The free-agent market opens Monday afternoon, and the St. Louis Cardinals ought to move quickly if they want to get ahead of what could be a fast-moving offseason.
This won’t feel like a normal winter. In most years, the market doesn’t really start buzzing until the Winter Meetings in December.
But with a potential lockout looming that month, movement around the league could come earlier than usual. For the Cardinals, that makes the first priority pretty clear: add a veteran starting pitcher.
St. Louis needs bullpen help too, but that part of the job is usually easier to patch together.
Finding a starter who can actually make a real impact without blowing up the budget is a different challenge. That’s why the Cardinals should have two-time All-Star Shane Bieber near the top of their list.
Bieber fits the profile of a buy-low arm with upside. Spotrac has his projected market value at just over $13 million on a one-year deal, which is right in the range of what St.
Louis paid Dustin May last offseason at $12.5 million. Bieber has dealt with injuries, just like May, but the ceiling is higher.
He won the 2020 American League Cy Young Award after posting a 1.63 ERA in 12 starts. In 2026, he put up a 4.37 ERA in 11 starts after making just nine starts combined in 2024 and 2025.
Before that, his last full season came in 2023, when he logged a 3.80 ERA in 21 starts. The year before, he was even sharper, finishing with a 2.88 ERA in 31 starts.
The résumé says Bieber still has frontline ability if he can stay healthy. That’s the catch, of course.
He has to prove he can stay on the mound. But St.
Louis has done a solid job keeping its starters healthy, and that should matter here.
Bieber is also only 31, which gives him a chance to rebuild his value. If he can put together a healthy 2027 season, he could set himself up for a bigger long-term deal after that.
For the Cardinals, the logic is simple: use the same approach they took with May. Give Bieber a one-year deal with an option, see if the team can make a run, and if it doesn’t work out, flip him at the deadline for a strong return.
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