5 starting pitchers the Cardinals could trade for to rejuvenate their rotation

RHP Bryce Miller, Seattle Mariners

Here's the name I wanted to throw into this mix. For years now, local and national media have looked at the Cardinals and the Seattle Mariners and wondered if there was a strong fit between the two sides. The Cardinals always seemed to have too many bats on their roster at the same positions, and the Mariners always had a ton of starting pitching but needed an upgrade to their lineup.

Now, the Mariners were actually really good at the plate in 2025, scoring the ninth most runs in baseball and ranking third in wRC+. Unfortunately for the Mariners, multiple key cogs of that offense are hitting free agency this offseason.

While Seattle could look to bring any of them back, 3B Eugenio Suarez, 1B Josh Naylor, and UTL Jorge Polanco are free agents this winter, and that leaves some sizable holes in their lineup. On top of that, Cal Raleigh just had one of the best offensive seasons by a catcher in MLB history, so it is fair to expect some regression there.

In my mind, someone like Bryce Miller would make a ton of sense for the Cardinals to acquire in return for either Brendan Donovan or Alec Burleson.

Miller, 27, is arbitration eligible for the first time this winter and won't hit free agency until after the 2029 season. That's four more years of club control remaining for the right-hander, who looked like one of the brightest young starters in the game until this past season.

In his rookie year in 2023, Miler posted a 4.32 ERA in 131.1 innings of work, and followed that up with a 2.94 ERA in 180.1 innings in 2024. 2025 was a rough one for Miller, as in his 18 starts, his ERA ballooned to 5.68, and he could not regain his success on the mound all season long.

With George Kirby, Bryan Woo, Logan Gilbert, and Luis Castillo in their rotation already, the Mariners can afford to move a guy like Miller and still have elite pitching depth. And after Kade Anderson fell to them in the 2025 MLB Draft, they have a new cost-controlled starter on the way sooner rather than later.

A swap could make a ton of sense for both sides, or perhaps the Mariners would be interested in a deal that involved someone like Nootbaar as the big league bat, but other pieces coming over to them as well. For the Cardinals, they snagged Matt Pierpont from Seattle last offseason to oversee their pitching development, so targeting a guy from the Mariners makes a lot of sense.