The Cardinals’ bullpen is staring at the front office this winter like a problem that can’t be ignored.
St. Louis didn’t just have a rough year out there in 2026.
The club finished with a 4.40 bullpen ERA, which ranked 20th, and it also tied for third in the league with 30 blown saves. That combination left the Cardinals with a relief corps that simply gave away too many games.
If they had even an average bullpen, there’s a real case they could’ve been in playoff position.
That makes this offseason a pretty clear assignment for Chaim Bloom: find help, and find it fast. Even if the Cardinals aren’t expected to contend in 2027, a stronger bullpen would still raise the team’s overall ceiling and add more trade deadline ammo down the line.
One name that makes sense is Jonathan Loaisiga, the former Yankees and Diamondbacks right-hander who is heading into free agency.
Loaisiga’s 2026 season with Arizona was one of the best of his career. He appeared in 67 games and posted a 2.42 ERA with 48 strikeouts and 13 walks across 67 innings.
He earned just $1.5 million last season, but that price tag is out the window now. A free-agent deal should land well above that.
Before his run with the Diamondbacks, Loaisiga spent the first eight seasons of his big league career with the Yankees. His final year in New York came in 2025, when he had a 4.25 ERA in 30 appearances. That season came after he missed all but three games of 2024, so some rust was built into the numbers.
His peak with the Yankees came in 2021, when he turned in a 2.17 ERA and a 69-to-16 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 70 2/3 innings. Injuries have interrupted his time in New York, but 2026 showed what he can still look like when he’s healthy and rolling.
Over nine big league seasons, Loaisiga has a career 3.30 ERA, and he’s also brought his stuff into October with 13 postseason appearances. That profile fits what the Cardinals need: a reliever who can help right away and still carry value later if the club decides to move him at the deadline.
If St. Louis wants to clean up the bullpen mess from 2026, Loaisiga should be near the top of the list when free agency opens. A one- or two-year deal would make plenty of sense.
In Other News...
Cardinals Fans Just Got A Painful Reminder About That Brewers Trade
The Brewers 2-0 lead over the Dodgers in the NLCS came with a familiar sting for Cardinals fans, thanks to two former St. Louis arms helping fuel a historic night out of the bullpen. Dustin May and JoJo Romero were part of a record-setting stretch in which Milwaukees relievers threw five perfect innings, a reminder of how quickly a deadline deal can start to look different once October arrives.
St. Louis sent May and Romero to Milwaukee at the deadline in exchange for prospects Josiah Ragsdale and Alexander Frias, a move that was framed as a win-win at the time. The Brewers have already gotten meaningful postseason value from the trade, while the Cardinals are banking on the long-term upside of the young talent they brought back, which is usually the part of these deals that takes a little longer to judge. [Read more 🡒]
Jordan Walker Just Raised A Big Cardinals Question
Jordan Walkers 2026 season gave the Cardinals plenty to like, and then some. He stayed on the field for a career-high 158 games, earned his first All-Star nod and finished as a Hank Aaron Award finalist, all while putting together a .269 average with 22 home runs and 102 RBIs. For a young hitter whose development has been watched closely in St. Louis, that kind of production was a meaningful step forward and a sign he can already anchor a big part of the lineup.
The bigger question now is what comes next for both Walker and the Cardinals. His rise has made him more than just a breakout story, because seasons like this tend to change how a club thinks about long-term planning and a players place in it. Even with the strong overall numbers, the team still has reason to monitor whether the next step is refinement, durability or something even more important in the months ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Prospect Tanner Franklin Is Forcing A Bigger Rotation Conversation
The Cardinals spent 2026 restocking the farm system with a wave of pitching talent, and Tanner Franklin has quickly become one of the names worth tracking. The 22-year-old right-hander, ranked as the clubs No. 6 overall prospect, logged 25 starts across High-A and Double-A and finished with a 3.94 ERA, plus a 133-to-45 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 105 innings. For an organization that always has an eye on the next wave of arms, Franklins rise is hard to ignore.
What has evaluators leaning in is the shape of his arsenal, especially a cutter that Baseball America singled out as a separator in a crowded minor league landscape. It is the kind of pitch that can turn a solid prospect into a real rotation discussion, and Franklins performance has already put him in that conversation. The next question for St. Louis is whether the stuff keeps playing the same way as the challenge gets tougher. [Read more 🡒]