Cardinals: 3 roster moves keeping St Louis from World Series contention

The Cardinals must find a mid to late-innings reliever

The relief corp is taxed this season, with the Cardinals starting pitching and running into innings issues.

T.J. McFarland was recently designated for assignment during the series with the Rockies after an outing Tuesday in which he pitched 2.2 innings, giving up three hits, a walk, and a 2-run home run to Ryan McMahon. McFarland has struggled this season, and it’s not surprising to see him get DFA.

Genesis Cabrera has become an undependable arm. After an incident where he appeared upset to be removed from a game before the All-Star break, manager Oli Marmol has used Cabrera sparingly. After his outing Thursday against the Rockies, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him get demoted to the minors or released. Cabrera pitched to four batters in the seventh inning of Thursday’s game. He did not record an out but did give up four hits, and four earned runs on home runs off the bats of Brendon Rodgers and Ryan McMahon.

Jordan Hicks has been used in various roles this season, finding some success as a reliever. The flamethrower can not throw with consistency for long, especially when he starts hitting 103 MPH on his fastball. It’s great that he can hit that mark, but not so much when he loses control and costs his team on the field.

Andre Pallante, who had been in a starting role, has been moved to a long-relief spot where he finds success. Chris Stratton, the Cardinals’ other trade deadline acquisition from the Pittsburgh Pirates, has shined in his outings with his new team. Both are capable of going multiple innings.

Ryan Helsley and Giovanny Gallegos have successfully closed roles for the Cardinals. It’s a little nerve-wracking to see the two forced to take on multiple innings when they close, though. It would be great if they could work to lower the times this becomes an issue for the team.

Helsley is an All-Star arm that can hit 102 MPH. The team wants him closing and healthy and rested up to throw that flaming fastball. Marmol is not a fan of using him multiple days in a row if he’s throwing more than an inning.

After using Helsley for two innings on Friday, the Cardinals utilized Giovanny Gallegos in a high-leverage situation Saturday to take on the tenth inning after Wainwright pitched nine innings of one-run baseball. The game was tied one all going into the tenth.

Gallegos earned his fifth loss, giving up one hit and two runs, thanks to the runner on second in extra innings rule. Gallegos has proven that while he can close games, he cannot be trusted in high leverage situations, as he saw on Saturday. So it’s downright frustrating to see.

The Cardinals must find an option to use but not overuse Helsley, which means they need to get some consistent dependability out Hicks or Cabrera. The Cardinals will have to find other options, and it’s getting too close to the playoffs to take an extended period to find.

It’s easy for Cardinals fans to have a touch of PTSD remembering last season’s NL Wild Card Play-in Game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team’s former closer, Alex Reyes, fell into a horrible position of having to pitch a critical tenth inning. Unfortunately, due to a blister, Reyes was forced into this after Gallegos could not pitch another inning. Unfortunately, Reyes could not throw in high leverage situations after moving to the middle innings after losing the closer position.

Reyes served up a home run to Dodger Chris Taylor, sending the Cardinals to a long offseason with a bitter taste in their mouths.

The Cardinals do not want to see that happen again with one of their other arms and must prepare accordingly.