A trade with the St. Louis Cardinals the Athletics need to make

Jason Burke | Nov 23, 2024

Aug 17, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Andre Pallante (53) pitches in the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Vizer-Imagn Images / Tim Vizer-Imagn Images

The Athletics are looking to make some deals this winter, but are having a hard time thus far given that most teams are interested in acquiring players that the A's would like to keep for themselves. Maybe the Sacramento-bound club is targeting the wrong players in these deals. They should to call up the St. Louis Cardinals and make a deal for Andre Pallante.

Pallante, 26, has been with St. Louis for parts of each of the last three seasons, and in 2024 he tossed 121 1/3 innings, and held a 3.78 ERA, which just so happens to be his career ERA. He's not a huge strikeout guy, holding a 18.5% strikeout rate in 2024, and his walk rate is nearly in the double digits at 9.4%. Nothing about him really jumps out from those stats.

Yet, there is one factor that could make him a big-time target of the A's this winter: his ground ball rate.

His GB%, primarily as a starting pitcher, was 61.8%, and his career ground ball rate is 66.5%. This is part of his game. Among players with at least 120 innings pitched in 2024, Pallante was at the top of ground ball leaderboard across the majors, right ahead of Framber Valdez and Max Fried.

So far this winter, the A's have made a point of signing guys to minor-league deals (and bringing back T.J. McFarland) who excel at keeping the ball on the ground. The reason for this is because they are about to enter unknown territory at Sutter Health Park, a Triple-A facility that could end up favoring hitters. By adding more ground ball pitchers, the A's look to be trying to mitigate some of the lazier fly balls that end up over the fence.

Obviously Pallante's ground ball rate is top tier, but another important factor for the A's here is that he can pitch a good chunk of innings, which could be huge over the course of a season, especially if it limits the number of fly ball pitchers on the staff.

To that point, who could the A's end up giving up in this deal? Pallante is estimated to receive $2.3 million in his first year of arbitration and wouldn't hit the free agent market until after the 2028 season. That type of team control isn't going to keep the asking price low.

29-year-old Osvaldo Bido finished with a 3.41 ERA (3.36 FIP) across 63 1/3 innings with the A's this past season, and was frankly un-hittable at times. The one big downside with him is that he is one of the guys in the mix for a rotation spot that puts the ball on the ground the least, holding a 29.6% rate. If the A's could include him here, that would be a nice starting point.

Busch Stadium ranked as an even ballpark in 2024, favoring neither pitchers or hitters, but it also suppressed homers, ranking 23rd in home run rate. The Cardinals are one of a few teams that would be ok with a few extra fly balls.

The Cardinals would likely want a bit more, however. Now, we're not trade experts by any means, but it's possible that the A's could be willing to part with first base prospect Will Simpson, ranked No. 16 in the system by Baseball America, in the right deal. Simpson hit .270 with a .373 OBP and 16 homers in High-A last season, and continued to mash the ball when he was promoted to Double-A in September.

With the A's having drafted Nick Kurtz, Simpson's development could be at risk as the Athletics look to provide playing time for each first base prospect at the same levels. With Kurtz being a top-5 selection, the likelihood is that he'll end up being the player the A's choose to hold onto, which could make Simpson expendable.

How this trade would actually look is a bit of a mystery, but what is crystal clear is that the A's are going after ground ball pitchers, and the Cardinals have a pretty good one. It would not be surprising if the teams discussed a deal to see if Pallante could be wearing green and gold next season.