Justin Verlander thinks Major League Baseball needs to rethink how it treats starting pitchers, and if his ideas ever get traction, the Cardinals could be forced to change plenty about the way they develop and use arms.
Verlander, who hung up his cleats following the 2026 season, recently spoke with The Athletic about his frustration with how the game has evolved. In that conversation, he laid out five rules he would put in place to help pitchers who are working shorter, max-effort outings. His goal, in his words, is to help “save” the starting pitcher.
For St. Louis, that kind of shift would cut right into a system that has leaned heavily on caution.
The Cardinals have been careful with their starters in part because of limited pitching depth, though that could change in the next few seasons as the organization’s pipeline continues to produce more young arms. If that happens, the club may be more willing to be aggressive with its starters than it has been recently.
Even so, the Cardinals have built a reputation for handling pitchers in a way that keeps them healthy, and that approach has caught the attention of teams around baseball and pitchers looking for a place to rebuild value. Verlander’s vision would make that much harder to sustain.
At the same time, it’s not hard to see why some Cardinals fans would welcome a game that once again rewards starters for working deep into games. Verlander did include details meant to protect pitchers and preserve a team’s ability to win, but the end result would still push starters to stay on the mound longer, even in situations where the analytics would normally point to the bullpen.
The biggest concern may be the ripple effect on young pitchers already in the system. The Cardinals, like most teams, manage pitch counts and innings closely for their minor league arms.
That would create real questions for prospects such as Liam Doyle, Tanner Franklin, and others. Most minor league pitchers are also limited to one outing per week, so this would amount to a major jump in workload.
Even if those changes were rolled out at every level, it would likely take years for everyone to adjust to the new normal.
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