3 St. Louis Cardinals ace backup plans after whiffing on Aaron Nola

St. Louis Cardinals should trade for Tyler Glasnow

The St. Louis rotation lacks swing-and-miss stuff, and Tyler Glasnow brings just that. Of course, there are obvious concerns with trading for an oft-injured pitcher like Glasnow. The Cardinals do not have a deep pitching staff, so they cannot necessarily afford an injury to their top arm. However, in adding a couple of top-level starters, this article is written under the premise that the St. Louis rotation will look much different at the beginning of next season.

Glasnow is very much available, as the Rays do not want to pay him his arbitration money or eventually sign the right hander to a long-term contract. Despite Glasnow's ability to make opposing lineups look silly every five days, the Rays do not trust his ability to stay healthy enough to make him a multiyear offer in his price range. That's respectable business, especially for a Rays team which resides in a smaller market.

However, for an organization like the Cardinals hoping to return to prominence behind a revamped rotation, trading for Glasnow is a more attractive option than signing multiple ace-level starters to huge deals.