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Giovanny Gallegos

Cardinals Designate Roel Ramirez; Activate Dexter Fowler, Giovanny Gallegos

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The Cardinals have announced a series of roster moves, Anne Rogers of MLB.com was among those to report. The club designated right-hander Roel Ramirez for assignment, activated outfielder Dexter Fowler and righty Giovanny Gallegos from the injured list, and optioned outfielder Justin Williams and RHP Nabil Crismatt.

Ramirez – part of the Cardinals’ July 2018 return from the Rays for outfielder Tommy Pham – lasted just under two months on St. Louis’ 40-man roster before the team designated him. The 25-year-old Ramirez, whom the Cardinals selected Aug. 5, made one disastrous appearance with the club this season and yielded six runs on six hits (including four homers) and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. He joined the Cardinals as the owner of a much more respectable 4.03 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 462 1/3 minor league frames.

At the major league level, Fowler and Gallegos could serve as important late-game reinforcements for the Cardinals, who have gone 26-24 and are currently in playoff position. They’ve been without Fowler since he went on the IL on Sept. 2 with a stomach illness. The switch-hitting 34-year-old slashed .279/.347/.485 with four homers in 75 plate appearances before then.

Just as Fowler’s an important part of the Cardinals’ outfield, their bullpen needs Gallegos, who’s back after the Redbirds placed him on the IL on Sept. 11 with a right groin strain. Gallegos has pitched to a 3.97 ERA/2.65 FIP and notched 11.12 K/9 and 2.38 BB/9 in 11 2/3 frames this season. He also leads the Cardinals in saves with four.

Cardinals Place Giovanny Gallegos On 10-Day IL

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The Cardinals announced that they’ve placed right-hander Giovanny Gallegos on the 10-day injured list with a right groin strain. They recalled righty Nabil Crismatt from their alternate training site in a corresponding move.

The loss of Gallegos is a significant one for the Cardinals, considering what he has meant to their bullpen since he broke out in 2019. He posted a 2.31 ERA/3.05 FIP in 74 innings then in his first season as a Cardinal and has continued to be a key member of their relief corps this year, having tossed 11 1/3 frames of 3.97 ERA/2.65 FIP pitching with 11.12 K/9 and 2.38 BB/9.

Along with notching strong bottom-line results, Gallegos leads the playoff-contending Cardinals with four saves. Andrew Miller is the only other Cardinal with more than one save (two). Miller and John Gant, St. Louis’ best reliever this year, could be next in line for save chances now that Gallegos is out. It’s unclear how much time Gallegos will miss, but with so little time left, it’s possible he won’t return to the Cardinals this regular season.

Miles Mikolas To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

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Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas will undergo surgery to repair his right flexor tendon and miss the remainder of the 2020 season, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak announced to reporters Tuesday (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Mark Saxon). He’s been placed on the injured list, and right-hander Jake Woodford has been recalled from the club’s alternate training site in a corresponding move. St. Louis also announced that Giovanny Gallegos has been activated from the injured list. Right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon will start against the Twins tomorrow in place of Mikolas.

The loss of Mikolas is a notable blow to the St. Louis rotation. Since returning from a highly successful stint in Japan in 2018, the now-31-year-old Mikolas has given the Cards 384 2/3 innings of 3.44 ERA ball with averages of 6.8 strikeouts, 1.4 walks and 1.01 home runs per nine innings pitched. The right-hander finished sixth in 2018 National League Cy Young voting and has made 32 starts in each of his two seasons with the Cards.

That on its own would’ve been enough to make the two-year, $15.5MM deal that Mikolas signed with the Cardinals in the 2017-18 offseason a huge success. But the Cardinals clearly viewed the righty as a key long-term asset, as they locked him up on a four-year, $68MM extension prior to the 2019 season. The current season is the first year of that new pact, and a major arm surgery for Mikolas surely isn’t how either player or team hoped to kick things off. The hope is that he’ll be good to go for the 2021 season, Mozeliak added, though a more precise timeline will becomes clearer after the surgery.

Even without Mikolas, the Cardinals still have a talented group of starters. Young Jack Flaherty is emerging as one of the National League’s best arms. He’s joined by veterans Carlos Martinez and Adam Wainwright as well as fellow youngster Dakota Hudson in making up the Cardinals’ top four starters. Option for the fifth spot include Woodford, left-hander Genesis Cabrera and righty Alex Reyes, among others, although Reyes’ longstanding injury issues might make him better suited for a relief role.

The Cards opened the year with southpaw Kwang Hyun Kim in the bullpen, but the longtime KBO starter could move to the rotation, with the aforementioned Gallegos taking over ninth-inning work. Left-hander Ricardo Sanchez and right-hander Alvaro Seijas are both on the 40-man roster and in the team’s 60-man player pool as well.

