Cardinals News: St. Louis' new regime adds old friend to bullpen mix

After making arguably the largest trade of the offseason so far, the St. Louis Cardinals crept under the radar and added another arm to the 40-man roster. Friday afternoon, the Cardinals' official Twitter account announced that the team claimed right-handed pitcher Zak Kent from the Cleveland Guardians.

St. Louis Cardinals claim reliever Zak Kent from the Cleveland Guardians

Although there was no official announcement of the 27-year-old Kent being placed on waivers, the Cardinals were apparently aware of the righty's availability and swooped in. With the claim, Kent will be added to the 40-man roster, which now only has one spot remaining after the team's offseason moves to this point. Within the next few weeks, that number may change with the likely trade of at least one of their current major league players.

The addition of Kent to the roster will not create many waves around the baseball landscape, but he does provide the Cardinals with another low-risk option after acquiring Scott Blewett and Richard Fitts in November. There is no question that the St. Louis pitching staff is full of gray areas, all the way from the number one starter spot down to the closer role that JoJo Romero and Matt Svanson currently hold. Kent's claim does not automatically add him to the 26-man major league roster, but we should expect to see him competing for a bullpen role from the first day of Spring Training.

The expectations around the Cardinals' newest reliever should be tempered, but he does at least have 12 major league games under his belt and is entering his seventh season of pro ball overall. After the Texas Rangers selected Kent in the ninth round of the 2019 MLB Draft, they had him working as a starter until his time with the organization ran out before the start of the 2024 season, when the Cleveland Guardians traded for Kent. Rob Cerfolio, the Cardinals' current Assistant GM, was employed in Cleveland when Kent was acquired, so there is some familiarity within the Cardinals brass and the righty.

The Guardians kept him in the minor leagues and his first stint with his new organization was nothing to write home about. During the 2024 season, Kent hit the injured list three separate times and was actually released and re-signed by Cleveland before spending that offseason in the Arizona Fall League. He performed well there and received a major league invite to big league camp with the Guardians next spring and made the team out of camp. Kent made his major league debut quickly in the 2025 season, but then his campaign was full of trips back to Triple-A or to the injured list. In total, he had a total of 10 different promotions and placements on the IL.

His playing time finally stayed consistent once the calendar flipped to September, when Kent made eight of his 12 appearances. During the month, he pitched in 10.1 innings and picked up his first big league victory while putting up a 3.48 ERA. Using a pair of powerful breaking balls to help his 92mph fastball, Kent struck out 16 hitters over 17.2 innings and Kent covered multiple innings in five of his outings. That may end up being the best use of the righty while with the Cardinals and could be where the team expects him to settle in if he breaks camp with the team.