1 impending free agent from each remaining playoff team the Cardinals should target

The League Championship series is underway. The New York Mets are facing off against the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League Pennant, and the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees are going head-to-head in the American League Championship Series.

There are plenty of talented players on each roster, and it just so happens that some of the best players on each team are free agents this winter. Even though the St. Louis Cardinals intend on cutting payroll this offseason, there is still room in the budget for additions, especially if the Cardinals decline options on players like Keynan Middleton, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson. Not re-signing Paul Goldschmidt will open up additional money.

The St. Louis Cardinals should target this one player from each team in the Championship Series.

New York Yankees -- RHP Tommy Kahnle

Sorry, but Juan Soto is not a realistic free-agent candidate for the Cardinals. Let's bring it down a notch.

If Andrew Kittredge isn't brought back next year, the Cardinals will need a pitcher with high-leverage experience who can neutralize right-handed batters. Tommy Kahnle of the Yankees could be just that guy.

Kahnle threw 42.2 innings for the Yankees this year with a 2.11 ERA, 1.148 WHIP, and a 4.01 FIP. He struck out a total of 46 batters. For his career, right-handed batters have a slash line of .206/.307/.343 got an OPS of .653. What's even better is that left-handed batters have an average just .009 points higher and an OPS just .003 points higher, so he isn't prone to splits as a pitcher. He had just one save this year compared to 16 holds.

In high-leverage situations, opponents have a .215/.310/.400 slash line against Kahnle. The bulk of his innings in his career have come in innings seven through nine rather than innings four through six, so he's familiar with pitching late in games.

Kahnle is an unrestricted free agent, and he received $5.75 million this year thanks to a two-year, $11.5 million contract in the 2022 offseason. Spotrac has his market value based on recent performance at just over $10 million. They project a two-year deal worth around $11 million. It's possible he signs a deal around that price, but he'll push for a contract that's comparable to his in New York over these past two years.

The 35-year-old reliever would be a reliable back-end reliever who won't break the bank for the Cardinals in 2025.

New York Mets -- LHP Sean Manea

Sean Manaea was once one of the top pitchers for a strong Oakland Athletics team as recently as 2021. The lefty started 32 games that year with two complete game shutouts. Heading into free agency that winter, Manaea was one of the best pitches available. Since then, however, he's fallen a bit. He's played for three different teams in as many years, and his ERA was as high as 4.96 in 2022.

The southpaw has seen a resurgence this year, and it couldn't have come at a better time for him. He finished 2024 with a 3.47 ERA, 3.83 FIP, and 9.1 K/9 in 181.2 innings for the New York Mets. Manaea was a consistent force for the Mets during their playoff push, and he's been excellent in the postseason thus far.

Manaea has thrown 12 innings this postseason and allowed only three runs. He's stuck out 10 batters and allowed just nine hits while walking only two batters. His start against the Philadelphia Phillies in game three of the NLDS gave New York a 2-1 series lead. He threw seven excellent innings in that game.

Manaea will turn 33 on February 1st, so he's definitely a veteran pitcher at this point in his career. Spotrac projects Manaea to receive a two-year, $30 million contract via free agency. He's represented by the Boras Corporation, and we all know how far Scott Boras is willing to go to get his clients what they deserve.

At $15 million a year, Manaea may be a steal this offseason for whoever signs him. The Mets have plenty of other viable free agents such as Jose Quintana, Luis Severino, J.D. Martinez, and even Jesse Winker, but Manaea seems to fit the Cardinal mold quite well.

Los Angeles Dodgers -- RHP Walker Buehler

Walker Buehler has had a fair amount of injuries throughout his brief seven-year career. His most recent injury required bone spurs to be removed from his right elbow in 2022. He also had Tommy John Surgery that same year in August, and he missed all of 2023 due to these injuries.

Prior to his injury-riddled 2022 season, however, Buehler was one of the best pitchers in baseball. The two-time All-Star had finished ninth and fourth in Cy Young voting in 2019 and 2022, respectively. He had a career 3.02 ERA in 638.1 innings from 2017-2022, and he was excellent at striking out batters with a 9.7 K/9 rate.

2024 has gone much differently for Buehler. He finished the season with a 5.38 ERA in just 16 starts and 75.1 innings. He allowed a career-high 10.6 hits per nine innings, and his strikeouts and walks both went in the wrong direction. In his lone start in the playoffs so far, he allowed six earned runs in just five innings.

The clear concern with signing Buehler revolves around his injury history. It's possible he returns to form in 2025 and beyond considering he just turned 30, but it's also possible that he will get hurt again or continue to struggle on the mound. Signing Walker Buehler would be a bit of a gamble, but it could be the one the Cardinals can swallow in a transitory 2025 season.

Spotrac has Buehler projected for a prove-it, one-year deal valued at $4 million. That's a figure the Cardinals can confidently take on regardless of the results of his 2024 season. There's too much potential to pass on a guy like Buehler.

Other viable candidates include shortstop Miguel Rojas as a backup to Masyn Winn, starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, or reliever Joe Kelly.