The Cardinals have a pitching surplus that could turn Michael McGreevy into one of their most intriguing offseason trade chips.
That doesn’t mean he’s not valuable in St. Louis.
He is. McGreevy has been a useful arm and a presence in the clubhouse, and his first full season in the majors backed that up.
In 2026, he logged a 3.95 ERA over 31 starts, piled up 168.2 innings, and finished with 1.9 fWAR. That’s the kind of steady, back-of-the-rotation work every team wants.
But the Cardinals are also staring at a rotation picture loaded with younger arms, and that changes the equation. If the organization is building toward 2027 and beyond, then it makes sense to ask whether McGreevy is more valuable in a trade than he is in the rotation.
Bernie Miklasz made that case on a recent episode of the Dealin' the Cards podcast, arguing that St. Louis should be willing to shop McGreevy this offseason.
The logic is straightforward: cost-controlled starters are gold, and McGreevy would carry real appeal on the market. A team trying to buy that kind of production in free agency would likely be looking at something in the $10 million to $15 million annual range, while a trade partner would get McGreevy for less than a million dollars in 2027 and then have arbitration control for the next three seasons.
That kind of value matters even more when the Cardinals already have options coming from multiple directions. McGreevy, Andre Pallante, Quinn Mathews, Matthew Libeartore, and Kyle Leahy are already on the active roster, while Tekoah Roby, Cooper Hjerpe, and Richard Fitts are also in the mix for opportunities. And if the front office wants even more flexibility later, Tanner Franklin, Liam Doyle, Jurrangelo Cijntje, and Mason Molina could be ready by mid-summer.
That’s why the idea here isn’t just “trade McGreevy because you can.” It’s trade McGreevy, or Pallante, if the return is strong enough, then keep the pitching pipeline moving.
One path the Cardinals could take is to move one of those arms, sign a “Dustin May-type” starter in free agency, and still have enough depth to cover the innings. Then, come July, they could flip the free-agent addition and/or the other starter for more value and let the next wave of arms step in.
It’s the kind of roster maneuvering that only works if the club is willing to deal from strength. McGreevy’s solid season only makes that possibility more realistic. And if the Cardinals decide to cash him in, the return could be bigger than some would expect.
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