Tyler Glasnow Would Improve Cardinals' Rotation, Playoff Hopes Amid MLB Trade Rumors

Rays ace Tyler Glasnow is likely on his way out of Tampa.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported the righty is likely to be traded this offseason.

It is not particularly surprising given Tampa's history of dealing players once they become remotely known and eclipse the $20 million threshold, nor will it shock anyone that teams in need of starting pitching will be interested in acquiring Glasnow.

One such team, the St. Louis Cardinals, have made it abundantly clear that they are focusing on pitching this offseason.

President of baseball operations John Mozeliak said in July that their primary focus would be, "Pitching. Pitching. Pitching," wrote Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in October. It was in that same piece that Goold reported the Cardinals would reach out to the Rays if Glasnow became available amid his ballooning contract.

On the heels of signing former Oriole Kyle Gibson to a one-year, $12 million deal and bringing back Lance Lynn on a $10 million contract, Mozeliak told The Athletic's Katie Woo that the team intends to explore the trade market.

"We have not explored the trade market much to date. We'll probably take a deeper dive into that as we start to approach Winter Meetings. But we don't think we're finished at this point."

Nor should they be.

The Cardinals' pitching, both starting and its rotation, was abysmal in 2023.

St. Louis ranked seventh-worst in team ERA at 4.79 and fourth-worst in team WHIP at 1.46. That position almost single-handedly kept them out of playoff contention and resulted in the worst season Cards fans have experienced since 1999 and first 90-loss season since 1990.

Glasnow started 21 games for the Rays and went 10-7 with an ERA of 3.53, a WHIP of 1.08, and a WAR of 2.0. It was not his best season with the franchise, but he was still an ace and one of the best pitchers in the American League.

He would enhance the Cardinals rotation and instantly be the best of the bunch. He would resume his status as an ace and, with Gibson and Lynn, provide the team a solid one-two-three that it simply did not have a season ago.

St. Louis have prospects to deal in return, too.

Pedro Pagés is a talented young catcher but the Cardinals have a logjam at the position and second baseman Nick Dunn finally looked the part of a potential major leaguer in 2023 after kicking around the minor league system for years.

There are others, including some talented righties, so the Rays would not simply be giving Glasnow away to the first team that is willing to take him off their hands.

The Cardinals have the offensive pieces to make a legitimate postseason run. Paul Goldschmidt is still Paul Goldschmidt despite a dropoff in numbers in 2023, Nolan Arenado was an All-Star in 2023, Lars Nootbaar hit 14 homers with a 3.3 WAR, and Jordan Walker showed tremendous upside, even if he has some work to do defensively.

If the team can put together a rotation, and back it up with some quality bullpen additions, St. Louis will absolutely compete for the NL Central title.

Adding a reliable, quality ace like Glasnow makes it that much easier to do so.