Cardinals Insider Claims 'There Must Be A Way' To Trade All-Star Hurler This Winter

St. Louis needs to pull the plug with the veteran pitcher

Aug 20, 2019; St. Louis, MO, USA; A general view of Busch Stadium as the sun sets during the fourth inning of a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images / Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

The St. Louis Cardinals are about to miss the playoffs for a second straight year, and it's time for the organization to take action.

Last winter's approach of retooling the rotation with three veteran starters and bolstering the bullpen didn't do much to turn things around from last year's 91-loss season.

Significant changes must be made to the Cardinals roster this winter if the franchise hopes to return to the playoffs. One way to start moving in the right direction would be to trade a struggling veteran hurler.

"Quite simply, he (Miles Mikolas) has the worst ERA in Major League Baseball," St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Benjamin Hochman wrote Monday. "Yep, Mikolas jumped 'ahead' of Washington’s Patrick Corbin (5.45) with a 5.49 ERA. As we know, there are some games in which Mikolas gets burned by some soft contact. But there must be a way for St. Louis to trade him in the offseason — he’s set to make about $18 million next year, the final one of his contract."

Mikolas has posted an 8-11 record with a 5.49 ERA, 114-to-24 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .286 batting average against and a 1.29 WHIP in 160 2/3 innings pitched for the Cardinals this season.

"But if this team is serious about making the playoffs, you move on from baseball’s worst ERA," Hochman continued. "And if this team is serious about a reboot, you don’t eat up a rotation spot with baseball’s worst ERA ... who is in the final year of a contract."

The 36-year-old has been mediocre at best for the last two seasons, and the Cardinals aren't good enough to keep an underachieving veteran pitcher on the roster.

The Cardinals need to find another front-end starter to complement ace Sonny Gray and dumping Mikolas's contract to some other team would help free up space for a reliable starting pitcher to be signed.

Finding a trade suitor for Mikolas could be tricky, considering the cost of his final year of contract. The Cardinals might have to take responsibility for some of the money he's owed in 2025 but as long as he's traded without putting St. Louis too much in debt, parting ways with the right-handed pitcher this winter might be in the club's best interest.

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