Michael Pineda a potential option for St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals need anyone — anything, really — to upgrade the rotation. Could Twins righty Michael Pineda be an option?

The St. Louis Cardinals are considering anything and everything for their rotation. They have already bumped John Gant to the bullpen and replaced him with Wade LeBlanc. Manager Mike Shildt said the team is open to utilizing The Opener, something they had not done in the past. There remains the possibility that Carlos Martinez is also bumped out of the rotation, but they have not reached that point yet.

The Cardinals, however, need to make a trade and at this point, the need is pretty hard to ignore. But the options will be limited, especially with it increasingly unlikely that the Washington Nationals trade Max Scherzer, and could make addressing such a glaring need difficult for president of baseball operations John Mozeliak.

We have mentioned Jon Gray, Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles as viable trade candidates, with Gibson being the best of the bunch. Even then, he entered the year with a mid-4 career ERA and has had a breakout 2021 season, which will make teams contemplate whether it’s an anomaly or a sign of things to come.

Another potential option, as Katie Woo of The Athletic outlined, is Minnesota Twins right-hander Michael Pineda. He will be significantly cheaper to acquire than his teammate Jose Berrios, who could be the most coveted starter at the deadline. While Pineda, 32, is not the most attractive name, his 3.70 ERA in 56 innings and 51/15 strikeout-to-walk ratio would provide a desired sense of stability to a rotation that has cratered since Jack Flaherty was sidelined with an oblique injury.

The Cardinals have continually stated that they will not unload their farm system to acquire a rental, hence why a Scherzer trade has always been considered unlikely. But Pineda, who is a free agent at the end of the year, would not cost the Cardinals any of their top prospects and why he, in arguably the worst trade market for starting pitching in recent history, will be near the top of their list of targets before July 30.