Questions remain for Cards

JUPITER, Fla. With the Cardinals 13 days away from Opening Day in St. Louis on March 31, the 25-man roster is beginning to take shape. Non-roster invitee Ramon Vazquez was reassigned to Minor League camp to help clarify the backup infield competition. Fernando Salas has pitched his way into the bullpen and might be the replacement for Kyle McClellan. But three questions about the roster still remain before the Cardinals head north. Who will be the backup infielders? The Cardinals saw their plans for the infield change when utility infielder Nick Punto went down with a sports hernia shortly after camp opened. Signed in the offseason to play second, short and third, Punto will instead be out until at least May. The injury opened a spot for someone to play their way onto the club. Matt Carpenter may have done just that. Carpenter, the club's 13th round pick in the 2009 draft out of TCU, was expected to be the starting third baseman at Memphis in just his second full year of professional baseball. But with two more hits on Thursday, Carpenter is now hitting .385 this spring with the third-most at-bats on the team. Most figured he didn't have much of a chance to make the team. With the way he's played, Carpenter would have to be considered the favorite at this point to sneak onto the roster as the second backup infielder. He is competing with Dan Descalso for the final spot, who played well during a short two-week callup at the end of last season. Descalso can play second and third and could play short in a pinch, which would seem to make him more valuable than Carpenter. But with the way Carpenter has the hit and the Cardinals needing a backup third baseman who will get time when they rest David Freese, the 25-year-old Carpenter may get the nod. Tyler Greene has struggled this spring but he will make the club as the other backup infielder because of his ability to play second, short, third and even the outfield. Who will be Kyle McClellan's replacement in the bullpen? One of the reasons Kyle McClellan wasn't the fifth starter last year was because the Cardinals thought his role in the bullpen was too valuable. They didn't have a replacement they were confident enough in to move the right-hander out of the bullpen, so they didn't. They kept him in the bullpen and he had another great season. But things appear to be different this spring. The Cardinals haven't made it official, but barring some kind of injury or unforeseen circumstance, McClellan will be the fifth starter. He's only allowed one run this spring and has pitched great. But another reason why he's finally going to make the jump is because of what the Cardinals have in the bullpen. Several guys have been impressive this spring including Fernando Salas and Bryan Augenstein. Salas appears to have pitched his way onto the club at this point. He's only allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings and has five strikeouts. He gained valuable experience during several stints with the big league club last year and has come into camp looking even better this year. Augenstein likely would have a shot at making the bullpen if not for Salas being as impressive as he been. The Cardinals claimed the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Augenstein off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the offseason and he's looked like the pitcher they thought they were getting. He's allowed one run in seven innings this spring and has seven strikeouts. He also pitched two scoreless innings in a B' game, bringing his total to one run in nine innings with 11 strikeouts. But despite his spring spring, he will likely lose out to Salas for the final bullpen spot. Miguel Batista will handle the other bullpen spot previously held by Blake Hawksworth. Will the offseason additions of Ryan Theriot and Lance Berkman pay off? The Cardinals went out and got Ryan Theriot from the Dodgers and signed Lance Berkman to an 8 million contract in the offseason to try and bolster their offense. The only problem so far is that the two have been two of the more disappointing players in camp. Noting that spring training stats don't mean whole lot and players often turn things around once the regular season begins, one can't look at the numbers for Theriot and Berkman this spring and at least not be mildly concerned with their results so far. Theriot is hitting just .167 (6-for-36), the lowest average of any Cardinals player still in camp. He does have seven walks, but just six hits in 36 at-bats is nothing to be excited about. He's played well defensively, but he wasn't brought here for his defense. Brendan Ryan could have done that. Theriot was brought in to hit and so far he hasn't done that. Berkman has been serving as the designated hitter most of camp while resting his sore left elbow, but he hasn't hit much either. The switch-hitting veteran homered in his at-bat of the spring but has looked lost at the plate a lot since then. He's hitting just .229 (8-for-35) and has struck out seven times. He said Thursday he's feeling good at the plate and that his swing doesn't match the results, so he may fall into that category of players who turn things on once the regular season comes around. But with less than two weeks away until Opening Day, both Berkman and Theriot are worthy of keeping an eye on as the regular season approaches. Both will obviously need to be much better in the regular season for the Cardinals to contend in the NL Central.