The St. Louis Cardinals appear to be running into serious trouble at exactly the wrong time. After opening August with an impressive run of five consecutive series victories, the club has seen its momentum disappear, while injuries have continued to pile up across the roster. What once looked like a team capable of making a late push toward the postseason now looks increasingly vulnerable, particularly on the mound.
The biggest concern for St. Louis is the starting rotation. The Cardinals have already lost Hunter Dobbins and Andre Pallante to injuries, leaving the club with fewer reliable options to cover innings during the final stretch of the season. The situation becomes even more complicated when considering the organization’s minor-league depth. Richard Fitts is also expected to miss the remainder of the 2026 season, further reducing the number of starting-pitching options available to the organization.
With the rotation suddenly stretched thin, St. Louis may have to get creative.
According to Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat, one possible solution could already be sitting within the Cardinals’ minor-league system. The organization recently signed pitcher Josh Fleming to a minor-league contract, giving the team another experienced arm who could potentially help stabilize the rotation during the final weeks of the season.
The move may not generate the same excitement as calling up one of the organization’s top pitching prospects, but it could ultimately prove to be a much more sensible decision.
Fleming is no stranger to Major League Baseball. The 30-year-old left-hander made his MLB debut with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020 and has accumulated experience at the highest level over the past several seasons. Most recently, he appeared for the Toronto Blue Jays during the 2026 campaign.
His stint with Toronto was brief. Fleming worked three innings out of the bullpen and surrendered four runs before eventually becoming available to other organizations. Still, his previous major-league experience makes him an intriguing depth option for a Cardinals team that suddenly needs someone capable of taking the ball.
Fleming has primarily worked as a reliever throughout his career, but the Cardinals’ current circumstances could force the organization to consider using him differently.
Rather than immediately throwing him into a major-league bullpen role, St. Louis has an opportunity to stretch Fleming out at the minor-league level and see whether he can handle a starter’s workload. Given the injuries affecting the rotation, that could be an extremely valuable experiment.
The Cardinals do not necessarily need Fleming to become a dominant starting pitcher. At this stage of the season, simply having an experienced arm capable of covering several innings could be enormously beneficial.
The timing also matters.
If the Cardinals decide that Fleming is capable of making a start, they would have to wait until Friday to use him while keeping him on regular rest. That delay gives the organization a little additional time to evaluate him and determine whether he is actually ready for the assignment.
Meanwhile, St. Louis has another option available for Thursday.
Hunter Dobbins’ spot in the rotation is scheduled to come up against the Baltimore Orioles, but the Cardinals could potentially move Quinn Mathews up by one day. Mathews would still be working on regular rest after his most recent appearance against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.
That gives the Cardinals at least a temporary way to navigate the immediate problem.
The larger question, however, is what happens after that.
The Cardinals cannot afford to continue relying on short-term solutions if their injured starters remain unavailable. Even if Pallante returns relatively soon, Dobbins’ situation remains less certain. Until the organization has a clearer picture of when its injured pitchers will return, adding depth to the rotation has to remain a priority.
That is where Fleming becomes particularly useful.
St. Louis signed him to a minor-league contract on Thursday, giving the club another pitcher it can evaluate without immediately committing to using one of its top prospects. Considering the circumstances, that could be one of the smartest aspects of the move.
The Cardinals are currently only 4 1/2 games behind in the Wild Card race, so mathematically, the postseason is still within reach. However, the team’s recent struggles and growing list of injuries make a playoff berth increasingly difficult to envision.
Even if the Cardinals ultimately fall out of contention, they still have to play the remainder of their schedule.
That means they need starting pitchers.
Every organization needs enough arms to get through a full season, and St. Louis is quickly approaching a point where its depth could become a serious problem. Burning through pitchers or rushing prospects simply because the major-league rotation is short-handed could create unnecessary problems for the future.
Fleming provides another option.
If he can successfully transition from his usual bullpen role into a starter or bulk-inning role at the minor-league level, the Cardinals could bring him up when necessary without putting excessive pressure on their younger pitchers.
That is especially important for an organization that does not want to accelerate the development of one of its top pitching prospects simply because of an injury crisis.
Prospects need to develop on their own timelines. Throwing a young pitcher into the majors before he is ready can create more problems than it solves. A difficult debut can damage confidence, increase workload concerns and potentially interfere with a player’s long-term development.
