4 young Cardinals pitchers who could benefit from a bullpen role, 3 who would not

Moving Michael McGreevy to the bullpen would be a terrible decision.

Michael McGreevy is a starting pitcher. Maybe he'd find success out of the bullpen, but the Cardinals would only be hurting themselves if they did not allow their former first-round pick to start games for them this year.

Earlier this offseason, after forecasting McGreevy as a likely rotation option in 2025, John Mozeliak began to tease out the idea that McGreevy could land in the bullpen if there is not a rotation spot for him. Since that moment, I've been very nervous that the Cardinals would do to McGreevy what they've done to too many pitchers in past years, but recent comments from manager Oliver Marmol suggest that McGreevy is destined to start games this year. The real question is whether that will be with St. Louis or Memphis.

Again, given the crowded nature of the Cardinals rotation right now, there are four guys vying for the final two rotation spots — McGreevy, Steven Matz, Matthew Liberatore, and Andre Pallante. Matz seems likely to take one of those two spots as things currently stand, leaving McGreevy to battle it out with Pallante and Liberatore.

I've already been very vocal about my distaste for the idea of Pallante not being in the rotation. I did not even include him on this list of pitchers I am thumbing through because frankly, it should be obvious to all parties that he belongs in the rotation this year.

So where does that leave McGreevy then? Well, unless the Cardinals trade Matz or Erick Fedde, move Matz to the bullpen, or DFA Miles Mikolas, that means McGreevy will need to begin the year in the Memphis rotation. I'm not thrilled about that personally, but it's better for his development than sticking him in the bullpen.