Cardinals' bullpen search: Possible gem available for cheap after rival forced to discard him

Historically, there have been many great names that have played for both the St. Louis Cardinals and their division rival, Cincinnati Reds. There are legendary names like Scott Rolen and Vada Pinson on this list. There are also more recent names like Luke Weaver and Mike Leake.

The Cardinals could look to add to this list by picking up one of the Reds recently DFA'd relief pitchers. One man's trash is another man's treasure, right?

Cardinals could look to DFA'd Daniel Duarte to fill a hole in the bullpen

This relief pitcher comes by the way of the 25-year-old righty, Daniel Duarte. This name may not be the most familiar for many of the common fans, but there's good reason as to why Cincinnati didn't want to part ways with him.

Ultimately, the Reds were forced to clear a spot on their 40-man roster after adding Brent Suter in free agency. Suter joins Nick Martinez, Emilio Pagan and Frankie Montas as some of Cincinnati's bigger pitching additions this offseason.

Duarte was able to keep his 40-man roster spot until the recent signing of Suter for a few reasons. The first, and most obvious reason is his age. Duarte is still just 25 years old and very projectable for the future.

His 2023 season was a rather productive one as well, pitching to the tune of a sub-4.0 ERA and hits per nine of less than seven. These kinds of numbers would definitely gain the interest of the rival Cardinals.

Duarte features a power sinker, holding a good bit of arm side run. He pairs that with a four-seam fastball and three off-speed pitches. He added his sinker and cutter this season, making them two pitches that could improve a ton with a new team.

Not only would this be a good add for the Cardinals, but it would also be taking this player from a division rival. This idea seems like a no-brainer at this point in time.