Fleming, on the other hand, already has major-league experience.
That does not guarantee success, but it does give the Cardinals an option with considerably less uncertainty than a prospect making his first appearance in the majors.
There is also an interesting connection between Fleming and the Cardinals’ current baseball operations leadership.
Fleming was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the fifth round of the 2017 MLB Draft after playing at Webster University in St. Louis. At the time, Chaim Bloom was working in Tampa Bay’s front office and was involved with the organization when Fleming was selected.
Now, years later, Bloom is leading the Cardinals’ baseball operations, and Fleming has joined the organization.
That connection makes the signing particularly interesting.
Bloom obviously knows the pitcher from his time with the Rays, and the Cardinals’ decision to bring Fleming into the system suggests the organization sees enough value in his experience to give him another opportunity.
The move also fits with the kind of depth-building approach that makes sense for a team dealing with multiple injuries.
St. Louis does not necessarily need Fleming to become a permanent member of its rotation. The immediate objective is simply to have another capable pitcher available when the schedule demands it.
The Cardinals have already seen how quickly a rotation can become depleted.
Dobbins is on the injured list. Pallante is also sidelined. Fitts is unavailable for the remainder of the year. Those absences have created a chain reaction that could eventually force the Cardinals to make difficult decisions about their pitching prospects.
Adding Fleming gives them another layer of protection.
If Pallante returns soon, the situation becomes easier. If Dobbins is also able to return in the near future, Fleming could simply remain organizational depth. But if either injury lingers longer than expected, the Cardinals will have an experienced pitcher already working toward being capable of handling a larger role.
That flexibility could become extremely valuable.
The timing is also significant because St. Louis has very little room for error if it wants to remain involved in the Wild Card race. Losing additional games because of a lack of pitching depth would make an already difficult postseason chase even harder.
At the same time, the Cardinals have to balance the desire to compete with the importance of protecting their future.
That is why Fleming may be a better solution than immediately promoting a top prospect.
A veteran pitcher can potentially absorb the innings while the organization’s younger arms continue developing. If Fleming succeeds, the Cardinals get useful production. If he struggles, the organization has not sacrificed the development timeline of one of its most important prospects.
It is a relatively low-risk move with potentially meaningful upside.
The Cardinals’ recent collapse after their strong start to August has made their current situation look even more urgent. Five straight series wins created optimism that the team could make a serious run, but the recent downturn has exposed just how fragile that momentum was.
Now, injuries are threatening to make things even more difficult.
The rotation was already one of the areas where St. Louis needed consistency. Losing Dobbins and Pallante while also seeing Fitts ruled out for the rest of the season leaves the organization with limited margin for error.
Fleming will not solve every problem.
But he could help solve one of the most immediate ones.
If the Cardinals can successfully stretch him out and determine that he can handle starting duties, they will have another option to call upon whenever the rotation requires reinforcement. That could allow the club to avoid rushing one of its prized prospects and provide some stability while waiting for injured starters to return.
Ultimately, St. Louis may not have much choice.
Even if the Cardinals’ postseason chances continue to fade, the team still has to complete the season. Major-league games require starting pitchers, and organizations cannot simply operate without adequate rotation depth.
Fleming’s arrival gives the Cardinals another name to consider.
For a team dealing with injuries, inconsistent results and a shrinking postseason window, that extra depth could be more important than it initially appears.
The Cardinals may still be 4 1/2 games out of the Wild Card picture, but their biggest challenge right now is not the standings. It is surviving the final stretch of the season with enough healthy pitching to compete.
Pallante could return soon. Dobbins’ timetable remains uncertain. Mathews may help in the immediate future. But beyond those options, the Cardinals need insurance.
Fleming could be that insurance.
His major-league experience, familiarity with the organization’s front-office leadership and previous history as a pitcher capable of working multiple roles make him an intriguing candidate. If he can successfully transition into a starting role at the minor-league level, St. Louis could have a practical solution waiting whenever the next rotation opening appears.
For now, the Cardinals are simply trying to keep their season from unraveling completely.
The signing of Fleming will not magically fix the team’s pitching problems, but it gives St. Louis something it desperately needs: another experienced arm and another option.
And with the rotation becoming increasingly thin, having options could make all the difference over the final weeks of the 2026 season.
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