4 relievers the St. Louis Cardinals could target this offseason

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.