A bow at Busch Stadium? Matt Carpenter 'open' to playing in 2025, enjoys role: Cardinals Extra

At some point this weekend, during the final home series of the regular season, manager Oliver Marmol intends to find a spot for Matt Carpenter to get his bow at Busch Stadium similar to the moments orchestrated in recent seasons for Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols and Adam Wainwright.

"I will," the manager said Thursday. "I'd like to."

But that does not mean it will be a farewell.

Carpenter, now 38, would like to play in 2025 and told the Post-Dispatch on Thursday that he enjoyed the part-time player and full-time mentor role the Cardinals cast him in for his return to the organization this season.

"I'm certainly open to play," Carpenter said. "I like this role. I think considering the role, I feel like I've done well in it, and I also think, more importantly, I understand the bigger picture of it. I'd be open to doing it again."

In 146 at-bats, Carpenter has four home runs to go with a .236 average, a .317 on-base percentage and a .695 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). Most of the at-bats came during 38 games at designated hitter. His 12th season with the Cardinals gave him 159 homers entering the weekend to go with a .261 average, a .366 on-base percentage and production that was 21% better than league average.

Carpenter was a three-time All-Star as the Cardinals' leadoff hitter, and he ignited the top offense in the National League in 2013 with a record 55 doubles and a National League-best 126 runs. That season, he also had 199 hits for the NL pennant winners.

Carpenter finished twice in the top 10 for the NL MVP while a member of the Cardinals, and the fans will get a chance to vote him into the club's Hall of Fame and a red jacket three years after he retires.

He said he's just not thinking about that yet, or this possibly being his final weekend as a home player at Busch Stadium. He and once and current teammate Lance Lynn showed this season it's always possible to go home again.

It just took an unexpected series of events that began with his trade to Atlanta for Carpenter to re-sign with the Cardinals. In order to cut salary ahead of 2024, the San Diego Padres traded Carpenter and $1.5 million to Atlanta along with the $5.5 million salary he triggered with a player option. The Braves notified Carpenter that they did not plan to keep him and decided to release him so he could choose where next to play.

The Cardinals signed him for the major league minimum ($740,000), leaving Atlanta and San Diego to cover the rest of his salary.

A free agent this winter, his next deal will be more direct and without the subsidy from two other clubs.

"Going to cross that bridge when we get there," Carpenter said. "I'm open to playing. We'll see what that looks like. I'm open to doing this role again. I'm open to just a lot of things. We'll see."

Gray grinding as he hits 200 K's

On his way to becoming the ninth pitcher in Cardinals history to strike out at least 200 batters in a single season, Sonny Gray pitched through some "lingering" discomfort Wednesday night that limited how deep he was expected to pitch into the game.

"I didn't feel great in general, physically," Gray said after his eight strikeouts in 52⁄3 innings. "So it was trying to make pitches and have a game plan and adjust on the fly with what you've got that day. ... I had some lingering things just kind of going on through the week."

Gray will throw a bullpen session this weekend to help determine if he'll make one more start during the regular season or if Wednesday was his 2024 finale.

His next possible start would be at Coors Field against the Rockies, one of only two clubs he does not have a win against in his career.

Gray finished Wednesday with 203 strikeouts this season in 1661⁄3 innings. He authored the 20th 200-strikeout season in Cardinals history and got there in fewer innings than any other Cardinals pitcher to surpass 200. Heading toward the regular season's final week, there are nine MLB pitchers with 200 strikeouts or within seven strikeouts of getting there.

"It's a neat feat," Gray said. "It's not easy to do. There will probably be less than 10 guys in the league to do that. Strikeouts play in situations like that (two on, one out), right? Being able to strike someone out is important."

JJ Wetherholt, the Cardinals' pick at seventh overall in July's draft, had an RBI triple Wednesday night to help Class A Palm Beach to the Florida State League championship. Wetherholt, in his first months as a pro, joined nine other newly signed Cardinals to drive their Low-A affiliate to its third league championship in 20 years.

The PB-Cards set a franchise record with 83 wins and had the best record in their division for the first and the second half of the season. Wetherholt joined the team for its final 29 regular-season games and slashed .295/.405/.400 as its shortstop. His triple paced the PB-Cards to a 6-4 victory after a lengthy rain delay Wednesday at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida .

"They believed in one another, and they thought they were the best team," PB-Cards manager Gary Kendall told Post-Dispatch baseball writer Daniel Guerrero after the championship game. "We had to beat a really, really good ball club in (Detroit's Class A affiliate) Lakeland. They pitched and played defense and could swing the bat, so it was quite an accomplishment. I know they're proud of each other because they hung in there."

The Cardinals' Class AA affiliate in Springfield, Missouri, played Thursday night to advance to the Texas League championship series.

For years, the Cardinals sought postseason success as part of player development.

"There's a lot of value in that, and we talk about it often in the minor leagues: You don't want to win at the expense of development, but you want to develop winners," Marmol said. "That was important. You want guys to understand what it feels like to play nine innings and be on the right side of it when it's over."

Extra bases

With two wins in two major league appearances this season, Michael McGreevy is the first Cardinal in at least 125 years to do so as a starter in one game and a reliever in the other. The most recent big leaguer to win both of his first two games as a starter and reliever was Houston's Framber Valdez in 2018.

The Pirates designated pitcher and former Cardinal Jake Woodford for assignment Thursday before the series finale. The team had promoted him to the majors just to start Wednesday's game against his former club. Pittsburgh promoted right-hander Isaac Mattson to take Woodford's spot on the active roster.

The Cardinals won the season series against the Pirates for the 21st time in the past 25 years. The 2023 season was the first time in a decade they did not win the season series from Pittsburgh.

Lead baseball writer