Brewers’ Trade Candidate: Yovani Gallardo

Earlier this season, there was definitely a market for Milwaukee Brewers’ starter Yovani Gallardo, but it seemed to fade rather quickly. It’s almost odd considering how well he pitched after the trade deadline.

Will the Brewers try to shop Gallardo this offseason or wait until next July?

How much of a market does Yovani Gallardo have this offseason? Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Gallardo had always been noted as one of the top pitchers in Milwaukee, but when in comparison to guys like C.C. Sabathia, Zack Greinke and now Kyle Lohse, it’s not a stretch to say he falls rather short. In fact, many analysts referred to Gallardo as the “ace” of the Brewers’ rotation, which in itself is a lie. Don’t get me wrong, Gallardo is a fine pitcher, but he’s far from “ace” contention. Yet, there still seems to be a bit of a market for the 27-year-old.

Back in July, the Arizona Diamondbacks were heavy pursuers of Gallardo. Originally, there was talk of the Diamondbacks sending pitching prospect Tyler Skaggs to Milwaukee for Gallardo, but the chatter seemed to fade away quickly. After that, there weren’t any prominent suitors after Gallardo, but a couple of unnamed teams did show interest in both him and Lohse. It makes you wonder if those same teams will be making phone calls to Gallardo’s agent sometime this winter.

This season was by far Gallardo’s worst in his seven-year career. He posted an ERA of 4.18 in 180.2 innings (31 starts) with a K/9 of 7.2, a BB/9 of 3.3 and WHIP of 1.36, yet still managed a positive 12-10 record. Nearly every stat was down for Gallardo, including his strikeouts which had been his bread and butter the four previous seasons. He struggled with pitch counts tremendously which led to his short leash into ballgames. That in turn saw Gallardo pitch in the fewest amount of innings since 2007 and 2008.

Perhaps the one (or maybe the only) redemption Gallardo found this season were his performances from August until the end of the September. Almost as if it were due to the flip of a switch, Gallardo looked like his old self and posted four outings out of seven in which he completed seven innings of work. I don’t know if that generates enough of a sample size for teams to make a decision on him, but it’s certainly a positive sign for him moving forward.

If the Brewers were to trade him, it would be interesting to see where he would land. Gallardo has worth as a solid three in a rotation, or maybe a four depending on which team were to pick him up. That said, I don’t know how much the Brewers would get for Gallardo right now, should they part ways. Maybe it would be best to see how he manages in half of 2014 and trade him before the deadline is up in July. All I can say for certain is that Gallardo’s last year in Milwaukee will be interesting to watch.

What do you think? Should the Brew Crew part ways with their long time pitcher, or hold onto him for one more year? Let us know in the comments below.