3 free agents the St. Louis Cardinals should be in love with

The St. Louis Cardinals’ 2026 season has been dead for a while. Now that the dust has settled, fans can turn their attention to next year, specifically to potential free-agent additions. 

The market is thin, but the Redbirds had a few glaring holes. If unaddressed, 2027 could be a major step back in the win column. 

Let’s look at three free agents who wouldn’t break the bank that the Cardinals should consider pursuing. 

Jason Adam (RHP)

The Cardinals have had a closing problem since they sent Ryan Helsley to the Mets. Last year, Riley O’Brien manned the ninth. He managed 38 saves, but brought plenty of baggage. 

Walks were a problem, and by the end of the season, he looked like a fluky All-Star whose 38 saves were simply a matter of opportunity. 

Jason Adam brings something this St. Louis bullpen desperately needs: consistency. 

It’s been a trend to take fliers on elite non-closer relievers and give them the ninth. Some work out like the Rays and Bryan Baker. Others stumble, like the White Sox and Seranthony Dominguez. 

Adam, however, seems like more of a calculated gamble than the rest. 

The 35-year-old has been one of MLB’s best relievers since 2022, and just posted a 2.62 ERA last season. He has 26 career saves, so he’s not a total stranger to closing. 

Even better, Adam isn’t reliant on velocity: he’s a black swan. 

Not too long ago, former Rays starter now-Dodger Tyler Glasnow was asked what Tampa Bay does better than anyone. “They find the ‘black swans’ of MLB,” Glasnow replied. 

Adam is exactly that. He’s funky, spins the ball as well as almost anyone, has deceptive velocity, and also limits walks. 

Sportrac has his contract projected at one year, $8.7 million. The Cardinals can afford to exceed that, especially if they’re making him the immediate option to close. 

The biggest drawback of the 2026 Cardinals came in the bullpen. That doesn’t mean you go out and spend on the biggest arms in free agency, but it demands some attention. Adam would make a great addition, and wouldn’t come close to a scary figure. 

Tyrone Taylor (OF)

What better way to start an offseason than stealing a player from your biggest rival? 

Tyrone Taylor came to the Cubs from the Mets at the trade deadline and finished with some very encouraging numbers. 

The rangy outfielder marked a career-high .827 OPS and clocked 11 home runs. His masterful performance against southpaws largely aided his numbers (.921 OPS versus lefties). 

Still, Taylor has the tools to be a solid center fielder (92nd-percentile sprint speed, 85th-percentile arm strength), and he’d platoon perfectly with current frontrunner Nathan Church. 

Sportrac predicts Taylor will sign a one-year deal worth roughly $7.5 million. If the Cardinals want to address center, the former Cub could be the perfect fit. 

Taylor’s success is a small sample size, but the Cardinals have an easy fallback plan. If he deadpans at the plate, St. Louis simply goes to Church. 

Other names floated for the center field spot include free agent Trent Grisham and trade candidate Steven Kwan. 

Grisham is coming off a dreadful season overall, particularly defensively. Kwan would cost a pretty penny, worth much more than the projected $7.5 million it would take to add Taylor. And in doing so, you still retain room to keep Church around, which seems to be a priority for this team. 

Ryan Yarbrough (LHP)

Let’s talk flexibility. Remember at the end of the season, when injuries slaughtered the Cards, and innings suddenly became premium? 

It was a tough watch–slowly falling out of contention with every ball-four call on an uncompetitive pitch by a taxi-squad guy who probably should’ve been in Memphis. 

That’s exactly why the Cardinals should sign Ryan Yarbrough. 

The funky left-hander offers a unique style out of the pen, similar to the aforementioned Adam, that gives the Cardinals a new look. 

Furthermore, he’s durable. 

Thanks to his soft-tossing aesthetics, he hasn’t missed a season since he debuted in 2018. Funny how Yarbrough and Adam were both Rays’ products, just like St. Louis’ very own Chaim Bloom. The equation is spelling itself out. 

Yarbrough pitched 63.1 innings in pinstripes last season, to a respectable 3.69 ERA. He also started two games. 

His specific archetype might even get a step better in St. Louis. He’d have Busch Stadium's offensive catacombs and an infield lined with Gold Glove defense to work with his run-avoidant style. 

Yarbrough doesn’t give up hard contact and has a deadly sweeper with an xBA of .084 (2026 season). Alongside his ability to open games in a pinch, this should be a surefire target for the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Addressing the rotation and final comments 

If you skimmed through hoping for a starting pitcher and left sorely confused, here’s the explanation. 

According to FanGraphs’ roster resource, the Cardinals' projected 2027 rotation is: Kyle Leahy, Michael McGreevy, Quinn Mathews, Andre Pallante, and Matthew Liberatore. 

The only path to addition is via subtraction. Liberatore is the lame duck of the group based on his egg of a 2026 season, but you must remember (in an opera voice) the prospects! 

A few baby bird starters projected to land in the Lou next season include Jurrangelo Cijntje, Liam Doyle, Tanner Franklin, Brandon Clarke, and Tekoah Roby. 

Will they all debut? No. Will they all begin their careers as starting pitchers? That’s even up for debate. But the point remains: Why clog your rotation with placeholders when the pipeline is ready to burst? 

Some names mentioned for the Liberatore spot in the rotation include Dustin May, Shane Bieber, and Tyler Mahle. The bucket the Redbirds are shopping in seems to be clear. It’s the aisle in Target where you can find toys and plungers. 

With that, it may be smarter to promote from within and take a more calculated risk on another position. This team is more than one starter away from competing, and not yet in a position to add more than one starter. 

The one scenario where it changes is if Pallante/Liberatore/McGreevy/Leahy are traded. St. Louis media legend Bernie Miklasz recently proposed trading McGreevy on the DealintheCards podcast with Josh Jacobs, Andrew Wang, and Sandy McMillan. 

If that happened, free agency would become much more palpable. However, until a deal is done, it’s speculation station, and that’s a game, not an opinion. 

The Cardinals could return to competency as soon as 2028. With that, add to the margins and scale for another year.  

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