Cardinals Rumors: 5 Starters St. Louis will look to acquire

The St. Louis Cardinals are nearing the trade deadline in major need of a starting pitcher or two. Here are five options the Cardinals are looking at.

The St. Louis Cardinals need for starting pitching is becoming more and more pressing as the team gets closer to the deadline. Trailing the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central and barely holding onto a Wild Card spot, the club is standing on thin ice when it comes to playoff positioning.

Obviously the injuries to Jack Flaherty, Steven Matz, and Dakota Hudson are not helping the team’s causes when it comes to starting pitching, but the club cannot just hope that they get all three back at some point this season and then rock and roll. Major changes need to happen in the St. Louis rotation if they want to do anything more than barely make the playoffs.

The Cardinals rank 19th in baseball in starter ERA and 14th in innings pitched by their rotation. The are not the worst numbers, but will not get the club far when October rolls around and they go up against the best pitching staffs in baseball. The rotation also struggles to strikeout batters, ranking 24th in baseball.

While the pursuit for the heavily rumored Juan Soto is still enticing, it really makes a lot more sense to look at some of the starting pitchers that the Cardinals are currently linked to in order to bolster that rotation. The Cardinals are shopping in more expensive waters this deadline, and will not be settling for Jon Lester or J.A. Happ type of moves. Here are five starting pitchers the club may acquire before the deadline.