Ranking the likeliest free agent starting pitching fits for the St. Louis Cardinals

10. Marcus Stroman

For the first three months of the season, Marcus Stroman looked like a Cy Young candidate for the Chicago Cubs, but things have fallen apart for him since then. After a sub-3 ERA all season, Stroman's 6 starts in July saw his ERA skyrocket up to 9.11 over 26.2 innings, and now he is shut down with some injuries and may not even pitch again this year.

The Cubs and Stroman have had a fairly public back and forth over a potential extension, with the Cubs having "no intention" of extending Stroman before the end of the season despite the likelihood that he would opt out of his current contract in the winter. There's a chance he doesn't opt out now after how badly the second half has gone, but it still seems more likely than not.

The Cardinals were not interested in bringing Stroman into St. Louis when he was a free agent after the 2021 season, and I haven't seen their position on that change. Reportedly, the asking price last time around was too high, but there may be more to their lack of interest than that as well. Regardless, whenever insiders are asked about the Cardinals pitching targets, Stroman's name is never linked to them. Maybe that changes come the winter.