memphis provided the Cardinals’ bullpen two full innings of relief and nine outs total. He did not slow the Sox at all.
Entering during the third inning, Graceffo gave up a three-run homer to the first batter he faced, Bregman. He would allow an RBI double to Devers in the fifth and then come apart in the sixth inning. Devers and Bregman both doubled off the right-hander to chase him from the game with Boston’s second five-run inning of the evening.
A member of Memphis’ rotation, Graceffo allowed seven runs on nine hits. Both of the runners he inherited from Mikolas scored. Graceffo struck out two batters and got five groundballs while flashing a four-seam fastball that touched 96 mph and averaged 93.2 mph. Three of the four swings and misses he got came on a slider.
A Bloom-time for Boston
Two of the players who stood out in Sunday evening’s victory were acquired during Chaim Bloom’s time leading the Red Sox baseball operations. Bloom is now an executive with the Cardinals and their president of baseball operations entering 2026, but the work he did in four seasons with Boston to overhaul their farm system is starting to reveal itself in the majors.
Infielder Kristian Campbell, who was drafted during Bloom’s tenure, finalized an eight-year, $60-million extension over the weekend and when he singled in the fourth he reached base in all of his first 10 big-league games. At 22, he joins Ted Williams and George Scott as the only Red Sox players to start their career that way and also be that young.
Hunter Dobbins, also drafted during Bloom’s leadership, made his major-league debut with a start in Game 2. He allowed eight hits but struck out five to limit the Cardinals to two runs in his five innings – and his first big-league win.
Arenado extends hitting streak
With a single in the fifth inning of Sunday night’s game, Arenado extended the longest active hitting streak in the majors to 15 games.
The hitting streak began with his final six games of this past season, and he has at least one hit in all nine of the Cardinals’ games this year. Arenado laced a single to center field in the fifth inning to maintain a rally that fizzled soon after he reached base. Arenado was removed in the bottom of the sixth inning with the Cardinals trailing by nine runs and he finished 1 for 2.
Seeking a rhythm to rock better bunts, Victor Scott II studied the classics: Cardinals Extra
The Cardinals’ Victor Scott II, left, is safe at first on a bunt single as Washington first baseman Nathaniel Lowe waits for the throw in a spring training game on Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Jupiter, Fla.
It would be difficult for the Cardinals to script a better opening weekend for their "transition" year that an emphatic sweep of the visiting Minnesota Twins. The Cardinals got sturdy performances from the starters, stellar play from the defense, and 19 runs in three days from the offsenese. Lars Nootbaar ignited the weekend with a run scored in three of the Cardinals' first four games, and Victor Scott personified the three-game series sweep of the Twins with a dynamic catch in the opener, two stolen bases in the middle game, and the decisive three-run homer in the series finale.
The Cardinals put on a show.
And some of the smallest crowds in Busch Stadium history were there to see it.
How can the Cardinals grow a team and regrow the crowds? Will one assure the other, or are the Cardinals entering more than a "transition" year in the front office and actually embarking on a whole new product to sell fans?
Maybe reset wasn't the word after all. This is a rebranding.
Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff Gordon joins Best Podcast in Baseball host Derrick Goold to discuss the first four games of the Cardinals season and how they came a late-game bullpen leak away from starting 4-0. The Cardinals established their identity early, and the question becomes whether they can maintain it to be competitive in the National League Central. But that isn't the only question. Competitive is quaint. Competitive is the expectation. Moving merch is essential. Will a style of play be enough? Will winning be enough? After several years of selling nostalgia to fans, the Cardinals need more than a clear message about the future.
They need a brand new way to market the team.
The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of أغر؟´«أ½, is a production of the أغر؟´«أ½ Post-Dispatch, , and Derrick Goold. In its 13th year, BPIB drops weekly and is eager to hear from listeners about what it does well and what it can do better. Yes, we're especially talking to you -- the listener we have in Ireland.
أغر؟´«أ½ Post-Dispatch
BOSTON — To improve his rhythm and find just the right bunt to rock the ball to sleep along the line, Cardinals outfielder Victor Scott II got a pen and some paper and studied the classics.
“Rod Carew was good up the lines,†Scott said this weekend at Fenway Park. “How he brought over his bat, from his hitting stance and into the bunt. The cadence he had was so rhythmic. I worked on that. Especially the rhythm he had with his feet. He would sway back and forth, and his bat would come over so smoothly.â€
Scott mimicked Carew’s move into a bunt, beaming with respect as he did.
