Upgrading the rotation might be difficult for St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals options to upgrade the rotation continue to dwindle, and doing so may be tougher than once thought.

The St. Louis Cardinals are looking for rotation upgrades. That much has been made abundantly clear this offseason, with president of baseball operations John Mozeliak recently indicating as much.

But the Cardinals are not alone and early on in free agency, the options are dwindling. Fast. Andrew Heaney signed a one-year, $8.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Eduardo Rodriguez signed a five-year, $77 million deal with the Detroit Tigers. Noah Syndergaard signed a one-year, $21 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels.

The prices have been absurdly high, and that complicates things for the Cardinals. The good news, however, is that they were not going to be involved in any of the above players — at least seriously. They dabbled on Heaney, but the price was too much. But if they want to sign a player like Marcus Stroman or Alex Reyes, two talented players coming off strong seasons, it’s clear they need to pony up significant dollars to land them.

Stroman has always felt like the best-case scenario. He is not an ace, of course, but he is a very capable No. 2 starter and would give the Cardinals a formidable trio with Jack Flaherty and Adam Wainwright. He posted a 3.02 ERA in 179 innings last season and is capable of eating innings, something they need after heavily relying on the bullpen last season. But if Syndergaard, an immensely talented pitcher who threw two innings combined in the last two seasons, signs for $21 million, what does Stroman get?

It’s going to be for more than that, and on a multi-year contract. That surely takes Stroman out of the mix for the Cardinals. Same for Max Scherzer. They should be able to sign Wood or Alex Cobb to cheaper deals (Wood: a multi-year deal worth $10ish million annually; Cobb on perhaps a one-year deal) and that would give them flexibility to add to the bullpen or address the lineup depth.

But the options are fading fast and if the Cardinals aren’t aggressive, they could risk losing out on all of these players. And with 14 days until the CBA expires, expect more players — especially starting pitchers — to come off the board.