8 Cardinals who should be playing their final games for St. Louis this weekend

Miles Mikolas

I've written about this a ton already and will continue to do so until the Cardinals actually do it, but I think it's best for all parties involved that the Cardinals trade Miles Mikolas this offseason.

Obviously, they will not get anything of value in return and they will need to eat a lot of money, but there will be teams out there who would take a flyer on Mikolas if they only have to pay him between $5 million and $8 million next season, and any money the Cardinals can save on his contract is likely worth it to them.

St. Louis has too many back-of-the-rotation starters right now. Sonny Gray is still a front-line guy, but Erick Fedde and Andre Pallante are best viewed as number four or five starters, possibly a middle-of-the-rotation arm. Without even factoring in other veteran starters they could decide to keep, I'd rather see Quinn Mathews and Michael McGreevy over Mikolas, and I'd like to know what they have in Sem Robberse, Adam Kloffenstein, and Gordon Graceffo. Also, I'm thinking we may see Tink Hence at some point next year as well.

With so many back-end options already, why pay significant money to someone like Mikolas when you need to see what you have in your young arms? Again, having stability at the back of the rotation on a small number is valuable for a contender, but the Cardinals need to get information on their young arms, and you can't do that well if they are not pitching.

I'll get to this more later too, but if the Cardinals do move these veteran arms off their books who they don't really need, it does free up money for them to pursue another high-ceiling arm that they are truly missing. Sure, Mathews or Hence could be that someday, but they don't need that kind of pressure right now. They should be icing on the cake, not Plan A.

Part ways with Mikolas, and use that rotation spot to allow a young arm to sink or swim.