Cardinals have a painful roster dilemma on their hands with Kyle Leahy experiment

As the St. Louis Cardinals look to navigate perhaps their most difficult stretch of the season starting on Friday with 17 games in 17 days against really good teams, fans and media alike have theorized how the club can reinforce its pitching staff after a rough start to the season.

Many of those ideas have a lot to do with Kyle Leahy and the starter experiment that the Cardinals have been on with him this season.

With Hunter Dobbins nearing the end of his rehab assignment and looking ready to join the Cardinals' rotation, it's widely expected that the Cardinals will expand their rotation to a six-man group for at least a portion of this upcoming stretch of games, allowing them to be careful with their starting pitchers and give Dobbins a shot at starting in St. Louis.

With the current five-man group sporting a 4.46 ERA that ranks 23rd in baseball and only ranking 17th in innings pitched, the Cardinals need better results from that group right now. At the same time, the Cardinals' bullpen has a 5.17 ERA, ranking 25th among all big league clubs. That unit needs some help as well.

That's caused many to wonder why the Cardinals wouldn't just move Leahy back to the bullpen to strengthen that group and Dobbins to the rotation in his place.

Moving Kyle Leahy to the bullpen could kill two birds with one stone for the Cardinals

Through five starts this year, Leahy is sporting an ugly 5.63 ERA, averaging just under five innings per start while striking out just 15 batters and posting a 1.67 WHIP in the process. Leahy is having a hard time doing anything "well" on the mound right now, and it's hurting the Cardinals.

On Wednesday against the Miami Marlins, Leahy allowed four runs over five innings of work, striking out just two batters while walking three and giving up eight hits. Leahy has allowed three or more runs in three of his five starts and has never gone more than five innings.

Compare that to last year, when Leahy was a workhorse for the Cardinals out of their bullpen, posting a 3.07 ERA in 62 games, tossing 88 innings and striking out close to a batter per inning. Leahy was able to step in for manager Oliver Marmol in big spots, give him multiple innings at other times, and really just fill any role that the Cardinals needed from him that day.

Right now, Marmol can really only trust Riley O'Brien, JoJo Romero, and, at this point, I think it is fair to throw Gordon Graceffo and his 0.77 ERA in 11.2 innings into that mix as well. George Soriano and Ryan Fernandez have flashed at various times, but also had their own struggles as well.

If the Cardinals could get close to that same version of Leahy back in their bullpen and replace his rotation spot with a more reliable starter, that could really improve the club in two different areas at the same time. But given the Cardinals' stated goals for the season, plus a recent blow to their rotation depth, I doubt that is in the cards, at least in the near future.

Given their stated goals, the Cardinals should stick with Leahy in the rotation

Chaim Bloom continues to reiterate that this year is about the bigger picture, whether that is acquiring more young talent through trades to rebuild the organization or prioritizing opportunity and playing time for young players looking to carve out a role.

Bloom was on the Dealin' the Cards podcast this past week and doubled down on that sentiment, so pivoting away from Leahy in the rotation right now would feel a bit odd compared to what they keep telling us.

Sticking with Leahy, for now, matters for multiple reasons. First, it reinforces the Cardinals' commitment to opportunity this year, both to fail and to succeed. And for a player who is transitioning to a starting role after not really starting since the 2022 season, it makes sense that there would be bumps and bruises along the way, especially early on.

Second, now that Richard Fitts is going to miss the rest of the season with shoulder surgery, the Cardinals' Major League-ready starting pitching is very thin right now. Outside of Dobbins, I'm not really sure who the Cardinals would turn to. Quinn Mathews and Brycen Mautz both need more time in Memphis, so would Bruce Zimmerman be the next man up?

If Leahy is still struggling after four or five more starts, then I think this does start to become a real conversation, but as long as the Cardinals believe he has something there, I think they are going to ride it out with Leahy and see where this goes. We saw them develop a starter in Matthew Libeartore by doing the same thing last year, so there's a chance that can happen here again with Leahy.

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