There have been few glaring weaknesses for the St. Louis Cardinals this season, but the bullpen has been one.
St. Louis ' bullpen hasn't been great, to say the least. We're just about halfway through the 2026 season and the Cardinals have the 20th-ranked bullpen ERA in baseball at 4.38.
Right now, George Soriano is leading the way for the Cardinals' bullpen with a 3.03 ERA in 34 total appearances. After Soriano, the Cardinals have Gordon Graceffo (3.26 ERA in 33 outings), JoJo Romero (3.97 ERA in 35 outings), Riley O'Brien (4.05 ERA in 33 outings), Justin Bruihl (4.15 ERA in 34 appearances), Ryne Stanek (5.23 ERA in 34 outings), and Matt Svanson (7.27 ERA in 31 appearances). These are all the guys in the Cardinals' bullpen who have made at least 30 or more appearances this season.
This is a group that you use another fresh arm and it just so happens that St. Louis has one ready to go down with Triple-A Memphis right now in Luis Gastelum.
Feb 17, 2026; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Luis Gastelum (95). Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
Right now, Gastelum is St. Louis' No. 21 overall prospect . The righty has gotten some buzz this season, and rightfully so. He has a 2.52 ERA in 31 Triple-A appearances this season, but hasn't gotten his call to the big leagues just yet.
Gastelum is listed at 6'2'' and 175 pounds and boasts a 70-grade changeup that is viewed as elite. Gastelum has made 13 straight scoreless appearances and hasn't allowed a run in a game since May 17 against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.
It's hard to argue against Gastelum as someone who can help this bullpen when Svanson just allowed three earned runs and has a 7.27 ERA and Stanek has an ERA above 5.00. Stanek is a veteran, so at least there should be some hope of trying to get him right and trading him at the deadline. When it comes to Svanson, he has already been demoted down to Triple-A once this season. That should happen again soon in order to make space on the roster for Gastelum. At the end of the day, if Gastelum could make the jump to the big leagues soon, he would give the club potential for an immediate fix at the club's biggest area of need.
Of the two, the move that would make the most sense is sending Svanson down. If the Cardinals wanted to promote Gastelum, they would need to open up a 40-man roster spot as well, which shouldn't be much of a problem.
St. Louis has been able to have a lot of success this season, even with a not-so-good bullpen. It can be even better, though.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/cardinals/onsi as Cardinals Bullpen Fix: Time to Option Matt Svanson for Hot AAA Righty .
