Major changes are coming for the St. Louis Cardinals. That’s incredibly obvious following their second straight season without a postseason berth, not to mention all the talk from John Mozeliak and Co. about how an aging roster needs to undergo a retooling of sorts.
That doesn’t only mean letting some of their free agents land on their feet elsewhere; it also means that some of the team’s veterans will be on the trade block. It’s more important for the 2025 Cardinals to see some of their young building blocks play well than it is to see the team win games, as crazy as that sounds for a team that’s managed to stay competitive for most of this millennium
As unfortunate as it is to see the team not care as much about winning in the short term, it is nice to see the Cardinals prioritize development. If their plan works, it can lead to sustainable winning once again. With that in mind, it’ll be a nice breath of fresh air for Cardinals fans to not have to see these three individuals with the team in Spring Training.
Expectations were pretty low for Gibson, who signed a one-year deal to join the Cardinals last offseason. The right-hander was coming off a season that saw him lead the league in starts (33) but also hits allowed (198). He had a 4.73 ERA overall as a 35-year-old. Expecting him to be much better than that in 2024, at age 36, felt like more fantasy than reality.
To his credit, Gibson was better than expected. He posted a 4.24 ERA in 30 starts and 169.2 innings of work and even posted his highest strikeout rate (20.9 percent) since 2019. He was perfectly fine as a back-end starter, which is all the team could’ve asked of him.
Gibson’s problem, though, is that he is what he is. He’s a fine back-end arm, but he doesn’t offer much upside at all, and with him now being 37, it’s hard to see that changing. Andre Pallante might not offer as much certainty as Gibson, but with how he pitched as a starter this past season he makes a lot more sense for this team’s trajectory. With prospects like Tink Hence, Sem Robberse and Michael McGreevy close to being MLB-ready, more excitement can be coming to this staff in the not-too-distant future.
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