Cardinals savage roster move sends struggling veteran packing despite emotional plea

The St. Louis Cardinals have much work to do before the MLB trade deadline on Tuesday. However, despite active trade talks involving the likes of Erick Fedde and more, John Mozeliak had time to take care of a long-overdue roster move involving one of his longest-tenured relief pitchers.

Giovanny Gallegos has been with the Cardinals since 2018. This season, however, he's been at his worst, with a 6.53 ERA in 21 outings. Following another dreadful effort on Saturday in which he gave up three hits and a run to the Washington Nationals, Gallegos seemingly begged for his job.

“This is my home. This is my team,” Gallegos told MLB.com. “I like the city and I like the people, and I play for them. I’ve always enjoyed the game and I’ve always tried to be better for the people of this city.”

Harsh business of baseball forces Cardinals to DFA Giovanny Gallegos

Yet, the harsh reality is that baseball is a cold business. If Gallegos is struggling, as he has for most of the season, St. Louis cannot afford to give him innings as they try to contend for the NL Wild Card. That's why Mozeliak designated Gallegos for assignment on Sunday afternoon.

Perhaps this means St. Louis will add to its bullpen before the deadline, but frankly even some reinforcements from Memphis would provide more help than Gallegos has given the Cardinals this season. Just two years ago, Gallegos had a 3.05 ERA in 57 outings at the back end of the St. Louis bullpen. However, somewhere between now and then his approach has gone awry. A fresh start could do Gallegos some good, even if that comes in the minor leagues. It's nothing personal.

“I like this guy a ton,” Marmol said of Gallegos. “You look at this guy’s workload over the last few years and he’s been a horse for us. So, whenever someone has a down period, it’s easy to throw them aside, but I think highly of Gio.”

Gallegos is fairly limited at this point in his career, can left-handers routinely tee off on him. Until he can fix that -- among several other problems -- the Cardinals are right to cast him aside.