Cardinals rumors: Zac Gallen hints at reason why he was traded from St. Louis to Miami

Now flourishing as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Zac Gallen thinks he knows the reason why the St. Louis Cardinals gave up on him and traded him to the Miami Marlins back in 2017.

It’s a trade that the St. Louis Cardinals would love to have back, as they swapped two of MLB’s current dominating pitchers in Gallen and reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara to the Marlins in exchange for outfielder Marcell Ozuna.

At the time, Alcantara was the ninth-ranked prospect in the Cardinals organization while Gallen was ranked 13th. Ozuna went on to play two seasons in St. Louis, slashing a combined .262/.327/.451 along with a 107 OPS+ in 278 games.

The two pitchers St. Louis gave up, however, have proven to be more valuable in the long run.

Why was Zac Gallen part of that infamous St. Louis Cardinals trade?

Gallen gave his version of what he thinks happened behind the scenes in St. Louis recently on Foul Territory TV. You can see the clip of the interview below.

Heading to a mini-camp, being told you didn’t necessarily need to be there, and then being traded on way back home will certainly leave a bad taste in your mouth for a franchise, and it’s clear that Gallen isn’t thrilled with the way it went down. It’s also clear that Gallen has few regrets about missing some of the St. Louis minor league workouts shortly after he had ended a season that saw him advance all the way to Triple-A Memphis.

Gallen, of course, was involved in one more major trade after that, being swapped by the Marlins to Arizona in exchange for Jazz Chisholm Jr. in a 2019 trade deadline deal that has worked out well for both teams. Now in Arizona, Gallen holds an MLB-leading 1.68 FIP and NL-leading 0.846 WHIP through his first eight starts of the 2023 season.

With the Cardinals desperately needing pitching, the decision to send him away is looking worse and worse for St. Louis, especially if the trigger was over a minor league mini-camp.