St. Louis Cardinals: Gallegos shouldn’t be a closer

The St. Louis Cardinals have a stud reliever that some are calling to move to the closing role. Why is that is not the best move for him or the team?

It has been written on a few times on this website and on other publications, but Giovanny Gallegos has and continues to be the St. Louis Cardinals best reliever in 2019.

Gallegos was acquired in the Luke Voit trade and is the only thing that is keeping it from being a landslide win for the Yankees. Gallegos and Voit are actually tied in WAR even though it may not feel like it.

The St. Louis Cardinals bullpen has been a huge strength for the team as they rank 1st in the entire NL in WAR and ERA all without Jordan Hicks at the back end of the bullpen. The consensus replacement for the closer role was Carlos Martinez, but he has had some issues in that role.

Martinez has blown just one save since moving into the closer role, he has allowed nine earned runs in 17.2 IP with a WHIP of 1.585. He has gotten the job done the vast majority of the time, but numbers like that in high-leverage situations tend to catch up with a pitcher eventually.

While the collapse for Martinez hasn’t happened yet, there are many fans that are calling for Gallegos to move into the role. That may not be smart.

Currently, Gallegos has a role where he is more or less a firefighter. Shildt has done a great job with how he has used him. He’s been used in a mop-up role sometimes, but he comes in during close games often and is near the top of the team in appearances in high-leverage situations.

Gallegos has succeeded in his role and is set in it. As a young player with very little major league experience, he may be overrun by the role. If something isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Shildt can explore Andrew Miller or maybe John Brebbia in the closer role if the team isn’t satisfied with Martinez. Taking Gallegos out of his firefighter role just opens another hole in another spot that is arguably more important.

It is super tempting to want to put Gallegos in the closer role, but he has just two career saves and there is no reason to pull him out of his current role. Gallegos is making the team forget what they gave up in Luke Voit, and a weapon like him shouldn’t be misused.