***Official 2024 STL Cardinals Thread ***

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

This was always the primary concern of this rotation. How can they possibly hold up for 162 games?

And if you can find anyone that had a bad word to say about the Gray signing, I'd be surprised. Gray was a great get. The issue was that I think that's a guy you want taking the ball on Game 2 after you've had a power pitcher at the top of your rotation speeding guys up.

I'm not sure what you can reasonably expect from Gray in September/October as power pitching starts to become more and more important.

The age concerns with the rotation have been something I've had for the past year or 2. Having a bunch of guys in their mid-to-late 30s being counted on for consistent innings isn't a smart plan. I didn't want to go after Scherzer and Verlander because of that.

I think spending on two higher end starters would have been ideal. Personally prefer Montgomery to Snell based on their BB/9 the past 2 seasons and would have signed Gray to pair with him. Doesn't give you a true ace, but gives you two guys who are solid #2s. Bring in Gibson and you've raised the floor of the rotation by a lot.

The BP structure is something I would've done, too. Have a bunch of inexpensive guys with no long-term commitment that didn't profile as starters in AAA (bunch of strikeouts but some endurance/walk issues). Maybe throw in a guy who is a stud and give some commitment, but aside from 1 contract, nothing else should be prohibitive for future seasons in terms of additions.