Inside The Cardinals

MLB Insider Identifies Glaring Cardinals' Weakness

The Cardinals have been very successful this season, but Ken Rosenthal sees a hole in the roster.
Zach Pressnell|
Sep 17, 2018; Atlanta, GA, USA; Detailed view of a St. Louis Cardinals hat and glove in the dugout against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at SunTrust Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Sep 17, 2018; Atlanta, GA, USA; Detailed view of a St. Louis Cardinals hat and glove in the dugout against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at SunTrust Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals have been hot this season and not a lot of people seemed to see it coming.

The Cardinals boast the best defense in the league and a very respectable offense, despite shaky play from a few stars. The pitching staff has been consistently solid, too.

MLB insider Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic recently identified a major weakness in the Cardinals' roster: the depth of the pitching staff.

"Another potential issue with the rotation is its lack of depth. The Cardinals currently have only one player on the injured list — lefty Zack Thompson, who is on the 60-day IL with a torn lat," Rosenthal wrote. "The Cardinals wisely employed a six-man rotation in April to preserve their starters, including righties Miles Mikolas, 36, and Sonny Gray, 35.

"But outside of lefty Steven Matz, who made two starts in April, their only depth option is righty Michael McGreevy, who pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings against the New York Mets before returning to Triple A."

This lack of depth should soon be less of an issue.

Two of the Cardinals' top prospects, Tink Hence and Quinn Mathews, are returning from injuries that have kept them sidelined for most of this season. Though the Cardinals will likely be patient with these two stars, there's a chance they could dominate their way to the big leagues in the next few months.

This depth issue could become more of an issue if the Cardinals opt to trade away any of their pitching this season. Erick Fedde, whose contract expires at the end of the season, is the perfect trade candidate. Trading him away would cause a depth issue to become even worse.

More MLB: Cardinals Should Target Dodgers Top Prospect In Huge Trade

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Zach Pressnell
ZACH PRESSNELL

Zach Pressnell has experience covering all major US sports at both the professional and collegiate levels. He’s produced content for FanSided, Blog Red Machine, The Game Haus, Bethany College Athletics and the Bethany College online newspaper, He graduated from Bethany College (WV) with a degree in Communications and Media Arts, specializing in Sports Journalism. Pressnell was also a four-year member of the baseball team where he earned himself All-PAC recognition as a pitcher (and a cool Tommy John surgery scar). Now, Pressnell specializes in NFL and MLB coverage for Sports Illustrated’s “On SI” network among others. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "St. Louis Cardinals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org

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