Giovanny Gallegos Reporting To Cardinals Camp

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Key righty Giovanny Gallegos is on his way back to action, the team informed reporters including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link). Gallegos has been missing from Summer Camp to this point for unstated reasons.

This is big news for the Redbirds, who came to rely upon Gallegos quite a bit in 2019. Largely unheralded before last season, Gallegos turned in 74 innings of 2.31 ERA ball on the year, carrying a sparkling combination of 93 strikeouts and 16 walks while permitting only 44 base hits.

That performance has already helped change perceptions of the 2018 swap that sent Luke Voit to the Yankees. If he can keep things going, Gallegos might convince the St. Louis faithful to change their tune entirely on a deal that has generated no shortage of consternation.

It remains to be seen how rapidly Gallegos will ramp up. Supposing he has been in good health and had ample training opportunity, he should be able to move throw his progression rather swiftly.

Even in the best-case scenario, it’d be optimistic to think Gallegos will be ready for Opening Day. And he’s presumably now out of the closer conversation to open the year. But the timing should make Gallegos available for most of the 2020 campaign.

NL Notes: Camp Delays, Dodgers, Cardinals, Gallegos, Health Updates, Senzel, Hamels

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Expect delayed arrivals to camp to become somewhat of a recurring story early in training camp as players attempt to clear the many hurdles to return to play. The Dodgers, for instance, will be missing a few players at the start of camp, though manager Dave Roberts wasn’t able to name specific players, per J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. Likewise, the Cardinals will be missing reliever Giovanny Gallegos, who is delayed in his return from Mexico, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The Cardinals have not given a specific reason for his delay, per The Athletic’s Mark Saxon. Rather than speculate on reasons for the holdup, let’s check in on some health updates from around the league…

  • Nick Senzel’s had a banged-up rookie season, appearing in 104 games with a .256/.315/.427 slash – but he’s ready to go for his sophomore campaign. His first season ended early when a torn labrum required Senzel to get shoulder surgery. That injury is fully recovered now, but only just now, as Senzel reported having throwing pain as recently as a month ago, per Bobby Nightengale of The Enquirer. Senzel may not have a steady defensive home when play begins, but he figures to be an everyday presence in the Reds’ lineup regardless, especially with the DH now in play.
  • Cole Hamels was never going to get a full Spring Training, not once a shoulder injury took him out of commission for a few months. The 36-year-old knows that the four-week leadup to the newly-rebooted 2020 season isn’t exactly the same, not at his age, but he plans to be ready to contribute, per Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Said Hamels: “It’s not as if I’m going to go out there expecting to pitch seven to nine innings. There’s going to be a gradual buildup process, and there’s going to be guys who will be able to piggyback on you, like in a high school or a college season. All that really matters is putting up zeroes. If you can put up two or put up five zeroes, that’s really helping the team, more so than (other pitchers) having to pick up and try to eat a lot of innings.” 

Jordan Hicks To Begin Season On Injured List

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Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks will open the 2020 season on the injured list, manager Mike Shildt told reporters Wednesday (Twitter link via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). The flamethrowing 23-year-old underwent Tommy John surgery last June and is still in the final stages of his rehab process.

Back in May, Hicks had progressed to the point where he was able to throw multiple 20-pitch bullpen sessions. About six weeks have elapsed since that time, but it doesn’t seem that Hicks is yet at the point where he can immediately contribute. The club does expect him to factor into the bullpen before too long, though no clear timetable was provided.

Hicks turned in a sharp rookie season back in 2018, tossing 77 2/3 innings of 3.59 ERA ball — albeit with a more troubling 5.2 BB/9 mark and 13.3 percent overall walk rate. He looked to be taking his game to another level in 2019, though. Prior to going on the injured list, Hicks pitched 28 2/3 frames with across-the-board improvements in ERA (3.59 to 3.14), FIP (3.74 to 3.21), K/9 (8.1 to 9.7), K% (20.6 percent to 28.2 percent), BB% (13.3 percent to 10.0 percent) and ground-ball rate (60.7 percent to 67.2 percent). Those results and a fastball that averaged 101.6 mph in his brief career to date certainly paint the picture of a potentially dominant reliever.

With Hicks on the shelf to begin the year, the Cards should have plenty of alternatives — headlined by 2019 breakout setup man Giovanny Gallegos and veteran southpaw Andrew Miller. Gallegos, acquired in the 2018 Luke Voit trade with the Yankees, has helped to balance the scales on what initially looked like an inordinately lopsided deal. But while Voit came roaring out of the gates in the Bronx, Gallegos slowly and steadily increased his role in the St. Louis bullpen and wound up with downright dominant results in 2019: 74 innings, 2.31 ERA, 3.05 FIP, 11.3 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, one save, 19 holds. He’s controlled for another five seasons, so it seems the Cards may have unearthed a key long-term bullpen piece.

