4 Cardinals players who won't survive May on the MLB roster

It's been an uneven start to the 2024 season for the St. Louis Cardinals who wound up winning four of five entering play on Sunday but lost a heartbreaking game that they should've won, falling to 13-15 on the season.

There's reason to believe that the Cardinals will improve as their offense that's excellent on paper has been atrocious to begin the season, but also the Cardinals are a sub-.500 team one month into the season despite having Lance Lynn pitching at a sub-3.00 ERA clip and the bullpen being un-hittable late in games.

One thing that has to happen for the Cardinals to attempt to make an improbable run to the postseason is for them to get some key injured players back. Fortunately for them, one outfielder is nearing a return to action while other injured players might not be too far behind. For those players to come back, they'll have to replace others currently occupying spots on the team's 26-man active roster. These four in particular might be in the organization, but won't have a spot on the active roster by the end of May.

4) The Cardinals will eventually have to send Pedro Pages down

For the last week, the Cardinals have rostered three catchers on their MLB roster in Willson Contreras, Ivan Herrera, and Pedro Pages. The reason for this is so St. Louis could start both Contreras and Herrera, two of the few players who were actually hitting on this team, at catcher and DH and not worry about having a catcher on their bench.

Contreras has been easily the Cardinals' best hitter all season long, but Herrera has really struggled of late, going hitless in his last 15 at-bats. As a result of this, he only started one of their three games against the Mets.

If Herrera is not starting regularly alongside Contreras, there is no need for them to roster Pages, a player who has appeared in just four games this season without a start and has only two plate appearances.

3) Jose Fermin won't survive May on the active roster

With the Cardinals having a miserable 2023 season, Jose Fermin got a chance to get his feet wet at the MLB level after being acquired in the 2022 offseason in a trade with the Guardians. Unfortunately, he played in just 21 games and had a .594 OPS.

With the Cardinals signing Brandon Crawford and Matt Carpenter as veteran infielders to come off their bench, Fermin began the 2024 season in AAA, but since he had a strong Spring Training and was already on the 40-man roster, he was almost certainly going to find his way back at some point.

When they sent down the struggling Jordan Walker, the Cardinals promoted Fermin to the active roster. In the four games that they've played since his recall, he has yet to appear in a game. Chances are, he'll only appear in games that are out of reach barring a random spot start at some point. When the Cardinals get a player like Dylan Carlson back, there's a very real chance Fermin is sent down.

2) Nick Robertson shouldn't be on the Cardinals roster if he won't get used

The Cardinals bullpen has been excellent in the early parts of this season, mainly with the trio of JoJo Romero, Andrew Kittredge, and Ryan Helsley locking down games. The back end of the 'pen is great, and will be even better when Keynan Middleton makes his return from the IL, but the depth is sorely lacking. We saw that clearly on Sunday when the Cardinals preferred to use Matthew Liberatore more than they had all season in an extra-innings loss to the Mets rather than use a guy like Nick Robertson.

Robertson was acquired in the trade that sent Tyler O'Neill to Boston this offseason, but began the year in the minors after an up-and-down Spring Training performance. Robertson made 18 appearances for the Dodgers and Red Sox last season but had a 6.04 ERA in 22.1 innings pitched.

Perhaps that's why the right-hander has made a total of one appearance in the seven days he has been on the Cardinals roster since his recall. Since he wasn't used in Sunday's game, chances are, he'll only be used in lopsided affairs as he was in last Tuesday's 14-1 loss against the Diamondbacks. If he won't be used a vast majority of the time, it's hard to expect that he'll last the entire month of May on the active roster.

1) The Cardinals won't keep John King on their active roster

The big trade that the Cardinals made with the Rangers sent Jordan Montgomery to Texas and landed prospects like Thomas Saggese and Tekoah Roby in St. Louis, but a lesser-discussed name was John King who looked like a throw-in from the Rangers. King had appeared in 15 games with the Rangers in 2023 but struggled, posting a 5.79 ERA in those outings.

His season turned around once he put on a Cardinals uniform as King appeared in 20 games for the Cardinals down the stretch and posted a 1.45 ERA in 18.2 innings of work. It looked as if that solid performance would help him begin the 2024 season as a member of the 'pen, but King struggled in Spring Training and began the year in the minors.

He has been called up a couple of times since, but has not stuck and has only made two appearances. He has allowed one run in 2.1 innings pitched overall. King's first outing came when their bullpen was absolutely shot, and his second outing came in a 10-3 blowout loss. Like Robertson, it appears as if King will only be used if Oli Marmol absolutely has to use him.

King has options and is clearly not a player that the Cardinals will rely on, at least not anytime soon. With that in mind, chances are, he'll get sent down at some point soon either when a pitcher comes back or when another arm stands out in the minors.