There are too many examples of St. Louis Cardinals players leaving the organization and thriving elsewhere. Players who were traded away, like Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen, and Adolis Garcia, famously broke out soon after getting dealt. Even Paul Goldschmidt has had a resurgent year for the New York Yankees after departing St. Louis in free agency. Kyle Gibson, though, is an example of a player who has gone in the other direction.
Gibson was far from an ace for the Cardinals last season, but he was still a serviceable innings-eater St. Louis turned to at the back end of their rotation. He posted a 4.24 ERA in 30 starts and 169.2 innings of work overall.
Again, he was far from an ace, but getting nearly 170 somewhat decent innings from a veteran who signed a one-year deal was a win for St. Louis even if the season as a whole was a disappointment. Since signing a one-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles, though, things have not gone well for Gibson.
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Kyle Gibson has taken a massive step back with the Orioles
Gibson's season got off to a late start as teams showed little interest in signing him over the offseason. The Orioles only snatched him up after they lost several pitchers due to injury. Now, we can see why Gibson's market was slow to develop.
In his three starts with the Orioles, Gibson has allowed 17 runs on 23 hits in 11.2 innings of work (13.11 ERA). Perhaps even more alarmingly, Gibson has given up seven home runs and has walked six batters over those three starts. He allowed nine runs across 3.2 innings, thanks in large part to five home runs in his season debut, and things haven't gotten much better ever since.
Nothing about how Gibson has pitched has been pretty. He has failed to complete five innings in any of his three outings. He has allowed at least one home run in all three of his outings. The Orioles have lost all three times he has taken the mound. It's been ugly.
On the flip side, without Gibson, the Cardinals' rotation has been mostly good. They rank 10th in the majors in ERA, eighth in innings pitched, and seventh in fWAR. They have so much starting pitching depth, in fact, to the point where Steven Matz, who has pitched well, has been relegated to the bullpen, and Michael McGreevy is in Triple-A.
Letting Gibson go wasn't a hard decision, especially for a team that was supposedly entering a retool, as he is currently 37 years old. Still, there was no reason to expect things to go this poorly for Gibson who looks like he doesn't belong at the MLB level right now.