Cardinals Given Strong Offseason Grade After Rebuilding Pitching Staff
The St. Louis Cardinals knew exactly what they needed following an unexpected last-place finish in the National League Central in 2023 -- pitching, pitching and more pitching.
The Cardinals were not meaningfully in it for Yoshinobu Yamamoto and are not going to land stateside stars such as Jordan Montgomery or Blake Snell. However, they did sign a legitimate ace in Sonny Gray and successfully shored up the group from top to bottom.
The national media has shown their support for St. Louis' actions as well. USA Today's Bob Nightengale and Gabe Lacques gave the Cardinals a B- for their efforts -- which was in the upper half of their rankings as they graded each offseason.
"Cardinals president John Mozeliak promised they would add three starting pitchers after last year’s disastrous season and quickly delivered this winter, bringing in three veterans with Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn," Nightengale and Lacques shared Thursday. "Certainly, the Cardinals aren’t concerning themselves with a youth movement. Lynn and Gibson are 36, and Gray is 34, the heart of the oldest starting rotation in baseball."
The focus for the aforementioned writing duo rightfully was on the rotation but they left out some key details.
Mozeliak also went into the offseason with the plan of adding two high-leverage relievers to support the new-look rotation. He accomplished his goal by adding Andrew Kittredge via trade with the Tampa Bay Rays and then signing Keynan Middleton in free agency.
The retooling of the pitching staff plus the health of right-hander Ryan Helsley and development of left-hander Jojo Romero should aid the Cardinals' quest to improve upon their No. 24 ranked 4.79 team ERA from a season ago.
It's fair to question whether Gibson and Lynn will be able to hold their own toward the bottom of the rotation but the overall shift has been positive.
St. Louis is projected to win the National League Central by both Fangraphs and Baseball Prospectus this season in what would be an incredible worst-to-first storyline.
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