The Cardinals spent this season looking more like a team on the rise than one in a full reset, but that doesn’t mean every part of the roster deserves a pass. One of the more familiar names in the rotation may also be the one St. Louis needs to rethink this winter.
Matthew Liberatore has been around long enough to feel like a known quantity in St. Louis, and that’s part of the problem.
Over the past two seasons, he made 60 starts and gave the Cardinals a steady presence on the mound. This year, though, the results slipped hard.
His ERA climbed to 5.23, and while he remains under team control through 2029, the Cardinals should seriously consider moving on from him as part of the rotation.
That idea makes even more sense when you look at where the organization is headed. The Cardinals have seen real progress from players like JJ Wetherholt, Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson, and the rebuild appears to be moving faster than expected.
Even so, St. Louis is not expected to be aggressive in free agency or on the trade market this offseason.
The pitching picture is crowded enough that the Cardinals may not need to force anything. Kyle Leahy, Michael McGreevy and Andre Pallante are expected to have spots in the starting rotation, while Quinn Mathews, Liam Doyle, Tanner Franklin and Jurrangelo Cijntje will be competing for openings. Liberatore is still in that mix, but his hold on a rotation job is anything but secure.
Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter pointed to the mixed nature of Liberatore’s 2025 season: "Liberatore turned in an under-the-radar breakout season in 2025 with a 4.21 ERA in 151.2 innings, and the Cardinals handed him the ball on Opening Day," Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter wrote on Friday. "The 26-year-old had 10 starts where he allowed one or zero earned runs, so there were still flashes of his rotation anchor potential, but they were accompanied by seven starts where he served up five or more earned runs."
That’s the tug-of-war with Liberatore. He’s still just 26, has spent his entire five-season career with the Cardinals and showed some real swing-and-miss ability with a career-high 154 strikeouts.
He also has enough trade value to matter. But the bigger issue is that this is no longer a prospect we’re projecting on; he’s had years to seize the job, and the consistency still isn’t there.
For a Cardinals team that remains a couple of years away from true championship contention, that gives them room to make a clean decision. If St.
Louis decides Liberatore is better suited elsewhere, a move to the bullpen is on the table. That route would also address another need, since relief pitching was one of the team’s biggest weaknesses this season.
Liberatore has already pitched in relief before, so the transition would not be entirely new.
In Other News...
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Chicago is going to need a meaningful spending spree just to keep up with the turnover ahead, and that kind of winter can get expensive fast when key pieces reach free agency. St. Louis, meanwhile, looks more like a club that can wait for the right moment to pounce, with the kind of starting pitching production projected for 2026 that could make the rest of the division nervous. The window is not wide open yet, but it is getting easier to see why the Cardinals believe they are moving into position to challenge for the division again soon. [Read more 🡒]
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Arenado finished with a .255 average, 30 home runs and a 120 wRC+, a line that still carried real value at the plate. But the deeper indicators were less encouraging, with drops in exit velocity and hard-hit rate hinting that the power production may not be as sturdy as the final totals suggest, which leaves Arizona with hope at third base for now and a decision to sort through later. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Suddenly Have A Real Third Base Question To Watch
The Cardinals farm system did not end the season with championship banners in Memphis or Springfield, but there was still plenty for the organization to keep an eye on. Jesus Baez and Tai Peete both gave the club reasons to feel better about what comes next, with Peete turning in a strong run in Double-A and Baez continuing to look like a real bat to track as he moves through the system.
For St. Louis, the timing matters because third base remains one of the clearer long-term questions on the roster. Baez, who piled up 39 home runs and stayed hot in the playoffs with a 1.156 OPS, is starting to look like a legitimate candidate to eventually answer it. The Cardinals are not there yet, but performances like this are the kind that can change how an internal battle looks a year from now. [Read more 🡒]