3 reasons why the Cardinals should wait to address rotation until 2024

Cardinals have young pitching on the way

While some of these names may find their way into trades for a catcher this off-season, they club still has a variety of young arms who could be viable options in 2024. These names include Gordon Graceffo, Matthew Liberatore, Andre Pallante, Connor Thomas, Tink Hence, Connor Hjerpe, Michael McGreevy, Tink Hence, and Zack Thompson.

If the Cardinals bring back one of their starters like Jordan Montgomery, and go out and sign an ace like Aaron Nola, the club would only need to fill out two rotation spots. It is likely that many of these names could be legit options to fill out the back end of the Cardinals rotation come 2024.

Thomas was just named the Arizona Fall League pitcher of the year. Liberatore has already pitched a bit in the big leagues and would have another season of development under his belt. Graceffo impressed a ton in 2022 and will likely factor into the Cardinals plans in 2023. The list goes on and on.

Even if the Cardinals do not trust enough of these arms, they have the farm system to go out and trade for established, cost-controlled pitching to add to that rotation. There are so many ways St. Louis could go with this, and none of them are bad options.

So while the appeal of grabbing a starter is there this off-season, the Cardinals would be better off waiting on this position one more year, and then cash their chips in accordingly.