Cardinals Urged To Dump $44M Starter Before Winter Meetings End

Will the Cardinals consider such a move?

Sep 11, 2023; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; A detailed view of the 9/11 ribbon on a St. Louis Cardinals hat in the dugout before the game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The 2024 Major League Baseball Winter Meetings are here and fireworks already have started.

The New York Mets made the largest move in Major League Baseball history and landed superstar slugger Juan Soto to a massive $765 million deal over 15 years. Now that Soto has signed, the dam in free agency should break and we should start to see a lot of moves in the coming days.

The St. Louis Cardinals are going to be worth watching now and throughout the Winter Meetings because it would be a fantastic time to make a trade or two. All of baseball's top decision-makers are together in Dallas, Texas so it definitely is easy to get in contact with people.

FanSided's Andrew Heckroth made a list of three contracts the Cardinals should offload at the Winter Meetings and suggested a trade involving veteran starter Steven Matz.

"Injuries have set back Steven Matz's production with the Cardinals," Heckroth said. "In two of Matz's three seasons in St. Louis, he has failed to pitch over 50 innings. In 2024, back spasms limited Matz to 12 games last year. When he was healthy, it wasn't good. Matz posted an ERA over five, a career-high 4.88 FIP, resulting in a -0.2 WAR.

"Trading Steven Matz this offseason will be challenging because of his injury history and lack of production, but it is not impossible if Matz is willing to move to the bullpen."

Matz has one year left on a four-year, $44 million deal. He struggled in 2024 to the tune of a 5.08 ERA across 12 total appearances -- including seven starts.

Could his days with the Cardinals be numbered?

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