The Cardinals had a chance to coast through Saturday night against the Rockies with Matthew Liberatore dealing a no-hitter. Then the fifth inning arrived, and everything changed fast.
Colorado hung six runs on Liberatore in the bottom of the frame, turning a promising start into a 10-7 St. Louis loss in the second game of the series. It was the kind of collapse that leaves the Cardinals staring at the same question they’ve been circling for a while now: how much longer can they keep running Liberatore out there as a starter?
The numbers are hard to ignore. Liberatore is now 5-14 with a 5.57 ERA, and the Cardinals have already had multiple chances to make a change and put him in a better position to succeed.
Instead, they keep waiting. At this point, the team is just delaying the inevitable.
There is some logic to the hesitation. Kyle Leahy is under an innings limit, Andre Pallante has only just returned from the injured list, and Hunter Dobbins will be out for the rest of this season and most of 2027. That leaves the Cardinals with a thin set of options if they want to shuffle the rotation right now.
But another route has started to open up, and it may be the cleaner one. The Cardinals have been using bullpen games lately, and right-hander Gordon Graceffo has thrown three scoreless innings in each of the two times they’ve gone that direction. That’s enough to make you wonder whether he deserves a real look as a starter.
Late-season experimentation is part of the deal in a rebuilding year, and the Cardinals have already shown they’re willing to stretch Leahy out when needed. He was extended successfully, and they even let him start the final game of the 2025 regular season. There’s no reason that same idea can’t be applied to Graceffo.
That matters because the Cardinals need to figure out what they actually have. Liberatore, at this point, does not look like an effective starter. His better fit may be in the bullpen, where he has done well before and could be used as a long man on days when Leahy is on a short leash.
At the same time, stretching Graceffo now could give St. Louis another rotation candidate heading into 2027.
The current setup with Liberatore hasn’t worked, and with the playoffs looking unlikely, there’s no benefit in repeating the same experiment and hoping for a different result. Graceffo could end up fighting for a spot down the road, while Liberatore might be better served trying to rediscover himself in relief.
In Other News...
Masyn Winn Return Still Leaves Cardinals With One Infield Concern
Masyn Winns return has been trending in the right direction for the Cardinals, but it is not happening yet. He is still on the injured list and will not be activated for Mondays game because he is still feeling pain when swinging, even after a recent full workout suggested he was getting close. Winn fractured his left thumb sliding into a base last month, and his absence has been felt with the Cardinals already missing both starting middle infielders.
The encouraging part for St. Louis is that Winn appears to be nearing a comeback, and his return would give the club more flexibility in the lineup. For now, though, the Cardinals are still waiting on a healthier infield picture to take shape, and Winns bat has one more hurdle to clear before he can give them that boost. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Just Made Cooper Hjerpes Role A Lot More Interesting
Cooper Hjerpes first big league appearance gave the Cardinals exactly the kind of look they hoped for when they called him up. In relief against the Rockies, the left-hander spun four hitless innings with six strikeouts, showing enough poise and swing-and-miss stuff to make his debut feel more like a statement than a stopgap.
What makes his role especially intriguing now is the way St. Louis plans to handle him going forward. Oliver Marmol said Hjerpe wont fit neatly into either the traditional starter or reliever bucket the rest of the season, instead working in a piggyback setup while staying on a starters schedule. Hjerpe arrived after Hancel Rincon was optioned following a rough start to his own stint on the roster, so the Cardinals are already making one adjustment while trying to figure out how best to use the new arm they just saw flash. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Fans May Need To Rethink What Counts As A Starter's Workload
The old benchmark for a starters season has been slipping away across the sport, and the Cardinals are managing their pitching with that reality in mind. Around Major League Baseball, fewer arms are getting anywhere near 200 innings, and St. Louis is following the same industry-wide trend by watching workloads closely instead of treating volume alone as proof a pitcher is being properly developed.
For Cardinals fans, that can take some getting used to, especially when a young arm is handled in shorter bursts or asked to build up gradually over the course of a season. Leahy and Tanner Franklin are both examples of that careful approach, with the organization balancing present usage against future durability, and the bigger question is no longer whether the Cardinals are being conservative but how much of the modern starters job description has changed for everyone. [Read more 🡒]