Cardinals Reportedly Eyeing Trades For Three Top-Tier Starting Pitchers This Winter

St. Louis reportedly is considering trades for three different big-name starters

The St. Louis Cardinals certainly don't sound like they are messing around.

St. Louis had one of the worst seasons in team history in 2023 with just 71 wins and the club is looking to make changes. The Cardinals' biggest area of weakness is in the starting rotation and the club already has made it clear that they will be going big to fix the issue. 

The club ultimately needs to fill three spots in the rotation after trading away Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty, and Adam Wainwright retired. It's unclear exactly how they will do it. The Cardinals have been linked to free agents, trade candidates, and even a few internal options. It sounds like the Cardinals will be considering all options. Three trade candidates the club reportedly has an interest in are Tampa Bay Rays hurler Tyler Glasnow, Chicago White Sox ace Dylan Cease, and Seattle Mariners righty Logan Gilbert, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold. 

"If/when the Tampa Bay Rays entertain offers for Tyler Glasnow, who is owed $20 million for the coming season, the Cardinals plan to be involved in those talks and see if they can make a trade happen, per sources," Goold said. "Dylan Cease also appeals to them, and as previously reported by the Post-Dispatch Logan Gilbert is of interest, but the price is high."

This isn't the first time St. Louis has been linked to Glasnow, Cease, or Gilbert. Unsurprisingly, their names keep popping up because at this point they are the biggest starting pitchers reportedly on the trade block, aside from Cleveland Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber. The Cardinals have the prospect capital to get a deal done if they see fit. St. Louis likely will be looking to add at least one pitcher through trade and either one or two in free agency. 

It's too early to tell exactly who will be in the Cardinals' rotation in 2024, but if the offseason chatter is any indication it is sure to be exponentially better than it was last season.

More MLB: Cardinals Reportedly Could Bring In Polarizing Ex-Red Sox Executive This Offseason