Cards land 2 relievers from Yanks for Voit, cash
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ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals' roster churn continued Saturday night, as they dealt first baseman Luke Voit to the Yankees for a pair of relievers -- Giovanny Gallegos and Chasen Shreve. St. Louis also sent the Yankees $1 million in international bonus pool money to complete the deal, a source told MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez.
Shreve will join the Cardinals on Monday, where he will become the latest addition in the team's revamped bullpen. Since Friday, the Cardinals have added four new relievers to the mix. Gallegos, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 26 prospect in New York's farm system, has been assigned to Triple-A Memphis.
General manager Michael Girsch confirmed the Cardinals and Yankees had been discussing possible trade scenarios for weeks, with the Yankees particularly interested in acquiring international cap space. The Cardinals had excess money to deal and were motivated to sort through their surplus of right-handed bats.
Voit, who appeared in eight games for the Cardinals this season, had been stuck in that logjam.
Shreve, 28, has made 195 career appearances with the Braves and Yankees since debuting in 2014. He had a 1.50 WHIP and 4.26 ERA with 46 strikeouts and 18 walks in 38 innings this season. His biggest issue has been keeping the ball in the park -- Shreve allowed eight homers this season and has a career rate of 1.6 surrendered over nine innings.
The Cardinals believe several factors -- including pitching in Yankee Stadium -- have inflated that total. Twenty-two of the 34 home runs Shreve allowed came in that ballpark.
"We also just in general know that Major League pitchers who strike out a third of the players they face don't have a quarter of all the balls hit to the outfield go over the wall," Girsch said. "That's just not sustainable in any meaningful way in the big leagues, so our bet is that it will regress to something more in line with what's normal."
Shreve will be arbitration-eligible this winter, meaning he'll be under team control for another three seasons. That was attractive to the Cardinals, even though they're taking on a lefty reliever who has no options remaining.
The Cardinals have been looking to add left-handed depth for a while now after not getting reliable relief from Brett Cecil or Tyler Lyons this season. A season-ending injury to Ryan Sherriff further depleted the options.
Gallegos, 26, debuted with the Yankees last season and had appeared in four games for New York this season. Combined, he has allowed 17 runs (16 earned) in 30 1/3 big league innings. Gallegos made 17 Triple-A appearances this season and posted a 3.90 ERA while striking out 41 in 27 2/3 innings.