6 ways the St. Louis Cardinals can win this week's MLB Winter Meetings

#6 - Sign an upside starting pitcher to add to their rotation

The Cardinals' main focus in 2026 should be on their young talent. We all know this. But two things are true to go along with that: In today's game, you can never have enough pitching, and if they don't want to rush any pitching prospects, they will need to add more arms to this mix. And second, during a rebuild, taking a chance on a starter with upside can land a team even more young talent through a trade deadline flip later on.

No, I'm not talking about signing someone like Framber Valdez or Michael King to long-term contracts. They will not be doing that, and I also don't expect them to even sign a qualifying offer arm to a short-term deal if their market doesn't materialize due to losing a draft pick to do so. But I do think there are many names out there in free agency who are worth taking a gamble on if the Cardinals can find the right deal.

Dustin May is my favorite pitcher in that mold, but whehter it is him, Zack Littell, Adrian Houser, Jon Gray, Jordan Montgomery, John Means, Walker Buehler, Lucas Giolito, Aaron Civale, or someone in those molds, adding a starter with prior MLB experience but real upside to outperform their contract would be such a win for where the Cardnials are right now.

St. Louis can offer free agents like those the safety of a rotation spot, allowing those veterans to find their footing and bounce back on the mound without the fear of being released or removed from their role in the rotation. Someone like May can go out and pitch with confidence each time out, and if he performs to the level that his stuff says he can, he would be able to cash in on a much bigger deal when he hits free agency again in 2027 or 2028.

The win for the Cardinals would be stable innings from a veteran that allows them to protect a prospect from overexposure, as well as the ability to flip them at the deadline for more young talent if that pitcher ends up performing at a high level. That's a major win for an organization in a rebuild.

While it would be awesome for the Cardinals to get a deal done this week, they may need to be a bit patient and see which arms still need a home as the offseason moves along. I'm sure many of the arms that would be interesting for St. Louis to add would love to pitch for a contender, but at some point, the benefits of pitching for a rebuilding team and the guarantee of a rotation spot will be too good to pass on.