“It was really smooth,†Scott said. “He wouldn’t give it away.â€
At the spark of the Cardinals’ bonanza inning that carried them to a runaway win last week against one of Carew’s former clubs, the Angels, were two kick-starter bunts. Scott dropped one that snoozed along the third base line, and shortstop Masyn Winn followed with a bunt single. They loaded the bases for what became a five-run burst and a 12-5 victory.
Dismissed or diminished in use during this power-ball era, the bunt is back (to back) — at least for Scott, who spent time studying gifted practitioners to unlock that part of his game.
“That was fun baseball right there,†Scott said of the bunt pairing. “That becomes very exciting very fast.â€
As part of his offseason deep dive in many elements of baseball, Scott loaded up video from YouTube of Ichiro Suzuki, Brett Butler, Willie McGee and Carew. When it came to bunting, he spent several days watching Suzuki but focused a lot on Butler and Carew.
In a paperback-sized journal he keeps with him, Scott wrote down descriptions of their bunt approaches. He wanted to see their cadence, how they moved their feet, how they guided the bunt, how they left the batter’s box — all of it. Then he would write out the different drills he could do to practice those same actions. Every day, he’d set a 10-minute timer on his phone and bunt for 10 minutes.
He set up cones to mark the baselines, and he’d get busy dropping bunts.
With his speed, the upside was obvious.
“What you have to understand is a bunt in fair territory has an outcome of like .461 batting average,†hitting coach Brant Brown said. “So if they’re giving it to you, that’s kind of one of those moments where you take the hit. No hitter every goes home (angry) about 2 for 4 with two singles.â€
Brown has a saying for his bunters.
“It’s like real estate,†he explained. “Location, location, location.â€
And for Scott, that location begins with how he charges toward the pitch.
Willing to use the bunt to take a hit since he sharpened his fundamentals in college, Scott sometimes gets into his run before he drops the bunt. He will start the race for first base and that pulls his head and body away from delivering a clean tap on the pitch. What Scott and the Cardinals want him to do is plow toward the pitcher, put the bunt in the best location and then — dash. Or as Brown called: “Bunt it. Then run.â€
Against the Angels, Scott attempted a bunt but broke toward first before making contact and mishit the pitch. He spent time earlier in the day going through the routine of bunting against a pitching machine, and he credits watching the greats on YouTube and the practice for helping him identify misses and make quick corrections. That’s exactly what he did in that game, adjusted and took the hit when it was offered to start the five-run inning. Pull it off enough and opponents will adapt and other seams in the defense might open.
“He’s done a better job of using the whole field, and he can slap it through that sixth hole — so if he draws them in with the bunt that opens a lot more base hit opportunities for him,†manager Oliver Marmol said. “And a base hit means a double.â€
With a stolen base, a bunt means scoring position.
And a few more will give Scott, a songwriter in addition to a center fielder, the chance to use the rhythm he learned from the classics to inspire rhymes. He tested out a few last week, saying he “bunted that with a pillow,†that the “bunt was Tempur-pedic†and that the bunt “got a full eight hours of sleep.â€
“Hopefully all of my bunts are Tempur-pedic,†Scott added Saturday.
Graceffo recalled
In need of insurance if one of the games Sunday went sideways on the starter or lingered into extra innings, the Cardinals promoted right-hander Gordon Graceffo from Class AAA Memphis. Graceffo had been scheduled to pitch Saturday for the Redbirds, so he arrived in Boston without any restrictions on his availability.
In his only Class AAA Memphis start of the season, Graceffo allowed four runs and needed 56 pitches to get through 2 1/3 innings. He struck out five in a March 30 game vs. the Reds’ top minor-league affiliate.
The Red Sox promoted one of their top prospects, right-hander Hunter Dobbins. An appearance would be Dobbins’ major league debut.
The home team can choose if the 27th player is eligible for both of the doubleheader games or only the second one, and the Red Sox chose both.
Chills, etc.
With a first pitch temperature of 47 degrees Sunday afternoon, the first game of the doubleheader was the coldest for a game between the Red Sox and Cardinals regardless of ballpark. The four previous times a game started between the teams with a temperature less than 50 degrees was at Fenway Park for World Series games in October 2004 and 2013.
Lars Nootbaar reached base in 18 of his first 35 plate appearances, and that was the most in the Cardinals’ first seven games of a season since Jim Edmonds reached base 20 times in 2000 and Mark McGwire reached base 21 times in 1998.
