4 relievers the St. Louis Cardinals could target this offseason

Let's take a trip down memory lane. It's August. The Trade Deadline has come and gone, and the Cardinals' roster has been pared down heavily. They have just returned home from a road trip against the Tampa Bay Rays and the Kansas City Royals. The lowly Oakland Athletics and the disappointing New York Mets are in St. Louis.

The Cardinals took the first two games against the A's, winning 7-5 and 6-2 behind strong offensive outputs from Paul Goldschmidt, Tommy Edman, Jordan Walker, and Nolan Arenado. Dakota Hudson pitched into the 7th inning in the second game.

The series finale against the A's didn't go as planned, and the entire series against the Mets was frustrating. In the next four games, the Cardinals were shut out 8-0 against the Athletics, lost 4-2 on Thursday against the Mets, 7-1 on Friday, and 13-2 on Saturday. If the nails weren't already in the coffin at this point, they were driven fully through after the weekend.

Clearly, both the offense and pitching sputtered from August 16th-19th. Scoring only 5 runs across four games is a recipe for disaster. Allowing 32 runs in 4 games spells a total collapse. Due to injuries, the Trade Deadline, and unreliable pitchers, Oli Marmol was forced to use not even his "B" bullpen, but rather, he was forced to use pitchers who were not in the plans to play at all in the majors this year.

On August 16th, Matthew Liberatore gave up 6 runs in 4.1 innings. Casey Lawrence, a 35-year-old journeyman from Pennsylvania, had to finish the game. He pitched 4.2 innings, giving up only 2 runs. A good showing, but not a name we expected to see. On Thursday, Adam Wainwright fought through 6 innings to keep the Cardinals in the game. He left the game down by 3 runs in the 7th. Andre Pallante, Drew VerHagen, and DJ King finished the last 3 innings. The hope for the year was that pitchers such as Gio Gallegos, Genesis Cabrera, and Ryan Helsley would get to pitch in close games for the win. Instead, Marmol had to use his "B" bullpen, and the Cardinals ended up losing the game.

The next two games were total blowouts, and pitches such as James Naile, Andrew Suarez, and Guillermo Zuniga were tasked with pitching nearly 9 innings in two games. Suffice it to say, Marmol needed bullpen help, and he needed it badly.

The Cardinals' offseason plans include a dedicated goal to add pitching. While the starters have understandably been given most of the attention, the bullpen could also use some reinforcements.

Here are 4 relievers the Cardinals could sign to fortify the bullpen this offseason.

RHP Matt Barnes

In 2023, all Cardinals pitchers struggled mostly against left-handed batters, particularly right-handed pitchers facing lefties. Left-handed batters had a slash line of .290/.358/.479 against right-handed pitchers. This matchup was the second most frequent among handedness matchups, and it was the most troublesome for starters and relievers on the team.

Enter Matt Barnes. Barnes will be in his 11th professional season next year, and the 33-year-old righty out of Connecticut has been strong against both lefties and righties for his career. In 654 at-bats, left-handed batters are slashing .225/.335/.692 and have struck out more than twice as often as they have walked against him. Barnes also shows the ability to be a shutdown reliever against right-handed batters, as he has held them to a .243/.317/.382 slash line and has struck out three times as many righties as he has walked them.

In 2023, Barnes didn't play up to his usual standards. He finished the year with a 5.48 ERA, 4.15 FIP, 1.641 WHIP, and he allowed a near-career-high hits/9 rate of 10.5. He also fought injuries, and he was thus limited to only 21.1 innings on the year. Where Barnes shined brightest, however, was against left-handed batters. They hit .258/.324/.290 against him. His ability to limit extra-base hits and home runs against lefties would be beneficial to a Cardinals' relief core. While Barnes didn't get many strikeouts, he was able to limit walks, and he finished the year with a 2.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Matt Barnes was under contract for nearly $10 million last year. Due to his age and his underperformance in 2023, Barnes probably won't sign a contract worth that much. Spotrac has its value at just under $3 million.

RHP Joe Jimenez

Joe Jimenez played most of his career with the Detroit Tigers. He was traded, however, to the Braves before the 2023 season. In 2023, Jimenez 3.04 ERA, 3.59 FIP, 1.154 WHIP, and struck out nearly 12 batters per nine innings. He pitched a total of 56.1 innings this past season. He pitched one inning in the playoffs. He allowed two baserunners, but he didn't allow a run to score and he struck one batter out.

The Cardinals had the fourth-worst WHIP in all of baseball last year at nearly 1.500. Jimenez has done an admirable job at limiting walks and hits while pitching, particularly hits. Adding him to a bullpen that is desperate to keep runners off the bases would help exponentially.

Jimenez features a three-pitch mix that includes a 4-seam fastball, a slider, and a changeup. The right-handed pitcher primarily uses the changeup against right-handed batters, and it has been an effective pitch at limiting hits. His fastball is his most frequently used pitch, and his slider is typically used as his putaway pitch. The slider has a 45.7% whiff rate and a 27.9% putaway rate.

Jimenez has logged a few saves in his career, but he has primarily been used in low-leverage settings. His 0.80 leverage index is significantly below average for the league. Given his solid statistics and ability to limit hits, Jimenez's addition to the bullpen would be an upgrade.

Jimenez's 2023 contract had him being paid $2.765 million in 2023, and he was valued at $5.63 million. His age leads one to believe that his next contract will be multiple years with an AAV of around $8 million.

RHP Keynan Middleton

Keynan Middleton has played for a total of 5 teams in his 7-year career. He started 2023 off with the Chicago White Sox, and he ended the year with the New York Yankees. Middleton pitched to a 3.83 ERA, 1.243 WHIP, and 4.20 FIP in 50.2 innings between those two teams.

Middleton's biggest calling cards would be his ability to strike batters out (30.2% in 2023, 24.2% for his career) and his ability to limit hard contact (31.4% hard-hit rate in 2023, 34.2% for his career). The Cardinals, on the other hand, were in the bottom 10% of the league in limiting hard hits. St. Louis pitchers also struck out only 19.4% of the batters they faced, a number below league average.

Middleton has mostly been used in low-leverage situations, but he, too, has been known to close a game or two out a year. While with the Yankees, Middleton pitched 14.1 innings and had a WHIP below 1.000, struck out 17 batters, and allowed only 7 hits. He did, however, walk 7 batters. His walks could use some improvement, but his ability to limit baserunners outside of the that would be beneficial in a Cardinals bullpen that walked too many runners.

In 2023, Middleton was paid $800,000 since he was still in the arbitration process. His value, however, was estimated at $7.59 million. Middleton will probably be the most expensive of these relievers, but he would absolutely be worth the price tag.