Cardinals Expected To Be Among Most Competitive Teams In Relief Pitching Market

St. Louis is poised to retool their bullpen

The St. Louis Cardinals' main objective going into this year's offseason was to retool the pitching staff.

So far, the Cardinals have done a decent job of accomplishing that goal by acquiring three starters and adding depth to the bullpen.

There is still room for growth and recent reports indicate that the Cardinals will heavily compete to land more relief pitching.

"Nothing would reassure the Cardinals more than adding one more high-leverage reliever," The Athletic's Katie Woo reported Sunday. "The Cardinals will monitor other areas of the roster, of course (they have not ruled out adding another starting pitcher, though that is likely to only come through a trade), but they have been transparent about their focus on the bullpen. As baseball’s hot stove finally begins to heat up, expect St. Louis to be one of the most competitive teams in the relief pitching market."

The Cardinals have added bullpen depth this winter but they are still lacking a high-leverage hurler they can rely on late in the game.

The best back-end relievers for St. Louis -- Ryan Helsley and Giovanny Gallegos -- are both coming off of a season in which the former was riddled with injury and the latter played his worst-recorded season.

The missing piece of the puzzle might be found in signing back right-handed pitcher Jordan Hicks -- who the Cardinals are pursuing for a reunion.

Other top free-agent relievers on the market include Josh Hader, Yuki Matsui and Aroldis Chapman. The Cardinals will likely have to outbid big-market teams to land one of these talents.

St. Louis' bullpen could certainly benefit from acquiring one of the aforementioned hurlers and it's encouraging to see that the club is competing to make it happen.

More MLB: Cardinals Reportedly Could Add Another Starting Pitcher Via Trade