Every year, or at least every year since 2012, we’ve taken some time after the season was over to look at the past 162 games through the lens of the players that played them (and the management that was in charge of them). Last year, the Exit Interview series spent less time digging into splits and finding numerical oddities and more time reflecting on the player and their season. It was a style that seemed to work so we’re going to bring it back again this year. The legendary cardinalsgifs is back to bring us excellent series art, so it’s all downhill after you see that!
Player: Nick Raposo
It used to be that the Cardinals made a point of making sure everyone got a chance to play in a game, even if their time up in the big leagues was going to be short. After all, you never knew whether this player would return to the majors, especially if they were more of an organizational soldier than a real prospect. Yet for the second time in this series, we find a player that got onto the 26-man roster, only to never truly become a major league player.
Add Raposo didn’t make a lot of sense even at the time. Willson Contreras was out with his arm injury but he was already being rumored to return. So when Ivan Herrera got injured and went on the IL, the more sensible call would have seemed to be to activate Contreras and let him be the backup while he finished healing. Instead, the Cards made a point to get Raposo on the major league roster by putting Keynan Middleton (who, granted, wasn’t coming back) on the 60-day IL. Two days later, Contreras was activated and Raposo was demoted, never to return again. I’m sure John Mozeliak would say that it was just one of those times where you get caught a little short, but it was still weird. However, it did allow for the first Patron Player, as Raposo donned #70 for his brief major league stay.
What’s in store for 2025: Raposo was designated for assignment when the Erick Fedde trade was made and wound up moving on to the Toronto organization. He’ll probably catch minor league games for them or for another team and maybe, if the cosmic tumblers line up and he gets another major league shot, next time he’ll get an AB.
