The St. Louis Cardinals need to do something about closer Alex Reyes. In the middle of a Wild Card race, they can’t afford to blow games.
Reyes had been tremendous in his role, even making the All-Star team this season. His second-half meltdown was unforeseen, and untimely given the Cardinals are in the middle of a Wild Card chase, currently just a few games behind the Cincinnati Reds for the second spot.
It’s gotten to the point the Cards can no longer trust Reyes, who just gave up a walk-off home run to Yoshi Tsutsugo his last time out. Mike Shildt didn’t commit to removing him as closer, but did say he has a few players who could take on that role if necessary.
Who, you might wonder, can the Cardinals trust?
Odds are, they will go to a by-committee approach for now, and hope someone sticks out.
St Louis Cardinals cannot trust Alex Reyes. So, who should they go with?
Giovanny Gallegos
Gallegos has a pair of saves on the year so clearly Shildt feels comfortable enough to use him in that situation. Overall, Gallegos has been used in the back-end of the ‘pen, and has done so successfully, pitching to the tune of a 3.06 ERA.
57 appearances is enough of a sample size to trust Gallegos’ stats as not a fluke. Whether he can handle the ninth inning consistently remains to be seen, but ideally he can fair far better than Reyes of late.