Predicting what the St. Louis Cardinals roster looks like in 2025

Cardinals 2025 Rotation

Starting Rotation (5) – Shane Bieber, Tink Hence, Jordan Montgomery, Gordon Graceffo, Steven Matz

Pitching staffs tend to have a lot of turnover, and with Wainwright surely being retired by 2025 and the likes of Jack Flaherty and Miles Mikolas hitting free agency, this rotation could look a lot different.

The big name here is Shane Bieber, who has been a rumored target for St. Louis for a few years now. While Cleveland did extend Jose Ramirez this season and is building up a young core that is ready to compete, Bieber will be a free agent after 2024 and they likely cannot afford to keep him. With so many elite pitchers hitting the market in the next three off-seasons, the Cardinals could go out and sign Bieber before the 2025 season or trade for him over the next couple of years.

I think it is very unlikely that Flaherty resigns in St. Louis, but Jordan Montgomery has been a fantastic addition for St. Louis and should be a guy they look to lock-up soon. He likely won’t command the same dollars as a Flaherty or Bieber would, but could provide the Cardinals with a legit number two or three starter for the mid-2020s.

Tink Hence and Gordon Graceffo have risen up prospect boards this year and are now both top 100 prospects. Hence has the potential to be a staff ace, but at just 20-years old and very few innings underneath his belt, he’ll likely make his debut closer to 2024. Graceffo, on the other hand, could make the St. Louis rotation at some point in 2023. These two with Bieber and Montgomery could be an elite playoff rotation.

Matz will be in the last year of his contract in 2025, and should round out the rotation for the club. If he struggles, they could look to move on from him and use one of their other young arms flowing through the system.