John Mozeliak looks at the Cardinals pitching staff and isn’t worried about older arms.
St. Louis was fifth in the NL Central last year at 71-91, its first losing season since 2007 and its most losses since 1990. The Cardinals added three starting pitchers as free agents, reaching a $75 million, three-year deal with Sonny Gray and one-year agreements with Kyle Gibson ($13 million) and Lance Lynn ($11 million).
Lynn (37 in May), Gibson (36) and Gray (34) join holdover rotation candidates that include Miles Mikolas (35) and Steven Matz (33 in May).
Gray was 8-8 with a 2.79 ERA last year with Minnesota and finished second to the New York Yankees’ Gerrit Cole in AL Cy Young Award voting. Mozeliak and manager Oliver Marmol watched his bullpen session Tuesday.
Lynn allowed a big league-high 44 homers last year with the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.
In Matthew Liberatore and Drew Rom (24) and Zack Thompson (26), the Cardinals have younger pitchers who could break into the starting rotation. The trio combined to go 6-13 with a 5.98 ERA in 28 starts last year.
Ideally, they won’t have to start any games this season.
St. Louis opens the season with games on eight consecutive days, four at the Los Angeles Dodgers, three at San Diego and the April 4 home opener against Miami, part of an opening that has the Cardinals scheduled for 13 games in 14 days. A six-man rotation at the start is possible.
