Cardinals Place Lars Nootbaar On 60-Day IL
The Cardinals introduced that outfielder Lars Nootbaar has been positioned on the 60-day injured record. That is presumably to open a 40-man roster spot for prospect J.J. Wetherholtbecause it was reported just a few days in the past that Wetherholt would make the Opening Day roster.
It’s an unlucky improvement for each Nootbaar and the Cardinals. The outfielder is coming off a down season throughout which he produced a .234/.325/.361 line and 96 wRC+. That was a notable drop-off from his three prior seasons, as he hit a mixed .246/.351/.426 for a 118 wRC+ throughout that span.
In October, he underwent surgical procedure on each heels to shave down Haglund’s deformities, that are basically painful protrusions of bone. In the wake of that process, it was anticipated that Nootbaar may have an opportunity to be prepared for Opening Day. It grew to become increasingly obvious that he was going to start out on the IL as spring coaching stored occurring with out him showing in a sport. Now he’s not solely touchdown on the IL but it surely’s the 60-day model. That permits the Cards to open a 40-man spot however means Nootbaar cannot rejoin the group till late May even in a best-case situation.
The Cards are rebuilding, that means their gamers nearing free company have been largely traded within the offseason. Nootbaar is managed by 2027, identical to Brendan Donovan was, and sure would have been moved if not for the questions on his well being. Ideally, he would have been again on the sector in 2026 together with his manufacturing again to his pre-2025 ranges. That would have made him a notable deadline commerce candidate this summer season.
That all may nonetheless occur however the plan goes to be delayed and Nootbaar will due to this fact have much less time to showcase his well being earlier than the deadline. For now, the Cards are going to be giving the outfield taking part in time to guys like Jordan Walker, Victor Scott II, Nathan Church, Jose Fermin and Thomas Saggese.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
