Cardinals Rumors: St. Louis adding rotation help is “critical”

The St. Louis Cardinals have had terrible luck this season with health on their pitching staff. Ahead of the deadline, they must add more to the group.

When it comes to the trade deadline, the St. Louis Cardinals need help across the board. Rotation. Offense. Even bullpen help.

It’s been that rough of a start to the season, with the roster being wiped out by injuries.

But there is no greater need than the rotation. With Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas and now Carlos Martinez sidelined with serious injuries, they have more than 50 percent of their rotation on the injured list. It’s why president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said on KMOX that it’s “critical” that the team adds a starter before the July 30 trade deadline.

“Ideally, if we could land someone that could help us in the rotation, I think that would be critical,” Mozeliak said. “But there are a lot of teams looking for starting pitching right now, so it would be easier said than done.”

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Not only are there many teams looking for rotation help, but the options available are not exactly promising. Max Scherzer is highly likely to stay with the Washington Nationals. Shane Bieber won’t be traded by Cleveland barring a massive surprise.

The best options will be Minnesota Twins’ Jose Berrios and Texas Rangers’ Kyle Gibson and perhaps Cleveland’s Zach Plesac, with each being controllable beyond 2021. But those are the types of players who could cost the Cardinals their top prospects such as Matthew Liberatore or Nolan Gorman, something the franchise is unlikely to consider.

But it’s at least encouraging to see Mozeliak finally acknowledge the need for outside help, as he was insistent on giving their internal options as much time to bounce back as possible. The injuries to Flaherty and Martinez surely added to their aggressiveness and with two weeks before the deadline, their quest for rotation help is likely to dominate headlines. It’s easily their biggest need on a roster filled with holes.