The St. Louis Cardinals have had yet another disappointing season and are likely headed for a second consecutive year without October baseball.
Their bullpen has been a bright spot this season. The back-end trio of Ryan Helsley, Andrew Kittredge, and JoJo Romero has been fantastic for St. Louis.
Kittredge however, is a free agent at the end of the year. Cardinals insider Derrick Goold had reported that there was interest in keeping him around, but the team should jump on the first opportunity to retain him for 2025.
St. Louis acquired Kittredge from the Tampa Bay Rays this past offseason in exchange for outfielder Richie Palacios. The veteran right-hander has been everything the Cardinals could have hoped for this season.
The 34-year-old has appeared in 68 games and owns a 2.92 ERA over 64 2/3 innings pitched. He has brought some much-needed swing and miss to the Cardinals bullpen.
Perhaps the Cardinals could try to extend him before the offseason gets underway and accomplish that while there's still time in the regular season. He has been one of the team's most reliable relievers and it would be wise for them to try and retain him for 2025.
Despite the offense and rotation underperforming, the bullpen has been the strength of the team, and keeping Kittredge around would allow the Cardinals to have a high-leverage arm in the bullpen for 2025 as they try to bounce back into contention.
St. Louis is at risk of finishing below .500 for the second consecutive season, and they'll want to improve this offseason in order to avoid such an occurrence from taking place again.
We'll see if they are able to re-sign Kittredge and check this major item off their winter to-do list.
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