Andre Pallante's major flaw shows why the Cardinals need to trade for another starter

The way the St. Louis Cardinals handled Ande Pallante during Saturday's loss against the Chicago Cubs should be all of the evidence any of us need that they have to add another starting pitcher.

The Cardinals have been non-commital with the fifth spot in their rotation ever since Steven Matz hit the injury list, and it's because none of their depth starters really fit the bill as a replacement.

At this point, Matz does not inspire much confidence in fans or the club either, so if the Cardinals are going to try and fight for the playoffs this summer, they need to go outside the organization to find another starting pitcher.

At this moment, Pallante appears to be the club's best option to fill in during Matz's absence. Mozeliak has been pretty blunt about his disappointment regarding the Memphis starters this year and their lack of readiness to come up and produce for St. Louis. Zack Thompson has been trying to build his velocity back up with that group, and he's finding little success as well. Pallante and Matthew Liberatore got cracks at the rotation instead, and both have had a fatal flaw that has kept them from sustained success...

They cannot get right-handed hitters out.

Well, when that's 70% or so of the batters you face, that's a major problem.

It's the same reason many fans have gotten frustrated with the Dylan Carlson experience. In order to be an everyday position player, or in order to be stretched out as a starter, you cannot have that glaring of a weakness in your game. Sometimes you'll find success, but often times you're going to put your team at a disadvantage.

I really like both Pallante and Liberatore. In fact, Liberatore has been excellent as a bullpen arm this year and appears to have found a true home there. When Pallante is right, he's very similar to what John King has provided the Cardinals' from the bullpen this year. Maybe Pallante has a future as a back-end starter at some point, but right now, the Cardinals have too many other issues to deal with to be asked to mask Pallante's flaws every fifth day.

Now, I've also said repeatedly that Pallante is the guy who should be getting starts in this rotation right now because frankly, he's probably the best option they have. But even when Matz returns, I don't see why they shouldn't add another starter and allow Matz to slide into that sixth starter spot.

Here's why Pallante just cannot be their answer in the rotation or as the next man up this season.

Right-handed hitters are slashing like Ted Williams against Pallante this year

Yup. You read that right. Here are the slashlines.

RHH vs. Pallante: .396/.482/.563 (1.045 OPS)

Ted Williams career: .344/.482/.634 (1.116 OPS)

.396 BAA allowed is insane. It would lead all starting pitchers in Major League Baseball this year by 55 points if Pallante was qualified for leaderboards. The OBP allowed to right-handed hitters would be 86 points higher than the second-worst in baseball as well. So when Oli Marmol says postgame that they liked Roycroft against the righties in the fourth inning over Pallante, I understand why.

I said in the moment and I still would say now that I would have left Pallante in the game in that situation, but I'm not going to ridicule Marmol for making that call there. It says way more about the state of the fifth rotation spot and the need for John Mozeliak to add to this roster than it does about Marmol's management. Honestly, it even says more about how dissapointing the offense has been that Marmol feels the need to manage like it's a playoff game in that spot.

Bottom line: The Cardinals need another starting pitcher, and fast.