7 players who should be entering their final days on the Cardinals

Miles Mikolas

Getting rid of Miles Mikolas will not be an easy task (well, at least in terms of getting financial relief), but even if the Cardinals have to eat the whole contract, that is better than keeping him around, right?

After another awful start this weekend, Miles Mikolas is now 8-11 with a 5.55 ERA in 155.2 innings of work for the Cardinals this season. Those numbers have only gotten worse as the season has gone on. Over his last 15 starts, that ERA is up to 6.26 with a 1.43 WHIP, and over his last seven starts, Mikolas has a 7.76 ERA and 1.63 WHIP.

Sure, his FIP (4.21) and xFIP (4.10) are over a full run better, but come on, all you have to do is watch Mikolas pitch to know that he's well past the days of being a productive big leaguer for the Cardinals.

Last year, Mikolas was able to eclipse the 200-inning mark for the Cardinals, but he did so while sporting a 4.78 ERA. This year, the run prevention has gotten even worse, and now Mikolas can't even be trusted to give them bulk innings either.

The Cardinals are on the hook for $17.6 million for Mikolas next year, yet another awful (and unnecessary) extension from the front office that is aging poorly. Sure, paying a guy $17.6 million to not throw a pitch for you hurts, but doesn't it hurt more to have Mikolas actually pitching for them next year? I say yes.

The Cardinals have offloaded bad deals before and eaten money in the process (see Dexter Fowler) and I think that would make a ton of sense in the case of Mikolas. Even if no one wants him and they just have to release him, I don't see a reason not to with how bad things have gone to this point.

Frankly, do we really think the young Cardinals arms who are hoping to start games next year would be any worse than Mikolas? I can't imagine so.