The St. Louis Cardinals' starting rotation will look very different in 2024.
St. Louis entered the 2023 season with Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, and Steven Matz in the rotation and plenty of question marks. Things didn't pan out and ultimately Montgomery and Flaherty were traded away, Matz' role fluctuated throughout the season, and the club had inconsistent play.
The Cardinals likely will be filling three spots in the rotation this offseason and there will be some tough decisions to make. The free agent pitching market is very deep this year, but St. Louis will have a lot of competition. Rumors already have started to flow and some names that have been floated are Philadelphia Phillies ace Aaron Nola and Minnesota Twins star Sonny Gray. Another player the Cardinals will have "discussions" with is San Diego Padres lefty Blake Snell, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold.
"Reported the Nola and Gray information in this morning's paper," Goold said. "The Cardinals believe they can make a compelling offer to Gray, and we'll see how quickly they move to do that when the postseason is over. Nola is going to generate an auction. We'll see if the Cardinals have the stomach for that. They'll have discussions with Snell, and of course, and there has already some intel gathering on that end to see where and how he would fit, but also how far to go in the bidding to get him.
"In the coming weeks -- and especially at the (general manager) meetings -- there will be more names that surface. Again, there will be a lot of guessing out there. And some of it will be right. Some of it will just a lot of tickles on Xwitter. I'm really going to try to provide what reporting can prove and give a sense of what the Cardinals think is realistic, and what the market says is realistic."
This isn't the first time Snell has been mentioned as a possible fit for St. Louis and won't be the last. Snell very likely will win his second Cy Young Award this season after compiling a league-leading 2.25 ERA in 32 starts and will be the top available pitcher not named Shohei Ohtani. He likely will have a big market, but the Cardinals have money to spend and a serious need in the rotation. If the club could land one of Nola, Gray, or Snell it would be an upgrade. If St. Louis could land two of the stars, it could be right back in the postseason mix next year.
More must-reads: