5 free agent starters the Cardinals can target to fill innings gap after recent injuries

The St. Louis Cardinals suddenly need innings badly after injuries to both Andre Pallante and Hunter Dobbins, and since they've already tapped into their Triple-A depth quite a bit and traded away Dustin May at the trade deadline, they may need to look outside the organization and take a flyer on someone.

They recently signed veteran lefty Josh Fleming to a minor league deal, so perhaps he could be an option for them if they truly felt that way. 2021 first-round pick Cooper Hjerpe has been awesome this year in his return from Tommy John surgery, but the Cardinals have been very careful with how much they push him, so I doubt they'd see him as their starting solution. And with Kyle Leahy already on an innings restriction himself, they need someone who can go deeper into games to add to that mix alongside Leahy, Michael McGreevy, Quinn Mathews, and Matthew Liberatore.

Here are five free agent options the Cardinals could look to sign rather quickly to help plug the hole in their rotation.

Lance McCullers

If the Brewers can't fix you, I've got question marks, but hey, Lance McCullers Jr. easily has the most swing-and-miss in his profile of any of these starters, and I'd be interested to see what the Cardinals could do with him.

Released by Milwaukee after trading for him at the deadline, McCullers has had an up-and-down career as a starter, with injuries playing a major role in him not reaching the heights many thought he would as he came up with the Houston Astros. This season, McCullers has a 6.55 ERA in eight starts and 10 total appearances, striking out 9.82 batters per nine innings while inducing whiffs at a 27.9% rate.

This move would have the highest upside in my opinion, and considering the floor with all of these guys is pretty low, I dig this as their free agent option if they go that route.

Michael Lorenzen

Michael Lorenzen was recently released by the Colorado Rockies, and at age 34, is having by far the worst season of his career, posting a 7.08 ERA in 25 starts and one relief appearance.

His velocity is in line with where it has been the last few seasons, and his FIP is lower (5.23) than his ERA. He really doesn't strike anyone out (14.6 K%), and has a really high batting average against (.331), so the hope for St. Louis would be that they can help him cut down on the hard contact and get more outs than he did with Colorado.

In case you were wondering, yes, Lorenzen was better away from Coors Field (5.61 ERA) compared to playing in Denver (9.12 ERA), but again, nothing to write home about. At this point in the season though, shoping for free-agent starters is going to involve guys with a lot of bad production, so it would be on the Cardinals player development and performance group to identify how they can get more out of Lorenzen.

Miles Mikolas

We are all thinking it. This would be a very John Mozeliak-esque move, and not one the St. Louis Cardinals should be seriously considering.

But since there are plenty of connections here, I'll at least mention it as a possibility. Mikolas made 11 starts and 25 total appearances for the Nationals this year prior to being released, posting a 5.82 ERA across 116 innings of work. His -1.0 fWAR should tell you the full story at this point. I would much rather go with one of the other options out there.

German Marquez

Recently signed to a minor-league deal by the Minnesota Twins, depending on how Marquez's agreement with them is structured, he may be able to opt out of that contract to get a shot with the Cardinals.

His first season away from the Rockies has not gone well, as he posted a 5.26 ERA in 10 starts and three relief appearances with the San Diego Padres, ultimately being released by them before he latched on with the Twins. His home run-to-fly-ball rate is extremely high, so I would not be surprised to see him find far more success pitching at Busch Stadium this year, which has done a great job of suppressing power.

At the Triple-A level this year, Marquez has a 3.32 ERA in five starts (seven appearances), so maybe there is a bit more in the tank, though his xERA and FIP would say otherwise.

Marco Gonzales

Another former friend, Marco Gonzales, has started 17 games in Triple-A this year...just don't look at this 7.70 ERA in the process.

Drafted by the Cardinals in the first round of the 2013 MLB Draft, Gonzales was traded to the Seattle Mariners to acquire Tyler O'Neill way back when and has posted a 4.14 ERA in his MLB career, starting 162 games (173 total appearances). He recently opted out of his contract with the Texas Rangers, where, when he did make a few relief appearances for the MLB club, he found success. As a starter though, this would be much more of a "cross your fingers and hope for the best" situation.

If it came down to it, Fleming or Pete Hansen is probably a similar option at this point, but I wouldn't rule out a veteran like Gonzales.

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