Cardinals Reportedly Sign All-Star Starter To Bolster Pitching Staff

St. Louis has finally started to add some arms to the staff, a year too late

Scott Neville | Nov 21, 2023

Cardinals Reportedly Sign All-Star Starter To Bolster Pitching Staff /

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are finally getting active in free agency, and as expected, both notable moves were made to improve the rotation.

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak promised to acquire at least two, preferably three arms this offseason and has delivered. Who he brought in, however, has not done much to move the needle.

"Source confirms: Free-agent right-handed pitcher Kyle Gibson in agreement with Cardinals on one-year, $12M contract with club option," The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported Tuesday.

Gibson posted a 4.73 ERA with a 157-to-55 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .270 batting average against and 1.32 WHIP in 192 innings last season.

One day after signing the pitcher who allowed the most home runs in Major League Baseball last season, Mozeliak signed the pitcher who led the National League with 198 hits allowed.

The 36-year-old has one All-Star nod under his belt and a career 4.54 ERA across 11 seasons.

It's clear what the Cardinals' motive has been early on, to add innings pitched to the rotation. While both Lynn and Gibson are not premier arms, the former tossed 183 2/3 innings last season and the latter an aforementioned 192 innings.

If St. Louis plans to deem these two hurlers the additions the fanbase has clamored for, they should not bank on selling many tickets next season. However, if the goal was to add some ancillary pieces to the rotation while still in the hunt for a couple of notable arms, they deserve to be commended.

Depth is nearly as important as star power across a 162-game season and they have certainly added more value to the starting pitching positon as a whole.

As it stands now, the Cardinals can factor in Steven Matz, Miles Mikolas, Lynn and Gibson into the rotation. Should they add any of the following names: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Sonny Gray or Jordan Montgomery -- they would be a much-improved club.

There also is another tier -- Eduardo Rodriguez, Marcus Stroman or Shota Imanga -- that would be enticing as well.

The Cardinals desperately need an ace or at least a high-end frontline starter but the building blocks are in place. It's not time to panic yet. If the rotation looks similar on Feb. 1, different story.

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Published Nov 21, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu