Opening Day baseball is upon us, with the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees getting things started on Wednesday night on Netflix. The St. Louis Cardinals will open the season at home against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday at 4:15 PM ET.
The Cardinals are in the middle of a rough stretch of baseball, and it will not get any better any time soon. The 2026 season could be a very long one for them, as they got rid of most of their talent from the last few years. Gone are Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Tommy Edman, Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, and Ryan Helsley. They haven't really brought anyone in either to replace the talent outside of Dustin May and Ryne Stanek.
Some talent remains on the roster, like Masyn Wynn, Alec Burleson, Nolan Gorman, Victor Scott II, and rising prospect JJ Wetherholt, who made the Opening Day roster for the Red Birds. Lars Nootbaar is another solid player; however, it turns out that the Cardinals will now be without Nootbaar for a long time due to a foot injury.
St. Louis announced some roster moves on Wednesday to confirm it.
“STLCards announced that 2B JJ Wetherholt had his contract selected from Memphis (AAA). OF Lars Nootbaar (bilateral Haglund’s Deformity excision) was placed on the 60-day Injured List. RHP Hunter Dobbins (ACL rehab) was placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to March 22.”
Nootbaar's injury is uncommon, and it needs a bit of explaining to help understand what is happening. According to FootCareMD, “Bilateral Haglund’s deformity excision is an outpatient surgical procedure to remove bony bumps on both heels that cause chronic pain by irritating the Achilles tendon and bursa.”
Depending on when the surgery happens, Nootbaar will be recovering for 6-12 weeks before he can get back to real baseball.
2026 is already off to a rough start for the Cardinals.
