Within a few weeks, the St. Louis Cardinals’ starting rotation underwent a complete makeover due to several aggressive plays for three free-agent starting pitchers.

After adding three seasoned veterans to the mix, there is no denying that the team is significantly stronger overall, from the top of the rotation all the way down to their depth.

With that in mind, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak appears fairly content with the starters in place.

“We feel like we have a strong five right now,” Mozeliak told Spectrum News’ Gregg Palermo prior to the Winter Meetings. It is not like a top priority, but you never say never because something might come up and make sense. We feel like we have three or four guys that could give us depth throughout the season as well.”

Mozeliak also revealed that he’s started to turn his focus toward the bullpen just days before free agency starts to heat up.

As I stated earlier, the rotation is much improved from the final game of the 2023 season. However, the Opening Day pitching staff is who drove St. Louis toward their first last-place finish since 1990.

It seems that the current rotation and that one are fairly similar. Sonny Gray (8-8, 2.79 ERA in 2023) will slot into Jordan Montgomery’s (10-11, 3.20 ERA) place. Those two are widely regarded as in the same tier of free agency.

As the mid-to-back-end starter who will at least give them a chance to win, Kyle Gibson (15-9, 4.73 ERA) will take Jack Flaherty’s (8-9, 4.99 ERA) place. Lastly, Lance Lynn (13-11, 5.73 ERA) will assume the role left by his old friend Adam Wainwright (5-11, 7.40 ERA).

Although it was only a slight improvement, the new trio outperformed the group they replaced. It would be prudent for St. Louis to add another player in the Eduardo Rodriguez, Marcus Stroman, and Shota Imanga tier, especially since the Cardinals backloaded Gray’s contract and are only committed to Lynn and Gibson for one year.

Considering the team’s offensive strength, Mozeliak assembled a strong rotation, but a team in last place might benefit from adding an impact player.