St. Louis Cardinals Rumors: SP wish list addition, another brutal injury, top prospect call-up?

STL Cardinals rumors: St. Louis to call up top prospect this season?

The St. Louis Cardinals indicated in the weeks before the MLB trade deadline that they were not in contention for a postseason berth. It's always a hard thing to admit, but even though the team is still in the NL Central, president John Mozeliak believed that the best course of action was to trade away impending free agents and build to contend in the near future. The team did quite well after they traded players like Jordan Hicks, Jack Flaherty, and Jordan Montgomery.

One area that the team needs to address this offseason is at starting pitcher. After all, they traded away Flaherty and Montgomery, and Adam Wainwright is set to retire. With over a month remaining in the season, could the Cardinals give one of their prospects a try-out?

A reader asked The Athletic's Katie Woo in a mailbag (subscription required) about whether Mozeliak will spend big for starting pitching, or if they could look at internal options. Woo mentioned the possibility of calling up Triple-A pitchers like Gordon Graceffo or Michael McGreevy but says that the team would have to open up a 40-man roster spot to do so.

Out of the two pitchers, Graceffo is the higher-ranked prospect in the Cardinals farm system (No. 6). Here is what MLB Pipeline had to say about Graceffo and what he could bring to the Cardinals if he were to make it up to the major league roster:

"The former Wildcat worked deeper into games than many first-year pitchers because of his impressive ability to fill up the zone. That caught up to him in the Texas League as Double-A hitters were able to make more contact, but an improved ability to work around the edges helped him end 2022 on a high. He's remained at Triple-A Memphis throughout 2023 as of August and hasn't quite broken through to the Majors just yet. Graceffo’s special command gives him a promising floor as a No. 5 starter, and he can be more if he uses the breadth of his arsenal to generate more whiffs."

This season with Triple-A Memphis, Graceffo recorded a 4.46 ERA, a 1.40 WHIP, a 4-2 win-loss record, 63 strikeouts, and 32 walks in 70.2 innings (16 games).

With over a month left in the season, the Cardinals will have to decide whether they want to do some early scouting before deciding to take the plunge into free agency this winter.