The St. Louis Cardinals are reportedly interested in these 3 starting pitchers

The St. Louis Cardinals have already pronounced themselves as a team looking ahead to 2024, according to President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak.

Here is what that doesn't mean. The Cardinals are not going to trade their superstar duo of Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, no matter how many photoshops we see of Arenado in Yankees jerseys on Twitter. I cannot wait for that to end.

It also does not mean the Cardinals are going to "blow up" the rest of this roster. This is not a rebuild, it's a retool with the expectation that they will be ready to compete with the rest of the National League in 2024.

Honestly, it's not only a precursor to this coming offseason, it's also a reaction to misteps from this last offseason.

Sean Murphy, and to a lesser extent, Pablo Lopez, were two names that the Cardinals really should have pooled their assets together to acquire this last offseason. In the moment, I got their hesitancy. They'd already been burned by trading away guys before they really "knew" what they were. Willson Contreras was sitting there in free agency, they technically already have a five-man rotation for 2023. Might as well hold onto their assets and see what they have, right?

Well, 2023 has been about as bad as it could have been. Now the Cardinals are licking their wounds, but need to quickly turn to the "offensive" when it comes to this deadline. This includes not just "selling" on their impending free agents, but also looking to "buy" arms with control beyond this season.

Over at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Derrick Goold revealed some names of starters that are reportedly in the crosshairs of the Cardinals' front office. Each will come at a varying price, but all three could help the 2024 club out in a big way.

Here are three starting pitchers the Cardinals are looking at acquiring

Logan Gilbert, Seattle Mariners

The first name that Goold mentioned is one that I had identified this week as someone the Cardinals should target this deadline - Logan Gilbert.

The Cardinals and Mariners have been linked together for a few weeks now in trade rumors. Gilbert is the most established out of the Mariners' arms that are potentially available, but as Goold stated, it's unclear what kind of return the Mariners would want for him.

Gilbert, 26, is in his third big league season and is currently 7-5 with a 3.66 ERA with 106 SO in 108.1 innings pitched. Gilbert was a top prospect in all of baseball a few years ago and really broke out in 2021 with a 13-6 record and 3.20 ERA in 185.2 innings. Gilbert is not a strikeout machine by any means, but he has a lot more strikeout stuff than the Cardinals have right now.

He is also under team control through the 2027 season, meaning he will cost the Cardinals very little for the majority of this stretch of time. The Cardinals need at least three starters for their rotation next year, and if they want to be able to fill it with significant arms, a few of those will need to be cost-controlled, like Gilbert.

Acquiring Gilbert would likely take one of Nolan Gorman, Brendan Donovan, Tommy Edman or possibly Dylan Carlson as the headliner. Goold already stated that Jordan Walker and Lars Nootbaar are not available alongside Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado.

I would still keep an eye on names like Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller from Seattle. Both made their Major League debuts for Seattle this year and if Gilbert is not available like George Kirby, then those two could be an option.

Lance Lynn, Chicago White Sox

As I said earlier, all three of these options are very different from one another, but all three have the potential to help the Cardinals in 2024, including a reunion with Lance Lynn.

Lynn has an $18 million club option for 2023, which makes him a really interesting starter to look at for 2024.

Let's start by saying I do not think the Cardinals would view Lynn as their best pitching option to bring in for 2024. Remember, they need three arms minimum if not four. Lynn would likely come at a very low-cost trade asset-wise, and the $18 million figure is nothing crazy for a one-year deal.

While Lynn's performance has been rough this year, going 5-8 with a 6.03 ERA, he does have 127 SO in just 103 innings pitched. Lynn's strikeout stuff is still there, meaning there is potential for him to turn things around.

I'm not advocating for this move, but just take a moment to look at the reasoning with me. The Cardinals are going to need to take a risk on at least one starter this offseason that may not have been great in 2023 but has the stuff to be better in 2024. They can do that in free agency, but it may cost more annually and may require multiple years. Lynn may just require a name like Juan Yepez or some other lower-valued prospects/fringe big-leaguers.

If the Cardinals did acquire Lynn, I'd still expect them two to take two more swings, one in free agency and one in the trade market, with at least one of those deals being for a front-line starter. Lynn could be a higher upside middle or back end of the rotation acquisition, which depending on the cost, could be interesting for St. Louis.

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