Why a six-man rotation is usually a bad idea, but not for the 2024 St. Louis Cardinals

Unconventional is their middle name for the time being.

The St. Louis Cardinals are traditionally a classic Major League Baseball franchise, but their methods taken this upcoming 2024 season could exist more among the lines of unconventional sports practice.

Per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the team is considering a six man rotation as spring training crowds up with players. Now, take that first batch of possibility with a grain of salt. It may or may not end up happening; trying things is always fun when it’s still cold up north where the fans are at, and the spring season isn’t even here yet.

Most seasons, I’d harbor as much positivity about a manager using six players to fill five spots as I would a closer-by-committee idea, but there’s a few reasons why it would favor the 2024 team, at least to begin with.

The average age of the rotation is more Woody Williams than a robust and in its prime starter, so the craft of spreading out the innings isn’t an inept one. Older arms can stand to get more rest, and it’s not going to hurt their team if the extra arms are there to fill in those innings that may be treacherous in certain parts of the schedule. Keep those arms fresh for September.

With the bullpen stocking up fast, Matthew Liberatore could slot in as the sixth starter. Instead of stretching his abilities between the pen and spot starts (or rescue reliefs), you can see what he has to offer in a smaller amount of starts. If he scoots off the runway and crashes fast, you swap someone else in or scrap the idea. If he adds some power at the end of a long road trip and takes some pressure off the bullpen getting fried by June, it’s a win. Not bad for league minimum, and right up the Cardinals’ alley.

While the urge to trade Liberatore, either now or at the break following a solid first half, is always palpable for a team in need, the Cardinals are more starting pitching bare than usual. Tink Hence and Gordon Graceffo are two of the most popular names that St. Louis fans hear about, but they’re each not ready to take the reins yet.

Hence made 12 starts at Springfield last summer, composing a 5.47 ERA. Graceffo made 18 starts at Memphis, but needs more time after finishing with a similar ERA and a WHIP (average walks and hits allowed per nine innings) over 1.5. Each are gifted arms that just need time to unwind; Hence and Graceffo are 21 and 23, respectively. Very young men still in or just exiting college years.

Liberatore could see this as a college course on starting through an entire big league season, possibly climbing up into the top five if the need arises. He needs to be able to spread 100 pitches out over 5-6 innings, and keep more players off the bases. His youth and talent allow for time to be taken in determining his future worth, but his two-way status leaves the idea open for a sixth man.

Considering that wearier average age of the rotation, Liberatore’s youth could aid an old lion group-or they could stick him in the pen to clean up messes. If there’s nothing for him to learn or pick up at Memphis (he has 53 starts there), this is a way to get him work and help a team that has more IFs than certainties.

Zack Thompson could also be a viable sixth man option. The lefty made huge strides last year for the team both out of the bullpen and from the rotation.

It’s okay to be unconventional. Some may think it’s a bad idea because they’ve rarely seen the team try it, or that it’s not a good time. Coming off a season where the team only climbed over 70 wins due to a short surge of good baseball, a year in which starters couldn’t last deep into games and went down like flies, there may not be a better time.

A sixth starter is like having a backup ready and waiting if injury strikes. The unit goes from six to five until that extra arm is back, but the team can reload and take a second to examine the results of the bold idea. Going where few teams have gone, or will dare to dream.

Sonny Gray will get fewer starts, but you only acquire a guy like that so he can give the team something extra in late September and hopefully, October. Yes, get the team top of the rotation, ace like stuff. But keeping it potent in a six month season is a game changer for a team which lacked that shutdown arm a year ago.

Baseball goes 162 long games, soaking up half the year in regular season alone. Many teams wiser and more stacked than the Cardinals will lose a key starter this year at a crucial time. Mark it down.

John Mozeliak, Oliver Marmol, and the Cardinals need to be crafty. Scrappy should be their identity, even with two MVP candidates in their lineup and a Cy Young finalist in their rotation.

Anchor Gray’s talent with backup. At the same time, you find out a few things about where Liberatore’s (or Thompson) talent is.

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