The Cardinals added a new arm to their rotation this week with a signing Dustin May. Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Cards are still interested in adding another starter, but it may be the type of veteran who eats innings to provide stability.
May is no match for the innings-eating veteran. He has had significant injury problems in his career. From 2019 to 2024, he never went over 56 innings in any season and missed the entire 2024 campaign. He was healthy in 2025, pitching 132 1/3 innings, but ended the season on the injured list with right elbow neuritis.
The circulation of St. Louis lacks absolute confidence at the moment. Erick Fedde it was sold in Atlanta in July. Miles Mikolas became a free agent at the end of the season. Sonny Gray he was recently traded to the Red Sox. That means they lost three of the five guys they pitched 100 or more innings in 2025.
The other two were Matthew Liberatore again Andre Pallante. Liberatore had a respectable 4.21 earned run average in his first full season in the majors. Pallante had a decent first half but then faded and finished the season with a 5.31 ERA.
Michael McGreevy he’ll likely get a spot in the rotation after he posted a 4.42 ERA in 95 2/3 innings this year but his 14.5% strikeout rate was pretty low. Richard Fittsacquired in the Gray deal, has good numbers so far but only in 65 2/3 major league innings. Kyle Leahy he might get a rotation interview but he’s been a dud so far in his major league career. Touch So again Brycen Mautz they are 40 players but they haven’t played big league games yet. Hope Quinn Matthews he has reached Triple-A but has walked 17.5% of the batters he has faced at that level this year.
Mathews is not yet 40 players. Of all the others mentioned, May and Leahy are the only two who cannot be selected in the minors. As of now, three places are likely to go to May, Liberatore and Pallante. If they make an outside addition, that will leave one spot available for McGreevy, Leahy, Fitts, Hence, Mautz or Mathews. If Leahy doesn’t win the job out of camp, he could be on the field. Anyone else who doesn’t get a job can go to the Triple-A rotation.
This is all theoretical and assumes that everyone is healthy. These days, no team can finish the season with five starters. Injuries are inevitable and will open up other opportunities for anyone who doesn’t have a replacement spot at the start. May is on a one-year contract and could be sold this summer if he performs well. The same would be true for any veteran added in the coming months. That would leave plenty of starts for unproven guys in the final months of the 2026 season.
As for who the Cards add, there are many possibilities. Boys love it Jose Quintana, Patrick Corbin, Tyler Anderson, Tomoyuki Sugano, Nick Martinez, Martín Pérez, Andrew Heaney, Michael Lorenzen and many others are free laborers.
The commercial market has several of these types. The Cubs may look to move a guy in the backfield if they sign a frontcourt type but intra-division trades are always tricky to pull off. The Red Sox may be looking for a turnaround Patrick Sandoval but he is not stable at all as he missed all of 2025 when he underwent surgery. The Jays may be looking to get out from under José Berríos deal but the Cards don’t make sense as a destination for that contract unless the Jays are willing to give up some serious talent just to get the deal done. The Rockies may be willing to trade Kyle Freeland but they need innings themselves.
Time will tell how it goes but it’s a reasonable goal for the Cards. Their off-season to-do list is mostly about unloading, they’ve already traded Gray and potential deals Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado, Wilson Contreras, Lars Nootbaar, JoJo Romero and others are still possible. But they need to get through 2026 and have a lot of question marks in their rotation mix. They will want to have opportunities available to their home boys but having a solid veteran to keep things steady makes sense.
Photo courtesy of Paul Rutherford, Imagn Images
