3 high-priced free agents Cardinals should sign after owner's 'aggressive' stance
By Curt Bishop
In the coming months, the St. Louis Cardinals are expected to be very active. In fact, according to club president Bill DeWitt III, that's the plan for the team: To be "aggressive" and "climb the rankings" in terms of payroll.
After a 71-91 finish, their worst since 1990, the Cardinals are going to go shopping for starting pitchers from outside the organization. This includes pitchers such as Aaron Nola and Sonny Gray.
It was mainly the pitching that sunk St. Louis in 2023, even though there were plenty of other issues bogging the team down. The most glaring hole was in the starting rotation.
Based on DeWitt's comments, the Cardinals intend for 2023 to just be a blip on the radar screen as they try to return to contention in 2024. That also means exponentially increasing the payroll from where it was in 2023.
The Cardinals' only big signing last offseason was that of Willson Contreras, but it couldn't save them from their shortcomings on the pitching side. However, if payroll is increasing, then one can expect the 11-time World Series champions to be bold and do things they haven't done in quite some time.
In this piece, we will be discussing three high-priced free agents the Cardinals should sign.
No. 1 Aaron Nola
Nola appears to be at the top of the Cardinals list this coming offseason, and with good reason.
He didn't have a very good regular season, posting a 4.46 ERA despite winning 12 games. However, he has been truly dominant this postseason. He gave the Phillies seven scoreless innings against the Marlins in the Wild Card Series and tossed 5.2 innings against the Braves in the NLDS.
Nola will now likely start Game 2 of the NLCS against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The 30-year-old would give the Cardinals a true ace, and somebody who can be trusted in postseason games. Nola also has had the Cardinals' number in recent years, dating back to 2021. It could turn out to be a classic case of "if you can't beat him, get him."
Having an ace or two would also put some fear into the rest of the teams in the National League. The Cardinals have the most World Series titles of any National League ballclub, and the time has come for them to show why that is once again.
Nola is 2-0 this postseason with a very impressive ERA of 1.42 over 12.2 innings in his two starts.