Cardinals: 3 surprise players who could be traded this offseason
By Mark Powell
Cardinals can afford to trade Giovanny Gallegos
At 30, Gallegos could be the odd man out in the Cardinals bullpen should they try to swing a big trade.
St. Louis doesn’t want to trade any of their young arms, and rightly so. If they were to deal away Gallegos, the Cardinals would have any number of options to replace him, namely Luis Garcia, Alex Reyes, or Genesis Cabrera.
Reyes was a once-dominant righty who struggled down the stretch, leading to Gallegos taking the full-time closer role. In that role, Gallegos has proven he’s one of the better relief pitchers in the National League.
Heck, Gallegos would’ve gotten the call rather than Reyes in the Wild Card Game, but he split a nail while warming up in the eighth inning.
Either way, Gallegos is great, but he comes from a position of strength in St. Louis. His value remains high enough to fetch a legitimate return — something that would help the Cardinals in the long run, and not hurt St. Louis too much given the number of legitimate future closers in their bullpen.