The St. Louis Cardinals have accumulated a lot of pitching depth in a very short amount of time. Their 2026 season can largely be considered a success despite the team going 77-85 and missing the postseason for the fourth consecutive year. A lot of young players took steps forward and established themselves as part of the next core in St. Louis.
The starting rotation was the team's biggest strength this year, with pitchers such as Kyle Leahy , Andre Pallante and Michael McGreevy becoming pillars of the staff. They don't quite have an ace for the rotation yet, however.
Former World Series champion Lance Lynn shared his take on how to improve the Cardinals rotation, and stated that they need not one, but two frontline starters to get back to where they need to be.
"They have a group of pitchers that make you have a quality rotation, but they will not be great," Lynn said. "They need two top-end guys to be an elite rotation. They have the depth and the pitch ability to be quality, but if you are looking at playoff, World Series caliber teams, they have two (top starters). There's really no other way to say it.
Unfortunately for St. Louis, if they are looking for major upgrades to the rotation, the free agent market isn't going to have many aces beyond Tarik Skubal and former Cardinal Sonny Gray. Signing either one or both of them is going to be incredibly hard for a team that is in the middle of a rebuild and doesn't have the same financial flexibility that teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers do.
It's never impossible, but that simply is not the way the Cardinals operate, especially now that Chaim Bloom is in charge and is prioritizing building from within. The Cardinals are still likely a year or two away from being a true contender, and the impending lockout in December could potentially push that window back a year. But that doesn't mean that it's impossible for the Cardinals to have two frontline starters. It only changes the way they go about adding those pieces.
Under Bloom, the Cardinals are trying to build a contender from within the organization. That means developing players rather than going out and building their team solely through marquee free agent signings.
The Cardinals are not going to be in the mix for Skubal, but that means it's time for them to develop their own top-level pitching. With Liam Doyle and Tanner Franklin in the system and rising through the minor leagues fast, the Cardinals have hope of putting together an elite rotation in a few short years, but this is the way they're going to have to do it.
Free agent pitching is harder to acquire these days, so developing elite arms from within has become extremely important, and it may be the best way to build a strong staff.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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