In his first start of the season, Tekoah Roby, a standout pitching prospect in spring, struck out five and pitched four scoreless innings Saturday for Class AA Springfield (Missouri).
How future Cardinals POBO Chaim Bloom's influence shapes current Red Sox: Cardinals Extra
BOSTON — While his tenure guiding Boston’s ball club will be forever notable because of the MVP who isn’t a lifelong Red Sox, Cardinals executive Chaim Bloom’s lingering influence on the club seasons after his departure is clear by who is playing the Cardinals this weekend.
Boston’s present roster has the fingerprints of the Cardinals’ future leader.
Bloom, who currently oversees the Cardinals’ farm system overhaul and as president-elect will take over baseball operations this fall, spent four years as chief baseball officer with the Red Sox. Nine of the 26 players on Boston’s active roster were acquired by Bloom’s front office, another four were developed during that time, and a 14th player, Rafael Devers, was signed to a club record 10-year, $313.5-million extension by Bloom. The residue of his design remains on the ’25 Sox — and another inheritance he left is above to arrive.
How he redeveloped Boston’s farm system is part of the reason the Cardinals hired him to do the same for them.
Boston’s “big three†prospects — three of the top young talents in the industry — were all drafted and initially developed with Bloom at the helm. That includes rookie Kristian Campbell, who Boston announced an eight-year, $60 million extension with Saturday. Ranked 30th of the 30 clubs when Bloom arrived in October 2019, Boston’s farm system ranked 10th in the industry when Bloom was fired September 2023.
Chaim Bloom, incoming Cardinals president of baseball operations, waits for live pitching to begin on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, during the second day of spring training at the team’s practice facility in Jupiter, Fla.
Christian Gooden, Post-Dispatch
“He was charged with redoing their farm system, and obviously he was able to accomplish that and got a lot of talent,†said John Mozeliak, the Cardinals’ longtime president of baseball operations who is completing his contract in the role this season. “Hit on some draft picks that worked out well. When you think about where the Cardinals have been — we haven’t had too many picks in the top 10 in a long, long time — to have that two years in a row is exciting. The investment that we’re making on player development so on the margins that should help as well. And I also feel like from an international standpoint, under (assistant general manager Moises Rodriguez), we’re seeing a return on investment.
“There are a lot of things that line up well for that to work.â€
Bloom had other tasks when hired by Boston than rebuilding a farm system that had been harvested to sustain a run of high-cost contenders. Red Sox ownership wanted to reset the luxury tax penalties by reducing payroll, and Bloom did that. He also, within the first few months of his time atop baseball ops, charged with trading one of the best players in the game — who could have been one of the all-time greats in Red Sox history: Mookie Betts.
Boston was unsuccessful signing Betts to an extension before Bloom came from Tampa Bay, but the job of trading Betts for some return went to him. He bundled Betts, David Price, and Price’s hefty contract into a deal with the Dodgers that sent Betts into the upper-echelons of their history, not Boston’s.
In the Betts trade, Bloom received outfielder Alex Verdugo. He was later moved by Boston’s current front office for two pitchers on their opening day roster, including Saturday’s scheduled starter, Richard Fitts.
Including those two, nine of the Red Sox 13 active pitchers were acquired by new Red Sox baseball ops exec Craig Breslow’s group, and he had to restock the pitching depth over the past two years. On the position side, nine of the 13 trace back to Bloom’s time.
That includes shortstop Trevor Story, an All-Star who Bloom signed to a six-year, $140 million free-agent contract in March 2022. Story can opt-out after this season, which he enters healthy.
Bloom’s lingering impact on Boston may still be beneath the surface of the majors. As Boston ascended from the worst-rated farm system to the top 10, Bloom’s group picked in the top 14 only once. (They selected No. 3 prospect Marcelo Mayer fourth overall in 2021.) Seven of Boston’s current top 10 prospects, per MLB Pipeline, were added during Bloom’s tenure. Twelve of their top 20 were.
“His background was more on the farm side, more of the player development, and naturally when we were looking for that — that skillset worked,†Mozeliak said. “You can add talent quick. You can move from being ranked 20th to the top 10 pretty well if you draft well.â€
Fernandez regaining slider
When trailing in Friday’s game, the Cardinals saw an opportunity they wanted to get reliever Ryan Fernandez into an inning to work through something now that should help him later.
