The Cardinals pitching staff has more innings to cover in the second half than it appears

The St. Louis Cardinals enter the second half just outside of a playoff spot, but this could be as close as they get in this rebuild season. With the All-Star break festivities concluding with Jordan Walker making history and a lackluster Midsummer Classic, we can put our focus back on Cardinal baseball and what the future may look like in St. Louis.

The trade deadline is on the horizon, and the Cardinals roster is likely going to look plenty different than it did during the first half. Chaim Bloom may be able to toe the line between buy and sell, but the focus is still on the long term. This means that there are going to be changes to the pitching staff, with expiring contracts (Dustin May and JoJo Romero) and bullpen arms (Ryne Stanek and Riley O'Brien) available to a true contender for the right price.

The Cardinals will have plenty of pitching opportunities available in the season's second half

Coming into the season, the pitching rotation was seen as a big question mark, and after the first half, the starting five has been the most consistent part of the team. Without major blowups and with a couple gems mixed in, the staff has kept the team in games while remaining shockingly healthy (knock on wood) for the second season in a row. With the All-Star break over, Oli Marmol and his staff were able to set the order of arms as they wanted, and the current alignment is a quick way to build in some extra rest.

Michael McGreevy got the first start after the break and threw another quality start before giving way to a spotty bullpen. So far, McGreevy is one of the only pitchers that may be counted on to provide a whole season's worth of innings this year. Behind him, St. Louis went with Dustin May and Andre Pallante before giving way to Kyle Leahy and Matthew Liberatore.

Pallante also looks to get a full innings load, but he may be pitching so well that Chaim Bloom may be forced to take calls on the rebuilt starter. With that remote possibility, the St. Louis rotation may need to fill four spots after the August trade deadline. May looks like the likeliest trade piece, while Liberatore's inconsistency may create a need for a role change, and Kyle Leahy could have an innings limit in his first year as a starter.

Hunter Dobbins and Brycen Mautz are immediate options to fill the potential rotation spots, but after those two, the Cardinals will have to dip further into the 40-man roster to see what they have in their prospect arms. This is an intriguing scenario for pitchers like Quinn Mathews, Tink Hence, and maybe even Jurrangelo Cijntje to get MLB experience without burning through their rookie eligibility.

With under two weeks until the trade deadline, the Cardinals are in one of the most interesting positions in the league. They are currently sitting at or near playoff contention but have expiring contracts that could be offloaded for even more prospect capital. The future remains the focus, so I believe it is more likely than not that we will see at least one, maybe two rotation spots open up in the near future.

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