6 young players the Cardinals need to prioritize playing time for down the stretch

Michael McGreevy

I'll be honest, I was not high on Michael McGreevy entering the year, and when he got his spot start earlier this summer, I was pretty sure it would go poorly. Instead, McGreevy turned in one of the best starts by a Cardinal this year, and we have not seen him since.

I got it at the time. McGreevy wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire in Memphis (although he had been better leading up to that start) and the Cardinals had other starters available. But now that the club seems to be out of the playoff race, why not see what McGreevy can be in the rotation down the stretch?

No, I don't expect McGreevy to throw seven innings while allowing just one run very often for the Cardinals, but could he emerge as a competent back-of-the-rotation starter? I can see that. But it's hard to know if he is ready for that without giving him more than one start against big-league hitting.

Even if the Cardinals think they are going to bring back Kyle Gibson and/or Lance Lynn next season, they owe it to themselves in many ways to see what McGreevy can be down the stretch. If McGreevy can produce similar or better results than Gibson/Lynn for the rest of September, then the Cardinals now have multiple options on their hands.

They could free up some payroll flexibility by not picking up club options on Lynn and Gibson if they feel like McGreevy is someone they can trust. With Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, Miles Mikolas, and Steven Matz all under contract for next season already along with the emergence of Andre Pallante, that would make six starters the Cardinals can roll with before even thinking about Gibson or Lynn, so they could just decide to save $22 million and allow both to walk in free agency.

One of the reasons the Cardinals have seemingly spun in circles the last few seasons has been due to their inability to develop their own pitching. Year after year they have to sign or trade for temporary solutions to their rotation that have low ceilings but cost a substantial amount of money. You would think an ownership group that wants to be diligent with how they spend their money would much rather have a guy making less than a million dollars in their rotation than pay someone $12 million a year for the same production.

It's time for the Cardinals to recall McGreevy and see what he has down the stretch. I would move Miles Mikolas to the bullpen to clear the way, or even someone like Lance Lynn or Kyle Gibson if needed. Maybe consider shutting down Sonny Gray soon to protect his arm for the rest of the season. Whatever it takes, the Cardinals should have McGreevy join Pallante down the stretch as young arms in their rotation.