Through spring training and into the regular season, Fernandez’s slider has been misbehaving. The shape of it is off — with it plunging instead of veering. Baseball Savant tracks vertical movement of pitches and illustrates that by using the face of clock, as if it were hanging down from the catcher’s neck. Fernandez’s slider was at 8 o’clock last season, and it’s been at 7 o’clock this season — the difference between off the end of the bat and into the bat.
His cutter, likewise, has seen a drift in break.
“I get that loopy-ness and you can see it out of the hand,†Fernandez said of his slider.
Cardinals pitcher Ryan Fernandez does situational pitching drills with coaches on Feb. 14, 2025, at the team’s practice facility in Jupiter, Fla.
Christian Gooden, Post-Dispatch
Fernandez started the seventh inning Friday, and the goal was to get him a game-speed opportunity to improve that slider. Fernandez allowed three runs on two hits and a walk, but he felt corrections made in real time. He had been pulling his eyes away from his target and felt he maintained eye contact longer, his arm not racing to catch up. Fernandez called it “a split-second longer†but he got results.
And the metrics on his slider were closer to last year’s with less vertical break.
“Getting him in hopefully allows him to get where we need him to get,†manager Oliver Marmol said. “He might have taken a step in the right direction.â€
Mozeliak meets the Monster, etc.
In his last tour of the majors as the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations, Mozeliak ducked inside the Green Monster at Fenway Park to see behind the scenes of the hand-operated scoreboard and take part in a tradition that players, executives, and reporters have for decades: He signed his name on the inside of the historic left-field wall. … The Cardinals’ streak of seven games with at least 10 hits to begin the season ties the club record set previously in 1901 and 1956. The MLB record is 10 consecutive double-digit hit games to the start a season and was set in 1999 by Cleveland. … Marmol entered the weekend one win shy of tying Mike Shildt for career wins as Cardinals’ manager. With 252, Shildt currently ranks 15th. With 62 wins this season, Marmol will move into 12th.
It would be difficult for the Cardinals to script a better opening weekend for their "transition" year that an emphatic sweep of the visiting Minnesota Twins. The Cardinals got sturdy performances from the starters, stellar play from the defense, and 19 runs in three days from the offsenese. Lars Nootbaar ignited the weekend with a run scored in three of the Cardinals' first four games, and Victor Scott personified the three-game series sweep of the Twins with a dynamic catch in the opener, two stolen bases in the middle game, and the decisive three-run homer in the series finale.
The Cardinals put on a show.
And some of the smallest crowds in Busch Stadium history were there to see it.
How can the Cardinals grow a team and regrow the crowds? Will one assure the other, or are the Cardinals entering more than a "transition" year in the front office and actually embarking on a whole new product to sell fans?
Maybe reset wasn't the word after all. This is a rebranding.
Post-Dispatch sports columnist Jeff Gordon joins Best Podcast in Baseball host Derrick Goold to discuss the first four games of the Cardinals season and how they came a late-game bullpen leak away from starting 4-0. The Cardinals established their identity early, and the question becomes whether they can maintain it to be competitive in the National League Central. But that isn't the only question. Competitive is quaint. Competitive is the expectation. Moving merch is essential. Will a style of play be enough? Will winning be enough? After several years of selling nostalgia to fans, the Cardinals need more than a clear message about the future.
They need a brand new way to market the team.
The Best Podcast in Baseball, sponsored by Closets by Design of أغر؟´«أ½, is a production of the أغر؟´«أ½ Post-Dispatch, , and Derrick Goold. In its 13th year, BPIB drops weekly and is eager to hear from listeners about what it does well and what it can do better. Yes, we're especially talking to you -- the listener we have in Ireland.
أغر؟´«أ½ Post-Dispatch
BOSTON — A lot of the consternation and calculus about playing time coming out of spring training has obvious solutions, one is production and the other all teams want to avoid.
With injury can come clarity.
The Cardinals’ approach to starts at second base simplified Friday when they placed Nolan Gorman on the 10-day injured list because of a hamstring tear that will sideline him for at least another week. Gorman said the diagnosis of the strain in his right hamstring was “super-mild,†and he already has been cleared for some baseball activities. Gorman can play catch and hit, but because he’s unable to play the field without aggravating the injury the Cardinals did not want to go all weekend without depth for the infield.
“We can’t go a man short for that long,†manager Oliver Marmol said.
The Cardinals promoted Thomas Saggese from Class AAA Memphis, and he joined the team at Fenway Park on Friday afternoon. He did not play in his team’s 13-9 loss. Saggese has played several innings at shortstop for the Redbirds, and will offer a backup at the position for Masyn Winn.
