The St. Louis Cardinals are heading into a transition period after the 2025 MLB season. With John Mozeliak stepping down and Chaim Bloom taking over, a lot of roster changes are likely to occur.
One of the expected changes is the departure of Miles Mikolas. But, for Lior Lampert of Fansided.com, they are urging the Cardinals to decide to part ways with Mikolas during the 2025 season.
"Good or bad," Lampert writes, "every Mikolas outing from this point forward is a wasted opportunity to evaluate someone who could factor into their future."
On the outside looking in for the NL wild card hunt, and such odds looking even more bleak after dropping an embarrassing series to the MLB-worst Colorado Rockies, the Cardinals should look to make some changes for the future.
While they already did some moves, like trading Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton, and Steven Matz. But the Cardinals should look to move on from Mikolas as part of the roster reshuffling to close out the 2025 season, in Lampert's opinion.
There's not much to see with Mikolas the rest of the year, as the veteran pitcher isn't expected back in St. Louis in 2026. Instead, they could call up a top pitching prospect like Quinn Matthews, who could benefit from a brief Major League stint in 2025.
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Getting a look at Matthews in the Majors before the games become meaningful would be a great way to prepare for the future. Instead of holding onto Mikolas, calling up a player like Matthews would be a better use of a roster spot.
Lampert's scathing review of Mikolas stems from the 36-year-old pitcher's rough 2025 season. He has a 4.97 ERA in 23 starts with a 6-9 record. Even with some decent outings lately, his season impact has culminated in 0.1 WAR.
Moving on from Mikolas during the 2025 season could allow the Cardinals to get a look at a younger pitcher who could be a big piece of their future. They already did something similar when Erick Fedde was dealt, opening the door to Michael McGreevy.
Mikolas doesn't have long with the Cardinals, as he's set to be a free agent after 2025. But Lampert wants to speed up the process and pave the way for a young pitcher like Quinn Matthews to get a shot in the Majors in 2025.
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