MLB Insider Discusses How Cardinals Can Improve Their Pitching Staff

The St. Louis Cardinals have found themselves in a precarious position this season.

The team’s pitching has been a major problem since the end of last season and has only gotten worse this year, as no additions were made in the offseason.

To further complicate matters, only Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz are under contract for 2024, meaning that once Adam Wainwright retires, St. Louis will have three rotation spots to fill before the start of the season.

Plenty of pitchers will be available in free agency or on the trade market this coming winter.

On Tuesday, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN stopped by 101 ESPN, a local St. Louis sports radio station, to discuss the outlook of the offseason for the Cards.

ESPN MLB insider @kileymcd joined #BKandFerrario to discuss how the free agent market sets up for the #STLCards to address their pitching staff this offseason.

PODCAST: https://t.co/LnPQpDwRXt pic.twitter.com/rtGLXKTZUO

— 101 ESPN St. Louis (@101espn) August 9, 2023

McDaniel believes that in terms of offensive production and bench depth, any solution can be found internally for the Cardinals.

This in turn could give them the opportunity to trade from their glut of outfielders to get some pitching.

McDaniel proposed the idea of the Cardinals possibly trading away Dylan Carlson.

The Cardinals payroll has gone down since the trades of Jordan Montgomery, Jordan Hicks, Paul DeJong, and Jack Flaherty, and McDaniel calculated that the team has roughly $62 million available to spend this winter.

McDaniel stated that the Cardinals’ best bet would be to look at top-end starters such as Aaron Nola and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and possibly even look at Josh Hader as an option for the bullpen, who is also a free agent.

As McDaniel alluded to, the pitching reinforcements are more likely to come from outside the organization than within.

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