The St. Louis Cardinals have made significant progress in rebuilding their pitching depth, but former Cardinals ace Lance Lynn believes the organization still has a major problem to solve before it can realistically become a World Series contender.
According to Heavy’s report, Lynn’s central message is straightforward: St. Louis does not simply need another starter—it needs two legitimate top-end starting pitchers. The Cardinals have enough depth to construct a respectable rotation, but Lynn believes the current group lacks the elite talent necessary to compete with the best teams in October.
Cardinals have depth, but lack an ace
The Cardinals’ 2026 season provided plenty of reasons for optimism despite ending with a 77–85 record and the club missing the postseason for the fourth consecutive year. Several young pitchers took important steps forward, giving St. Louis a foundation on which to build.
Kyle Leahy, Andre Pallante and Michael McGreevy emerged as important pieces of the pitching staff. Their development helped give the Cardinals considerably more rotation depth than they had during some of the difficult seasons that preceded the current rebuild.
But Lynn believes there is an important distinction between having a quality rotation and having an elite rotation.
His assessment was that St. Louis currently has enough pitchers to produce a solid starting staff, but not enough high-end talent to carry the team deep into the postseason.
Lynn’s argument is essentially that playoff-caliber teams need multiple pitchers capable of matching opposing aces. A rotation filled with dependable starters can keep a club competitive over 162 games, but October baseball often comes down to which team can put its best two or three pitchers on the mound in critical games.
That is where Lynn believes the Cardinals remain behind.
“They need two top-end guys to be an elite rotation.”
The former Cardinals pitcher emphasized that the organization already has the depth and pitch ability needed for a quality staff. The missing ingredient is premium talent at the top of the rotation.
Why two frontline starters matter
Lynn’s comments are particularly important because of the way postseason rotations are constructed.
During the regular season, depth can compensate for the absence of a superstar. A team can survive injuries, rely on its fifth starter and win games through a combination of pitching, defense and offense.
The postseason is different.
Once a team reaches October, managers can lean heavily on their best starters. The difference between a No. 1 starter and an ordinary mid-rotation pitcher becomes magnified because every game carries significantly greater importance.
For St. Louis, Lynn appears to believe that having two frontline starters would transform the entire pitching staff.
Instead of asking several developing pitchers to carry the rotation, the Cardinals could slot their young arms behind two established stars. That would reduce pressure on the developing pitchers while giving the team a much stronger chance of winning playoff series.
In other words, Lynn is not dismissing the Cardinals’ existing pitchers. He is arguing that the current group needs elite support at the top.
The free-agent market presents a major problem
The biggest issue is that acquiring those two pitchers could be extremely difficult.
The free-agent market does not offer an unlimited supply of frontline starters, and the premium arms available are expected to command enormous contracts.
Heavy specifically points toward Tarik Skubal and former Cardinals pitcher Sonny Gray as the most prominent potential options at the top of the market.
Skubal represents the type of pitcher Lynn is talking about: a genuine ace capable of changing the identity of a rotation.
But signing a pitcher of that caliber would require a significant financial commitment. For an organization currently undergoing a rebuild, committing massive money to multiple veteran starters could conflict with the broader strategy being implemented by president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom.
Gray would carry the additional intrigue of being a familiar face in St. Louis, but bringing him back would also require the Cardinals to make a major financial decision.
That makes Lynn’s recommendation easier to understand than it is to execute.
Chaim Bloom’s rebuild changes the equation
The Cardinals are not currently operating like a club trying to solve every problem through free agency.
Under Bloom, St. Louis has emphasized developing its own players and building the next competitive roster from within the organization.
That philosophy means the Cardinals are unlikely to simply enter the market and spend whatever it takes to acquire two established aces.
Instead, the organization may have to develop those frontline arms internally.
That is where prospects such as Liam Doyle and Tanner Franklin become particularly important. Both are viewed as young pitching prospects who could potentially develop into significant pieces of the Cardinals’ future rotation.
If either prospect develops into a genuine frontline starter and another young pitcher emerges alongside him the Cardinals could eventually create the type of rotation Lynn believes they need without spending hundreds of millions of dollars on free agents.
Developing pitching could be the Cardinals’ real solution
This is arguably the most important part of Lynn’s message.
He is not necessarily saying St. Louis must immediately sign two expensive free agents.
Rather, he is identifying the standard the organization must eventually reach.
The Cardinals need two pitchers capable of functioning as legitimate top-of-the-rotation arms. How they acquire them is the more complicated question.
For a rebuilding organization, developing those players internally is often the most sustainable option.
The modern MLB landscape has made elite starting pitching extraordinarily valuable. Teams that develop frontline starters gain an enormous competitive advantage because they can control those players for multiple seasons before they reach their most expensive arbitration and free-agent years.
That approach also allows a club to spend its financial resources elsewhere.
For St. Louis, developing pitchers internally would fit naturally with the direction Bloom has established.
The Cardinals still have time
The Cardinals’ 77–85 record means they are not yet at the point where they need to make desperate moves.
In fact, Lynn’s assessment could be viewed as a long-term warning rather than an immediate criticism.
St. Louis has young players developing throughout the organization, and the rotation has already become much deeper than it was during some of the team’s recent struggles.
The challenge is turning that depth into star power.
The Cardinals can continue allowing their young pitchers to develop while monitoring the free-agent and trade markets. If one of their prospects emerges as a legitimate ace, the organization would then need only one additional frontline starter to complete the top of the rotation.
That could dramatically accelerate the rebuilding process.
What Lynn’s comments mean for St. Louis
Lynn’s comments ultimately expose one of the most important questions facing the Cardinals: Can their young pitching develop quickly enough to become the foundation of a championship-caliber rotation?
The organization has already accumulated depth. It has young arms gaining experience, prospects moving through the minor leagues and several pitchers who demonstrated enough in 2026 to remain part of the future plans.
But depth alone does not guarantee postseason success.
The Cardinals need pitchers capable of taking the ball in a decisive playoff game and giving the club a realistic advantage against another team’s best starter.
That is why Lynn’s call for two frontline starters is significant.
The Cardinals may not need to completely overhaul their rotation. They may not even need to spend heavily in free agency. What they need is elite talent at the top of the group.
If Doyle, Franklin or another prospect develops into that type of pitcher, the organization’s current rebuilding strategy could eventually pay off. If not, St. Louis may eventually have to return to the free-agent or trade market for the missing pieces.
For now, Lynn’s message gives Cardinals fans a clear picture of what the next stage of the rebuild must accomplish: build a rotation that is not merely deep enough to survive a season, but talented enough to win in October.
Leave a Reply