The Cardinals’ rotation is short on answers right now, but a reunion with Miles Mikolas does not appear to be one of them.
That idea has picked up steam on social media as St. Louis searches for help until Andre Pallante returns.
Mikolas, after all, is a familiar face. He spent eight years with the Cardinals, made both of his All-Star teams in St.
Louis, and had stretches where he looked like a steadying force on the mound. But the results have been uneven, and the recent numbers are hard to ignore: a 4.84 ERA in 2025, a 5.35 ERA in 2024, and a 5.82 ERA this season in 25 games with the Washington Nationals before they moved on.
Even with Mikolas available in free agency, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the Cardinals are not lining up to make that move.
While appearing on the “BK & Ferrario” show on 101 ESPN St. Louis, Goold said that when he asked whether the club was considering signing Mikolas at the time, the answer was “nope.”
"As of Sunday when I was asking around about that, the answer was 'nope,' Goold said. "It was a pretty strong nope and they said they would get creative first."
That approach makes sense if St. Louis is trying to patch things together without locking itself into the wrong fix.
Internally, Cooper Hjerpe would be an easy name to turn to. Jurrangelo Cijntje is another possibility, though that remains more of a long shot.
The Cardinals also recently brought Josh Fleming to town, and he’s in Triple-A, which makes him another straightforward option if they want a short-term promotion.
If the Cardinals decide to look outside the organization, Lance McCullers Jr. is sitting there as a more intriguing possibility. He’s 32, was once an All-Star and first-round pick, and would at least give St.
Louis a chance to see whether there’s something to salvage. If that worked, he could even matter beyond this season and into 2027.
Mikolas, by contrast, would not offer that kind of runway.
So yes, Mikolas is available. But for the Cardinals, that doesn’t make him the right answer.
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