ESPN had Cardinals fans doing a double take when it floated St. Louis as a possible landing spot for Tarik Skubal.
That kind of speculation is part of the fun of the MLB offseason, but this one stretches the imagination. Skubal is one of the best pitchers in baseball, and his track record is impossible to ignore: a career 3.02 ERA, a 29.2% strikeout rate, two Cy Young Awards, a Triple Crown and two ERA titles.
Any team would love to add that kind of arm. Very few can realistically chase him.
ESPN’s preferred match was actually the rival Cubs, not the Cardinals. Chicago was described as a team “in desperate need of an ace,” which at least gives the fit some logic.
The Cardinals were listed as “another possible fit,” with the piece pointing to St. Louis’ estimated 2027 payroll of just $66 million, per Cot’s Contracts, and noting that JJ Wetherholt’s deal is the only long-term contract currently on the books.
In other words, the money could be there.
But ability and willingness are two different things.
Skubal is coming off a one-year, $32 million deal, and the next contract he lands is expected to be enormous. A poll of 27 baseball insiders projected him for eight years and $355 million.
That kind of number would have been out of bounds for former president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, whose biggest free-agent commitment was the seven-year, $120 million deal for Matt Holliday. And if history is any guide, it doesn’t sound like Chaim Bloom is about to blow past that comfort zone either.
Bloom’s biggest free-agent contract came with the Red Sox, when he gave Trevor Story six years and $140 million in 2022. He was also known more for cutting back than adding on, with Mookie Betts dealt away while Boston tightened its spending. So even if the Cardinals have room to spend, there’s no obvious sign they’d jump into Skubal territory.
The bigger issue is timing. Bloom has been clear that St.
Louis is in a methodical rebuild, and as he likes to say, baseball doesn't like when teams attempt to stray from their plans. A one-year deal would not make much sense for Skubal, especially for a club that does not expect to contend in 2027.
A long-term deal is more plausible in theory, since he could anchor a wave of young pitching coming through the Cardinals system.
Still, that’s a lot of ifs. Skubal will be 30 for the entire 2027 season, and there’s no guarantee he’d want to wait around for the Cardinals’ next wave to arrive in St.
Louis. There’s also the matter of whether he’d choose that path after experiencing the luxury of Los Angeles.
And then there’s the biggest question of all: would Bloom really go that far outside his usual lane to hand out a megadeal unlike anything he has done before?
Probably not.
Pitchers carry risk, and Skubal has already had three elbow surgeries. That alone makes a long-term commitment even tougher to justify. So while the Cardinals shouldn’t be written off entirely when the free-agent chatter starts, the idea of them landing Skubal feels more like offseason fantasy than a real plan.
In Other News...
Cardinals Offseason Pitching Search May Come Down To One Veteran Fit
The Cardinals offseason checklist is already taking shape, and pitching sits near the top of it after another year of searching for more stability on the mound. The bullpen in particular needs attention, and one name that fits the clubs need for experience and flexibility is Nick Martinez, the 36-year-old right-hander who turned in a strong 2026 season with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Martinez declined a mutual option for 2027, which puts him on the market as a possible one-year fit for a team looking to patch multiple holes without overcommitting. For St. Louis, the appeal is obvious: he can work either as a starter or out of the bullpen, and that kind of versatility could matter if the Cardinals want to add one veteran arm who helps them cover a lot of ground at once. [Read more 🡒]