Detroit Tigers should make this trade with the St. Louis Cardinals

Cardinals fortify the bullpen

Outside of a hitter, St. Louis’ most pressing need is in the bullpen.

Reliable closer Trevor Rosenthal was sidelined via Tommy John surgery in 2017, while a number of the Cards’ other late-inning arms will hit the free agent market.

These include Seung-hwan Oh, Juan Nicasio and Zach Duke.

On top of that, the team already jettisoned Kevin Siegrist late in the season.

That leaves the National League Central franchise with a combination of Brett Cecil, Matt Bowman, Tyler Lyons and Sam Tuivailala to handle late-inning work.

While that’s a solid base to build on, there isn’t a definitive leader in the clubhouse for closing duties.

Bullpen reinforcements

That’s where Greene comes in.

The Tigers’ closer was plenty effective in the second half (most of which he spent filling in for Justin Wilson as closer), pitching to 9.88 strikeouts per nine innings, a 1.28 WHIP and a 1.98 ERA.

On the season, he held batters to a .270 on-base percentage in high-leverage situations.

The reliever could serve as St. Louis closer next season, but long-term he’s also a fit next to Rosenthal considering his ability to pitch as a setup man.

Heading into 2018, Wilson can fill in next to Cecil and Lyons as Greene’s setup relievers.

Since the start of the 2015 campaign, the former Red Sox hurler has the 13^th-lowest walk percentage and the 14^th-lowest home run to fastball percentage.

Adding Greene and Alex Wilson to pitch late in games would likely solve St. Louis’ bullpen issues and help the team close the gap between themselves and both the Cubs and the Brewers.