Ranking the St. Louis Cardinals' 5 biggest needs after the trade deadline

3. Bullpen help

The bullpen has arguably been as big, if not even bigger of a problem, for the Cardinals during the 2023 season. They have blown 25 saves already this season as a group and have a bottom-10 bullpen ERA in all of baseball. It has been brutal.

Still, if Ryan Helsley can be healthy next year, and guys like Giovanny Gallegos, JoJo Romero, and Zack Thompson can all contribute in a meaningful way, they have arms ready. Wilking Rodriguez, their Rule 5 pick this last offseason who has missed the entire season with an injury, could factor in as well, as could a number of other internal relievers or even some of those young starters I talked about competing for the rotation.

Even so, adding one or two relievers from outside the organization would not be a bad idea at all. I do wonder though if they may wait until next year's trade deadline to add those arms, as it feels like every contender ends up needing to add relievers to their mix then. So perhaps just one arm to the bullpen in free agency or via trade would be ideal for now, especially with their two needs above this being so important.