Spencer Strider’s name suddenly belongs on the Cardinals’ offseason board, and it’s not hard to see why.
For a stretch from 2022-23, the right-hander looked like one of baseball’s next great aces. He posted a 3.36 ERA across 318.1 innings, led all of baseball with 285 strikeouts, topped the NL in FIP at 2.85 in the latter season, and finished fourth in Cy Young voting. That’s the version of Strider that can change a rotation fast.
The problem, of course, is that the last few years have gone in the opposite direction. An internal brace procedure in 2024, followed by elbow and shoulder issues this year, have limited him to a 4.78 ERA and fewer than 175 innings over the past three seasons combined.
Even so, the Braves’ reported willingness to shop him at the trade deadline changes the conversation. Atlanta reportedly came close to sending Strider to the Rangers for Jacob deGrom before deGrom used his no-trade clause to shut it down. Strider is owed $22 million in each of the next two seasons, and he has a $22 million club option for 2029.
If Atlanta is open to revisiting those talks this winter, St. Louis should be paying attention.
The Cardinals are not in a position to chase expensive certainty just for the sake of it, and Strider’s contract is real money. But that’s also the point: his injuries and salary have stripped away much of the price tag that once came with a pitcher of his caliber. At the right prospect cost, this is the kind of swing that can make sense for a team trying to move faster without losing sight of where its roster is headed.
That matters for a Cardinals rotation that has promise but not a clear ace. Michael McGreevy and Kyle Leahy headline a young group, while Liam Doyle and Jurrangelo Cijntje bring upside but have yet to make their MLB debuts.
If St. Louis wants to be positioned to compete in 2027, it needs an established big-league starter with top-of-the-rotation ability.
That’s why Strider stands out. He is only 27, he fits the timeline better than an older free-agent starter, and he still carries the memory of being one of the sport’s elite arms at 24. After a surprisingly competitive rebuilding season, the Cardinals have a chance to target someone who can lift the ceiling now without forcing the club to overpay for aging pitching on the open market.
In Other News...
Leo Bernal Is Making One Cardinals Regret Feel Even Bigger
Leo Bernals first few weeks in the big leagues have done more than introduce the Cardinals to a promising young catcher. Since his promotion on Sept. 1, he has given St. Louis immediate production on both sides of the ball, looking far more settled than a player making his first leap to the majors. The early returns have been strong enough to turn his arrival into one of the more encouraging developments of the late season, and his impact has already shown up in the record book.
For the Cardinals, the more interesting part is what might have been if Bernal had arrived sooner. The clubs playoff chase could have looked different with that kind of energy behind the plate and in the lineup earlier in the stretch run, especially given how quickly he has translated his tools to the majors. Even now, the larger question hangs over the organization: not whether Bernal belongs, but how much more value he could have provided if the call had come before September. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Rotation Has One Rising Surprise And One Growing Concern
With 11 games left and a Wild Card chase that has all but slipped away, the Cardinals are spending the final stretch looking at the rotation with a colder eye than they did a month ago. The group has produced one rising surprise in the mix, but it has also left a growing concern that has shaped the way St. Louis has evaluated the rest of this season and the months ahead.
That backdrop makes the trade of Dustin May and JoJo Romero to the Milwaukee Brewers even more telling, because the return brought back two prospects the organization sees as worth tracking: Alexander Frias and Josiah Ragsdale. Both players fit the kind of long-view thinking that takes over when the standings get grim, and their arrival adds a little intrigue to a system that is trying to balance short-term uncertainty with long-term hope. [Read more 🡒]
Jordan Walker Is Being Overlooked In One Cardinals Debate That Matters
Jordan Walkers 2026 season has quietly become one of the more compelling rebound stories on the Cardinals roster. After struggling in his first few big league seasons, he has made enough of a leap this year to enter the conversation for National League Comeback Player of the Year, a field that already includes familiar names such as Sandy Alcantara, Michael Harris II and Oneil Cruz. Even so, Walker is not getting much love from odds sites, which says plenty about how quickly his turnaround has been absorbed into the background.
The overlook makes some sense on the surface, because Walker was never quite treated like a full-fledged comeback case in the first place. He had already established himself to a degree, and he did not have the kind of major injury return story that tends to drive these awards. Still, the Cardinals have watched him put together a much better season than the one that came before it, and if this debate is supposed to reward meaningful recovery and renewed production, Walker belongs in it whether the market has noticed or not. [Read more 🡒]