Cardinals analyst thinks Matthew Liberatore still has significant trade value

One of the St. Louis Cardinals’ biggest questions entering this offseason has nothing to do with what they don’t have and everything to do with what’s already on the roster. 

Starter-turned-reliever-turned-starter Matthew Liberatore has filled many different shoes as a big leaguer, and unfortunately, he hasn’t had much success in any. 

Sure, he had a nice stint out of the bullpen, which earned him starting duties again. But since his reentry to the rotation, “Libby” has been awful. 

This season, Liberatore finished with a 5.23 ERA across 155 innings–a brutal showing in a runway season. 

One of St. Louis’ best media platforms saw the Libby conundrum and offered insight. Let’s dive in. 

Matrix Midwest’s Randy Karraker speaks on Matthew Liberatore 

Randy Karraker, an esteemed Cardinals baseball commentator, talked about Liberatore heading into next season. 

“A 27-year-old left-hander with three years of control–a guy who’s made 60 starts over the last two seasons; he has a lot of value,” Karraker said of Liberatore. 

He continued, “And keep in mind, in addition to Quinn Mathews–who’s already on the major league roster–the Cardinals have five lefties in their top-30 prospects. With that wealth of young left-handed pitching, and the value that a guy like Liberatore brings to the table, the Cardinals might do well to put Liberatore on the market before they play another game after this season. 

“He might bring more value to the Cardinals by bringing them another pitcher or another player. He’s not going to present great value out of the bullpen, because his salary is going to go up because he’s been a starter. He’s going to get a lot of money in arbitration.” 

Karraker concluded, “Although he’s been up-and-down in St. Louis, there is no doubt that Liberatore has ability. But with the four starters the Cardinals already have, and with the young starters they already have on the way, it might be just a waste of time and money to have Liberatore on the Cardinals roster in the future.”

Karraker raises some green flags, and some red ones. 

As for his stance on Liberatore’s value as a trade chip, that makes a lot of sense. 

Lots of fans, armchair GMs, and X-experts have labeled Liberatore a great bullpen option in 2027. He’s had past success. So why not? 

The Cardinals already have too many mouths to feed. With a surplus of young arm talent, as Karraker said, St. Louis will soon be ushering in more innings than it can handle. 

Liberatore is the lame duck of the group–statistically speaking–and has done nothing to earn more of a chance than he’s already been granted. 

To further expand on Karraker’s point, the “value” that he’s seeing is blurry at best to most. 

Karraker seems to think the team control Liberatore has is enough to justify his value, yet he says he’ll no doubt get more expensive, despite his poor play. 

That sounds like a recipe for disaster. A young, volatile arm who’s never had sustained MLB success to date–who’s going up in price? Yeah, no thanks. 

Think about it this way: If Liberatore were an opposing arm and the Cardinals needed a starter, would you want to trade for him? 

Liberatore may very well be a trade chip, but his value is kaput. If the Cardinals can nab any minor leaguer in return, it’ll be a saving grace from one of the organization’s biggest prospect misfires. 

Libby had his moments as a Redbird, and hopefully, he’ll have one more as he walks out the door–bringing back a promising lottery ticket in the process. 

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