A healthy Alex Reyes can solve a lot of the St. Louis Cardinals problems

I don’t know what to say about the St. Louis Cardinals offense. Losing a major cog in clean-up hitter Marcell Ozuna certainly isn’t going to solve the team’s problem scoring runs on a consistent basis.

I’m hoping a miracle happens with the pitching staff and somehow Alex Reyes finds his way back to the starting rotation from three years in the wilderness to become a co-ace with fellow youngster Jack Flaherty. With the offense in questionable condition, the best way to win the National League Central is to put up as many zeroes as possible on the scoreboard.

My complaint about this team’s roster construction for the past several years is that there is no single aspect of the club that is dominant. The rotation is OK. The bullpen is OK. The offense is weak. There is no part of the team that can dominate and keep the club in games until the other parts get their act together. It looked like the bullpen might be the keystone last year. But it broke down in the last third of the season, losing closer Jordan Hicks to injury and setup man John Gant apparently to over-use.

Maybe, if Reyes miraculously makes it through a whole season healthy, he can be the guy he looked like during his major league debut season. If so, the Cardinals could potentially deal from their oversupply of starters to find some help for the offense. Reyes, at his talent ceiling, would be a much better pitcher than Dakota Hudson at his highest potential. St. Louis could trade Hudson in a Nolan Arenado sort of deal without breaking a sweat. Same goes for Carlos Martinez, especially when Hicks comes back mid-season, diminishing the need for him to be the closer.

Beyond Reyes, the Cardinals have other serious internal candidates to improve the rotation. In 36 2/3 innings out of the bullpen, Ryan Helsley had a sparkling 2.25 earned run average and allowed 1.25 base runners per innings of work and he struck out nearly three times as many hitters, 32, as he walked, 12. In the minors, 69 of his 82 appearances came as a starter, so he’s definitely a guy who could crack the rotation if given the opportunity. And he certainly should be given the chance.

Don’t forget about Austin Gomber, who suffered through and injury-filled 2019 season but looked pretty good in St. Louis during the 2018 campaign. He’s a coveted left-hander who could give opposing hitters a different look than the stable of hard-throwing righties the Cardinals have amassed.

I sure hope that Reyes can get it together. It definitely seems as if this is his make or break season. He’s had some injuries that are tough to overcome and it’s sort of been an unfortunate bunch of dominoes, one bad thing triggering the next. It was a good plan for the Cardinals to give Reyes a break this winter after three years of rehabbing and trying to build arm strength to level set his body and let him start building this year from the ground up. Hopefully, if his muscles are healed and back in balance, we’ll see Reyes look like he did before he blew out his elbow.

The bright side of this whole situation is that Reyes has low miles on his arm because of being sidelined, plus he’s still only 25 years old. There is still time left for him to work things out. But he needs to get a decent number of innings under his belt this season to prove that he can hold up over the long haul. I’d love to see Reyes turn things around not only because it would be great for the Cardinals, but also because I can’t stand it to watch that much potential go down the drain.

This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 8:54 AM.

Scott Wuerz

Belleville News-Democrat

Scott Wuerz has written “Cheap Seats,” a St. Louis Cardinals fan blog for the Belleville News-Democrat, since 2007. He is a former BND reporter who covered breaking news and education.