As for the 35-year-old Miller, the 2019 season wasn’t his strongest. Like many pitchers, Miller saw his home-run rates skyrocket last year as hitters piled up big flies at record rates amid revelations about alterations to the ball’s composition. Miller’s 4.45 ERA and 5.19 FIP were his highest marks since breaking out as a high-end reliever, but he still averaged 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

The Luke Voit Trade Doesn’t Look So Lopsided Anymore

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The Luke Voit trade (as it’s now known) barely drew any headlines when it was struck last July between the Cardinals and Yankees. Chasen Shreve was the best-known player in a deal that was viewed largely as two clubs dealing from positions of organizational depth.

Voit got a quick look with the Yankees before being optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, then returned in late August when the Yankees needed an extra bat after Didi Gregorius landed on the shelf due to a heel injury. His first two appearances in his second Yankees stint were of the pinch-hit variety, but he drew a start at first base on Aug. 24 and, in belting a pair of home runs that day, began a rapid ascension. Those two long ball were the first of seven in a 12-game span. By the end of the year, Voit had exploded with a .333/.405/.689 batting line and 14 home runs in just 148 plate appearances as a Yankee.

A huge showing in Spring Training and yet another Greg Bird injury locked Voit into a spot on the Yankees’ Opening Day roster. Meanwhile, Shreve was designated for assignment by the Cardinals late in camp and went unclaimed on waivers. The trade looked like an all-out heist for the Yankees.

Enter Giovanny Gallegos.

Giovanny Gallegos | Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

The least-known player involved in that July 28 swap, Gallegos didn’t distinguish himself much early in his Cardinals tenure. It’s true that he dominated in 16 2/3 innings with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate following the trade in 2018, but he made just two big league appearances in St. Louis (1 1/3 innings pitched) last season and didn’t even break camp with the Cards in 2019. When he did arrive in the Majors on April 11, Gallegos limped out to a slow start. He allowed three home runs and pitched to a 4.80 ERA through his first 15 innings this season. While the 25-to-5 K/BB ratio he posted in that time looked encouraging, Voit was at that point sitting on a .282/.382/.575 batting line and 24 home runs in 319 total plate appearances as a Yankee. The Cardinals drew plenty of criticism for the trade (including from myself).

That May 12 cutoff, admittedly, is rather arbitrary. But since that point, Gallegos has been one of the most effective relief pitchers on the planet. Over his past 46 2/3 innings of work, the right-hander has pitched to a pristine 1.35 ERA with a 56-to-7 K/BB ratio. He’s allowed only three home runs in that span — the same number he yielded in his first 15 innings — and held opponents to a .150/.194/.250 batting line (.193 wOBA) through 170 plate appearances.

Since that time, there’s not a single pitcher in baseball (min. 40 IP) who has been tougher to hit than Gallegos. That .190 wOBA is more than 30 points lower than the second-best pitcher in that same span (Boston’s Brandon Workman). He’s surely benefited from some good fortune (.206 BABIP, 90 percent strand rate), but Gallegos is also 11th in the big leagues with a 28.8 K-BB% in that time. He’s whiffed 32.9 percent of the batters he’s faced since that point and walked just 4.1 percent of them.

On the season as a whole, Gallegos is now boasting a 2.19 ERA with 11.8 K/9, 1.8 BB/9 and 0.88 HR/9. A 2.58 FIP and 2.70 SIERA support his emergence as a top-tier reliever. His 16.7 percent swinging-strike rate puts him on par with Max Scherzer and places him 11th among MLB pitchers with at least 50 innings thrown in 2019. Statcast indicates that Gallegos is in the 87th percentile of MLB hurlers in terms of fastball spin rate. He’s also in the 87th percentile in expected slugging percentage and the 97th percentile in both expected batting average-against and expected wOBA-against. While some higher-profile relievers have posted similar ERAs with the benefit of some smoke and mirrors, Gallegos’ success doesn’t look to be a fluke.

All of that is particularly good news for the Cardinals, because they can control the late-blooming 28-year-old all the way through the 2024 season. Gallegos won’t even be eligible for arbitration until after the 2021 campaign; he’ll earn scarcely more than the league minimum in both the 2020 and 2021 campaigns. There’s no more volatile asset in Major League Baseball than relief pitchers, but for the time being, Gallegos has dominated enough to flip the narrative on last year’s trade. One can certainly still argue that the Cards would’ve been better off keeping Voit, but St. Louis was by no means left empty-handed and may even have come away from the exchange with a dominant bullpen anchor for years to come.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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