1 player from every playoff team that the Cardinals should target this off-season

The Cardinals will be keeping a close eye on the starting pitching market this winter, and some of the players they should target will be pitching for their current respective teams in the 2023 postseason.

Minnesota Twins v St. Louis Cardinals
Minnesota Twins v St. Louis Cardinals | Joe Puetz/GettyImages
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Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Robert Stephenson

Stephenson is a pitcher that Cardinal fans are familiar with and a pitcher who has seemed to revive his career in Tampa. He has spent the majority of his 8-year career in the NL Central with the Reds and more recently the Pirates, who he started with this season before he was traded to the Rays.

In 42 appearances with the Rays, he had a resurgence, in 38+ plus innings, he only allowed 18 hits, 8 walks, and 60 strikeouts giving him a 14.1 K/9 rate with Tampa, and a 13.2 K/9 for the entire season, which is the 14th best among pitchers that faced at least 100 batters this season.

His 2.35 ERA with Tampa is by far the lowest he's ever had in a season, but like Montgomery, he will be going into his age 31 season next year, and with the uncertainties facing the Cardinals' middle relief core (Drew VerHagen hitting free agency and Andre Pallante and Giovanny Gallegos coming off rough seasons), the Cardinals would welcome a late-inning reliever that gets strikeouts at a high rate.

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