St. Louis Cardinals: Reacting to Jenifer Langosch’s roster predictions

The final point that Langosch made is the fact she believes that the St. Louis Cardinals will still value additional bullpen arms over a mid to low rotation starter. Adding more talent to a bullpen that has been frustrating to say the least is a welcome idea, but for a different reason than you might think.

An over saturation of solid bullpen arms would make it even easier for several young pitchers to make spot starts in Adam Wainwright’s rotation spot. Reyes and Gomber are obviously names to consider, but another is Dakota Hudson. Hudson spent his time in the bullpen as a late inning guy, but the Cardinals drafted him as a starter, and are still planning on building him as a starter as far as anyone knows.

Adding more bullpen help would serve the purpose of giving the various young prospects that would benefit greatly from the major league starting experience, while making sure Wainwright doesn’t accumulate too many innings too quickly.

More from St Louis Cardinals News

• Cardinals Rumors: 3 pros and cons of signing Carlos Rodon
• Cardinals: Here is Willson Contreras’ first message for St. Louis fans
• How do the St. Louis Cardinals stack up with Willson Contreras?
• Cardinals: The insane asking price the Athletics had for Sean Murphy
• St. Louis Cardinals: Ask me anything with Josh Jacobs – 12/8

This will also help the Cardinals determine which of these potential starters the team should move forward with, and which ones might be more suited to a relief role. The Cardinals still have some young pitchers in Martinez and Flaherty (and possibly even Wacha) that are going to be in the rotation for a long time. There are a lot of starter prospects in the organization, but only so many spots to go around.

This season is the year that the Cardinals have the guaranteed flexibility to make this sporadic starter system work while remaining competitive. These guys aren’t getting any younger, and others like Genesis Cabrera and Griffin Roberts might be on their way in the next couple of seasons themselves. The Cardinals have the personnel to remain flexible and determine more rigid roles for the future, and they should take advantage of such a unique opportunity while they can.

The St. Louis Cardinals have as much roster flexibility as they have in a long time, and there is much work to be done, both on the front of team success and player exposure. The team has unique depth, but work still may be done. Langosch’s perspective is definitely helpful towards having faith that the Cardinals front office understands exactly how much they have to work with.