In Memphis’ first four games, Saggese started 4 for 14 (.286) with a home run.
Gorman injured his hamstring while running into second base Tuesday night in the 10th inning. He was forced out at the base in a situation that previous years would have required him to run full speed through the base — in an attempt to outrun the throw and create a little chaos on the bases. Major League Baseball has outlawed that run-straight-through gambit for this season and said runners must turn toward third base, prompting some concern that attempting a tighter turn at second would lead to injury.
That is not what happened to Gorman, he and his manager said. Gorman had his hamstring grab on the way to second base, not as he put the brakes on near it.
Gorman traveled with the team to Boston to remain with athletic trainers.
“I’m able to get on the field and do stuff here,†Gorman said.
The Cardinals’ decision to start Victor Scott II in center field had a downstream impact on Gorman’s playing time at second base because of other players shifting position, namely Brendan Donovan from left field to second. The Cardinals believe it will be possible to get Gorman regular at-bats at second, sometimes third, or occasionally designated hitter. In his lone start so far this season, Gorman had three hits, including a home run, and he started the year 4 for 8. His absence positions Donovan for the bulk of the starts at second on this six-game trip, as he did Friday.
The Cardinals backdated Gorman’s stint on the injured list to Wednesday. He will be eligible to come off the IL at the start of the Cardinals’ next homestand, which begins April 11.
Arenado eager for Fenway — with Cardinals
There was a window just before the start of spring training when the Cardinals believed the Red Sox would be their most likely trade partner for All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado, and the Red Sox had interest, sources said. They also had an offer out to another third baseman.
When Alex Bregman signed a three-year, $120-million deal to play third for the Sox, it became certain that Arenado would spend spring training — and longer — with the Cardinals.
That still meant he’d be at Fenway for Friday’s opening day.
“I love to pull the ball,†Arenado said after batting practice, smiling and looking toward left field’s Green Monster. “I like that wall a lot. As a right-handed hitter this is a great place to hit, of course. That excites me. When I’m right, I feel good at any ballpark.â€
In his first 13 games at Fenway, Arenado hit .333 with a .704 slugging percentage, six home runs, 15 RBIs, nine runs, and a total of eight extra-base hits. He had far more total bases (38) than strikeouts (16). He was 1 for 5 Friday.
The Red Sox were one of the few teams he would have waived his no-trade clause to approve a move, and one of the reasons he would was reuniting with Boston shortstop Trevor Story, a close friend and former teammate on the left side of the Colorado Rockies’ infield.
“We had our run, and it’s all good,†Arenado said. “I’m not coming here (to Boston), and I’m OK and I feel good. And I like what I’m doing and where I’m at. I’m just focused on that.â€
New dimensions for Scott’s game
At the start of every road series, Cardinals outfielders and coach Jon Jay have a checklist of things to discuss and sometimes explore along the walls of the away ballpark. In Pittsburgh, they talk about the chain-link fence that’s in play, and how PNC Park and a few other stadiums have firm padding at the wall that kicks balls back to the infield. Fenway offers all kinds of quirks for that checklist.
There’s the Monster looming in left, the wall half as high in center, an alley for triples, and the waist-high wall jutting out there between right field and the bullpens. There also are the seats in the short right-field corner around Pesky Pole.
“Down the lines, gaps, and how the wall plays and if there’s different padding,†Marmol listed. “They go through that no matter where we play.â€
If before the game wasn’t enough, center field Victor Scott explored them during the game Friday, too. In the second inning, Scott went back to the high-wall in center and jumped to pluck a fly ball just before it hit the padding. In the fourth, Scott dashed from straight-away center to leap and catch a ball headed for the Sox bullpen over one of Fenway’s lower walls.
Herrera’s batting gloves, etc.
As a memento from Ivan Herrera’s three-homer game Wednesday at Busch Stadium — the first three-homer game by a Cardinals catcher at any ballpark — the Cardinals Hall of Fame received the batting gloves he wore.
The Cardinals will not have their victory blue jerseys for this weekend series at Fenway Park. They’ll wear road gray on Saturday. The team expects to have the blues later in the season for road Saturday games. The Cardinals will wear their “The Lou†City Connect jerseys for all Friday home games this season.
Before their home opener, the Red Sox honored the 1975 team that won the American League pennant. Among the greats in attendance: Carlton Fisk, Carl Yastrzemski, and Fred Lynn, who won the MVP and AL Rookie of the Year in 1975.
