Richard Fitts could be ticketed for swingman role in Cardinals rotation

The MLB offseason has begun and teams have a little less than a month to make some moves before the impending lockout on December 1. The St. Louis Cardinals got started on their roster clearout, bidding adieu to reliever Ryne Stanek and now need to fill his bullpen innings in some way.

How Chaim Bloom attacks the bullpen weakness will show his hand a bit for what he expects the Cardinals to do on the field in 2027. On one hand, he can throw some money at the problem and hope to grab some experienced arms to limit the amount of late game collapses. On the other, Bloom could take a similar approach to 2026 and keep a consistent group together for most of the year and hope they can learn from the growing pains of being a major league reliever.

Whichever route Bloom goes will provide opportunity for untested arms. How those arms are used, however, remains to be seen. Over the past two-plus years, the Cardinals have used a sixth man in the rotation, but in a non-traditional way to a six-man rotation. Going back two seasons, the Cardinals had Steven Matz ready to go for a spot start based on off days or rainouts and then utilized a similar strategy with Hunter Dobbins last year. The difference between Matz and Dobbins was that Matz got his other innings in the major league bullpen while Dobbins was sent packing to Memphis to remain on a starter's schedule and workload. In 2027, Dobbins' teammate in both Boston and in St. Louis, Richard Fitts, could be the next player utilizing that strategy.

Richard Fitts may be the next swingman option for the Cardinals

Coming into the 2026 season, both Richard Fitts and Hunter Dobbins entered into the fifth rotation spot competition in Spring Training. They were coming off of different spots in their careers, with Dobbins rehabbing a knee injury and Fitts looking to build off his first long-term stay in the majors with Boston. Dobbins was able to make it back healthy for the start of the year, but Fitts ran into his own health issues and missed the entire season with a shoulder injury. His early April lat surgery has him on track to be ready for spring, assuming the year gets started on time.

The Cardinals have a pretty solid idea of what their rotation is going to look like in 2027, though they can go a couple different routes to put the finishing touches on the starting five (or six). In these scenarios, the final rotation spot could be up for grabs and the Cardinals could fill it in a way that has been a proven success for the organization. While Dobbins did go down with injury this year, everything was going to plan as he entered into the rotation on a full-time basis once trades were made.

Like Dobbins, Fitts showed he was ready for a major league starting gig and spending time in the bullpen or the minor league rotation was not the best for his long-term outlook. Fitts has multiple pitches with solid command that make him a mid-tier rotation prospect. Since Fitts will have his workload monitored this season, using the first few months to build him back up as a starter could be a way to bring him along slowly but be ready when needed.

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