Cardinals Rumors: Dodgers controversy, latest rotation rumors, and a dream pitching staff

Cardinals Rumors: What the St. Louis rotation could be

The Cards have made several questionable moves involving their starting rotation in the last half-decade. While St. Louis still has some top-notch pitching prospects in the pipeline — looking at you, Mike McGreevy, Cooper Hjerpe, and Gordon Graceffo — there’s no telling how good this core could be had they just held on to the likes of Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen, among others.

FanSided’s Miranda Remaklus laid out the Cards dream rotation — all of which were on the roster of late and could have been retained — and it’s a sight for sore eyes:

1. Sandy Alcantara
2. Zac Gallen
3. Marco Gonzales
4. Michael Wacha
5. Lance Lynn

Sure, it’s easy to play revisionist history now, but the Cardinals were not under much pressure to make any of these moves. Sandy Alcantara, the defending NL Cy Young award winner, was traded to the Marlins for Marcell Ozuna, a player who is no longer on the roster and has recently been in off-field trouble. Gallen was also another piece of the puzzle used to get Ozuna, but as Remaklus points out, perhaps the Cards gave up on him a little too soon or underestimated his value.

"“This season Gallen is 6-2 in 10 games started for the Diamondbacks. He’s pitched 61 innings over the season and has a 2.95 ERA and 70 strikeouts. Gallen primarily uses a fastball that averages 93.6 mph. He has developed his curveball in his putaway pitch. Gallen’s curveball averages 82.8 mph with 51.2 inches of vertical drop. That’s just impressive. He’s earning $5.6 million this season and will be arbitration-eligible until he becomes a free agent in 2026.”"

The other names, while painful to look at, are at least somewhat understandable given their value at the time. But as Mozeliak looks to upgrade his pitching staff this deadline, never forget what the Cardinals did have at one time.