What a rebuilt Andre Pallante gives the St. Louis Cardinals
It's a precious thing called time. Good starts mean less Matz and better chances.
Before he made his return from the land of the pitcher-conversion, aka going from a bullpen hand to a full-fledged starting pitcher, Andre Pallante was last seen pitching mop-up innings in a 12-5 loss to Milwaukee. Roughly five weeks later, back from Memphis, he pitched six shutout innings against the Cincinnati Reds.
Yes, one can say the Houston Astros returned Pallante’s rebuilt (hello, slider and sinker) arsenal to the Earth with a six-run drubbing during his next start. But today against Colorado, he helped resist an embarrassing series loss to the lowly Colorado Rockies. They aren’t going to win anything for quite awhile, yet they had St. Louis on the brink of being down in the dumps after a recent 12-3 run. Thank Pallante, and a robust offense, for earning a split.
He pitched five shutout innings, striking out six Rockies and letting the lineup take care of the rest. He’s given the team what they need in order to decide how the fifth starter spot will look for the reminder of the season. Is he blowing fans away with his performance as a starter? No, but he’s better than Steven Matz and Matthew Liberatore (at least when he’s in starter form). This team needs to take the wins when they’re presented.
Pallante isn’t exactly an old arm, at least when it comes to age. He appeared in 109 games in the two seasons since his debut. A rough start to 2024 led to the role change, and it’s working out. 25 years old, the former fourth round pick gives the team more than he can from relief. It’s a good switch for him and Liberatore to make. Each gives the team a weapon to use during harsh times.
I don’t think he’s a long-term answer in the rotation. If the team wants to get back into contention in 2025 or not too long after, their rotation will get rebuilt under Sonny Gray. Pallante could fall under that group, even in the fifth spot, but it’s not a certain thing by any means.
Here’s what he can afford them: time. The ability to step back, and take a long look at this team. If the endless back and forth in quality play continues, this team isn’t going to win anything. The Central is weak and the wildcard is there, but it won’t result in anything captured worth mentioning. At best, without any big upgrades at the trade deadline, they’re losing in another best of three wildcard series.
Pallante affords the team time to think about who is staying or going, at least in 2024. If Kyle Gibson brings in a nice amount from a real contending team, Pallante’s position gets more valuable. Or, he gets packaged into an eventual deal with some other talent. With the team sitting on the cusp of mediocrity at 31-33, it’s hard to project their deadline attack.
As my wise friend P.J. recently commented, this team should be in complete sale mode, and he’s not wrong. Do you really think Bill DeWitt Jr. will sell for the second season in a row if the team isn’t awful looking? I do not. Say what you want about this year’s disappointing team, they’re a mathematical improvement over last year’s dumpster fire.
On June 9 last year, they were 27-37. At the end of July, they were 47-60. If the team is that bad around the time when phone calls spike in general manager offices across North America, the team will be in sell mode. Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Ryan Helsley, Gibson, and super-utility players like Brendan Donovan will be in the mix. It all comes down to how bad the team needs to be for DeWitt Jr. to trigger the flush valve.
This team is going to walk that fine line between bad and alright, occasionally staying in a pretty good motel. But it’s a place they will only stay for a matter of days and not weeks. When it comes to being a true player, the 2024 Cardinals are vacationers.
Pallante gives them the time to decide what their rotation looks like. Without his arrival, they run a half-ass Matz back out there. Even worse, they pull Liberatore from his strength position. He keeps them from having to plunge into the market too early, showing avid desperation. After all, this Cards front office didn’t win any awards in a recent vote from The Athletic.
Maybe he turns out to be a decent fifth hand for the rest of the summer. Maybe he finishes the year on the west coast. In baseball, nobody knows what will happen. The sad thing, Cards fans already knew what this team could be in February. Their strive for basic mediocrity is depressing. Pallante has applied a nice gauze pad to the situation.
He’ll take it. Fourth round draft picks have a chip that never comes off, a token of appreciation for being a big league starting pitcher. Three starts isn’t a ton to make a decision, but I would say Pallante’s relief days are resting.