The Cardinals should target these 2 veteran starters to bolster their 2026 rotation

The Cardinals are out of contention and have officially entered their rebuild phase. The immediate future looks a bit bleak. They aren't expected to contend next season and may not be back in contention for a few years. It's frustrating, but a rebuild is what is needed to get St. Louis back to where they once were. It will be headed up by Chaim Bloom, who will take over for John Mozeliak in just over three weeks.

The Cardinals aren't likely to make massive moves in free agency, but we do know that they are short on pitching within the system. There are a couple of ways they can go about adding more. They can trade players for upper-level minor league arms that are close to major league ready, and they can also sign a free agent or two.

To be clear, I'm not contradicting myself here. They won't make a play for somebody that's going to be a top-tier free agent pitcher. That type of arm will be out of their price range. But they can target some lower-cost guys to fill out the rotation, especially if Sonny Gray is ultimately traded this offseason. My guess is that he will be on the move.

Think of it kind of similarly to what they did after the 2023 season, when they added guys like Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson. They weren't sexy moves, but those guys did their jobs in 2024. Here are two starters they can target for that purpose.