It sounds like the St. Louis Cardinals are looking to improve their bullpen in a major way.
St. Louis entered the offseason with the starting rotation as the club’s biggest question mark after a disastrous 2023 season. The Cardinals put an intense focus on the position and actually landed three starters before the Winter Meetings by signing Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson.
Now that the rotation has been taken care of, the next area the club needs to improve is the bullpen. St. Louis had one of the worst bullpens in the league last year, likely due to increased strain because of the rotation struggles.
It sounds like the Cardinals are serious about improving it and intend to sign one of the most fascinating pitchers out there. Yuki Matsui of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and St. Louis allegedly met to discuss a potential trade, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
“Yuki Matsui, a five-time NPB All-Star lefty reliever, visited the Cardinals in St. Louis on Thursday, per sources,” Feinsand stated. “The 28-year-old has 236 saves and a 2.43 ERA in 10 seasons with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and is considered one of the better free-agent bullpen options.”
From his 2014 debut with the Golden Eagles, the 28-year-old has emerged as one of Nippon Professional Baseball’s greatest relief relievers. Over his ten professional seasons, Matsui has amassed 236 saves with an astounding 2.43 ERA, including 39 in 2023 alone.
Matsui was a standout player for the Golden Eagles the previous season, pitching 57 1/3 innings with a pitiful 1.57 ERA in 59 games. The southpaw would be a great addition for the Cardinals given he hasn’t had an ERA over 2.00 since 2020.
