Cardinals Insider Calls For Team To Pursue A Key Free Agent
With Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty gone and Adam Wainwright set to retire at the end of the season, the St. Louis Cardinals will have their work cut out for them in the offseason.
They are on pace to have their first losing season since 2007 and will have three spots to fill in the starting rotation.
The Cardinals will need to use both the trade and free-agent markets to address their needs.
One star pitcher in Japan is likely to be a free agent this coming winter.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is one pitcher who the Cardinals could potentially target.
Outfielder Lars Nootbaar played with him on Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic.
On Twitter, Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called for the Cardinals to target Yamamoto in free agency this offseason.
Lars Nootbaar on Team Japan teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a likely MLB free agent this offseason: “He’s shoving over there. I mean, the velo is the velo, right?”
Yamamoto? Let’s go.
Make it happen, #STLCards.
This is a pivotal offseason.https://t.co/rlXkaqO25p— Benjamin Hochman (@hochman) August 14, 2023
While the Cardinals replenished their minor league pitching depth at the trade deadline, they still have their work cut out for them this winter.
And if they want to truly improve the pitching staff and become a contending team again, they are going to need top-level starting pitching.
Yamamoto can certainly provide that for the Cards.
In his tweet, Hochman mentioned what Nootbaar had to say about the hard-throwing right-hander.
Nootbaar commented on the fact that Yamamoto has an electric fastball with tremendous velocity.
St. Louis is in need of swing-and-miss pitching and Yamamoto would certainly provide them with the ace they have been looking for.
Free agency won’t start until after the World Series, so it will be a while before St. Louis can address the holes in their rotation.
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