Cardinals: 1 move to fix St. Louis’ bullpen woes

The St. Louis Cardinals have an easy solution to their bullpen woes, should they choose. 

Despite making the NL Wild Card game behind an absurd late-season win streak, the Cardinals bullpen eventually got in their way of making the divisional round. Whether you blame manager at the time Mike Shildt, or the reliever of choice Alex Reyes, St. Louis’ longstanding bullpen issues cannot be ignored.

This isn’t to say the Cardinals don’t have talent in the bullpen. Reyes, for one, has the makings of an All-Star closer. Add in Jordan Hicks and Ryan Helsey, as well as T.J. McFarland, who re-signed before the lockout, and there’s the makings of a good ‘pen.

FanSided’s Robert Murray is particularly high on Reyes:

"“I’ll add another one: that Alex Reyes, who was arguably the best reliever in baseball in the first half of 2021, will bounce back after crashing back down to earth in the second half, allowing the season-ending home run to Chris Taylor in a wild card loss against the Los Angeles Dodgers.”"

Cardinals rumors: St. Louis to sign Joe Kelly?

The Cardinals have been connected to Kelly since before the lockout, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Kelly spent the first two-plus years of his career with the Cardinals before he was eventually traded away. Since then, he’s become one of the more consistent relievers in the game, and make a name for himself in Los Angeles, winning a World Series and becoming Houston Astros fan enemy No. 1.

Kelly is an ideal seventh or eighth-inning relief pitcher, as he has late-inning experience and did so fairly well last year, posting a 2.83 ERA. He’d be an ideal fit for a Cardinals team searching for veteran leadership in a bullpen full of young arms.