5 trade targets from the St. Louis Cardinals for the Colorado Rockies

St. Louis Cardinals reliever T.J. McFarland would give the Colorado Rockies a veteran lefty in the bullpen.

The Colorado Rockies are in desperate need of some bullpen help. They also are lacking in the left-handed reliever department as rookies Lucas Gilbreath and Ben Bowden were the only lefties to pitch in the bullpen in 2021. St. Louis Cardinals reliever T.J. McFarland would fill that need.

McFarland, 32, has spent parts of nine seasons in the majors but 2022 would just be McFarland’s second with the Cardinals. In 2021, he started out the season with the Washington Nationals but they decided to use him in Triple-A. After struggling there, he was granted his release and signed with St. Louis on July 1. After he joined them, he appeared in 38 games at the MLB level and he had a 2.56 ERA (153 ERA+). He had a 3.79 FIP, a 1.06 WHIP, and he averaged 2.1 walks and 4.9 strikeouts per nine innings.

He has never been a strikeout pitcher as his career average is only 5.3 strikeouts per nine innings but he is an extreme groundball pitcher. Among relievers with at least 100 innings pitched since 2019, McFarland’s groundball rate is fifth-highest at 63.9 percent.

His problem in his career has been a high hit rate (10.2 H/9) but it was at its lowest ever in 2021 at 7.4 H/9.

McFarland resigned with the Cardinals on a one-year deal so you would think that they wouldn’t trade him but since it’s only a one-year deal and he’s a reliever, it may be unlikely but definitely not surprising.