Cardinals Get a Live Look at Jose Soriano — and the Timing Couldn’t Be Better
There is something beautifully awkward about scouting a guy you’re trying to acquire while he’s actively trying to beat you. The St. Louis Cardinals opened a road series against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night, and the scheduled starting pitcher for the home team was right-hander Jose Soriano — a name that has been circulating in the Cardinals’ front office as the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches.
So St. Louis hitters will spend the evening trying to square up Soriano’s fastball. A few floors above the dugout, the organization’s decision-makers will be running a different kind of evaluation.
The Cardinals entered Monday at 51-47, tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates and wedged into the crowd fighting for the final National League wild-card spot. They have not reached the postseason since 2022 and have not won a playoff series since 2019. The rotation entered the series with a combined 4.16 ERA — respectable in spots, threadbare in others. Michael McGreevy has been excellent at 2.92 over 19 starts, and Kyle Leahy and Andre Pallante have eaten valuable innings. Then it gets wobbly. Dustin May sits at 4.78. Matthew Liberatore has scuffled to a 5.00 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. The Cardinals need another arm that can miss bats and absorb real innings. Soriano checks both boxes.
Through 20 starts this season, the 27-year-old is 8-6 with a 3.49 ERA, a 1.29 WHIP and 115 strikeouts across 111 innings. Opponents are hitting .222 against him. He averages roughly 97 mph with his fastball and has pushed his strikeout rate to 9.3 per nine. He generates ground balls at a clip that would play well in front of a Cardinals infield built on defense. The blemish is 53 walks — command is still a work in progress — but the velocity-strikeout-groundball package profiles as a No. 2 or No. 3 starter.
Here is where it gets interesting for St. Louis. Soriano is not a two-month rental. According to MLB.com, he remains under club control through the 2028 season. That means any acquiring team would get him for the current push and for the following two seasons — a critical distinction for a Cardinals organization that must weigh ending its postseason drought against gutting the farm system for a short-term fix.
The Angels, though, are in no rush to deal. Los Angeles entered Monday at 39-61, the worst record in the American League, and another lost season has positioned the franchise as a likely seller. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand identified both Soriano and left-hander Reid Detmers as possible trade candidates, noting the premium buyers place on controllable pitching. But the Angels have been reluctant to commit to full-scale selling in previous years, and Soriano’s age, affordability and production mean Los Angeles has no obligation to move him unless an offer genuinely moves the needle. The asking price figures to be steep.
St. Louis would not be alone in the bidding. The Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks are among the contenders also searching for rotation help, and if established aces remain unavailable, Soriano becomes one of the most attractive arms on the market — which only raises the cost.
Monday’s start, then, is a working audition. The Cardinals’ hitters will do everything they can to hand Soriano a loss. Somewhere behind the scenes, the front office may already be calculating what it would take to bring him back to St. Louis once the series is over.
Sources
- Yahoo Sports / The Sporting News
- MLB.com (Mark Feinsand trade candidate reporting; club control data)