4 pitching options available for St. Louis Cardinals as lockout begins

The St. Louis Cardinals still have items on their to-do list this offseason once the lockout ends.

Even in the midst of the first work stoppage for the MLB in over 25 years, the St. Louis Cardinals still have a lot to do once a new collective bargaining agreement is reached. Getting relief pitching is one of the biggest remaining needs for the Cardinals.

T.J. McFarland was re-signed by the Cardinals early in the offseason. The guy who made a huge impact in the final stretch of the 2021 season in Luis Garcia took a huge payday to go to the San Diego Padres. Genesis Cabrera and Giovanny Gallegos were impacting arms and are each arbitration-eligible this offseason.

Andrew Miller is now a free agent and isn’t expected to return to the club after not meeting high expectations for a huge impact in the bullpen after some tricky injuries.

It’s unclear what roles former closers Alex Reyes and Jordan Hicks will have in 2022. Injuries and bad luck have created concerns for the once-promising arms. There had been internal discussions of moving the pair to a more opener or starting role.

While Hicks has had health issues and would need to be stretched out, he did get some time opening games in the Arizona Fall League. He did go home early but plans had not changed for him to change roles.

As for Reyes, he was once expected to be a starter for the club, but injuries and an innings restriction shuffled him to the bullpen. He earned All-Star honors in 2021 after an amazing start as the Cardinals closer. It was just as amazing to watch the gut-punch of a decline Reyes experienced in August and September as he was removed from the closing roles after losing command.

It was hard to see Reyes put in that late-inning, high leverage position again after several weeks removed from the role. He then gave up an extra-innings walk-off home run to Chris Taylor of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Wild Card game.

New Cardinals manager Oli Marmol must be given the tools necessary to avoid such heartbreaking results in 2022. Expectations for the Cardinals are high in 2022 with Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina are entering their last seasons with the team. Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt lead a Gold Glove defense and potentially explosive offense.

All the keys are in place, but some key positions still need to be filled. The Cardinals will have some time to consider options once the lockout ends. Let’s take a look at some options available for the Cardinals.