This dynamic free agent starter is the right talent at the wrong time for Cardinals

One of the issues with the 2025 St. Louis Cardinals was that their starting rotation was unable to keep the game competitive long enough to give the offense a chance. That group has even more question marks going into 2026, as there are currently just three players penciled into the rotation as of early November.

Unlike previous years, this is not a major concern for the Cardinals since the 2026 campaign will be the first official season of the rebuild being orchestrated by Chaim Bloom. With St. Louis not likely to compete in the division, there is less pressure to fill those holes with high-priced, quality arms. The better bet would be for the Cardinals to have at least one minor league arm or reliever-turned-starter fill a spot, as well as a free agent or two to battle for the final opening. What can probably be counted out is Bloom offering a long-term, high-dollar deal to a prime-aged arm.

Michael King would have been a great fit for the 2026 Cardinals.

That makes the rest of this article just fun practice for when the Cardinals eventually re-enter baseball relevancy and choose to spend money on free agents. If the Cardinals were serious about competing in 2026, it would still be an option to trade Nolan Arenado and his contract, potentially giving the organization a few more dollars to spend. If that were the case, I would have liked to see the Cardinals loosen the purse strings and go after Michael King, who enters this offseason as a second-tier arm who could make an immediate impact in a rotation.

King was signed by the Padres to fill their starting staff after spending the vast majority of his career as a reliever. However, his 2024 season was a massive success as the 2016 12th-round pick made 30 starts and went 13-9 with a 2.95 ERA. King was able to keep his solid strikeout stuff from his time in the bullpen, but he did see his fastball lose about a mile per hour. The velocity loss could have been an early sign of something. Despite the great results, King fought shoulder issues in 2025 and only made 15 starts this past year.

When healthy, he was solid again and declined his $15 million option to become a free agent this offseason. King will be 31 years old for the majority of the 2026 season, but has yet to throw 500 innings at the major league level, thanks to spending his first four-plus seasons as a reliever. He will likely be looking for a longer contract, around four or more years, with at least $20 million per season. I would guess the total contract value will be over $100 million, a price I would at least entertain if the Cardinals were expected to be relevant next year.

King would become the top arm in the St. Louis rotation but without the major price tag of a bona fide ace. He has the strikeout stuff the staff has been missing for the better part of a decade, and had been relatively healthy save for the two-month span this past season. Even if there were injury concerns, the Cardinals could then have used their minor league shuttle to be a modified six-man rotation to build in extra rest for the entire staff.

Unfortunately, the entire Cardinals payroll will probably be less than the value of Michael King's next contract, but to me, it shows that the team is not necessarily so far away. As we have seen, a willingness to spend money, even overpay in some aspects, is a needed strategy to take teams from division competitors to World Series contenders.