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It was supposed to be The Chasen Shreve Trade, remember?

Back in 2018, the Cardinals were hungry for relief help at the trade deadline.

Sound familiar?

The universal designated hitter didn’t exist yet, and slugging first baseman Luke Voit had no clear lane to major league playing time in his hometown.

The Cardinals flipped Voit to the Yankees for veteran southpaw reliever Shreve, and had that been the entirety of the deal, Voit, who slugged .520 for the Yankees through four seasons and led all of baseball in home runs in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, would be a lot higher on that list of regrettable players the Cardinals dealt away.

Giovanny Gallegos became the difference.

Tacked to the deal as an overlooked add-on, the right-handed Yankees reliever had 20 major league games of experience beneath his belt and a 4.75 ERA attached to his name. He barely was mentioned in the discussion of the deal back then. He barely will be mentioned in this season’s trade-deadline churn that will end his time with the team. But what a difference he made in between. Way more than Shreve. Way more than most.

From his first pitch for the Cardinals on Sept. 23, 2018, to his likely last pitch for the Cardinals last Saturday, Gallegos was called upon 291 times, more often than all but 23 other major-league relievers across baseball during that span.

Only seven relievers who pitched more than 300 innings during Gallegos’ Cardinals career crafted an ERA lower than Gallegos’ 3.36 in 305⅓ innings, and only one — the Giants’ Tyler Rogers — did so while pitching for just one team. Between 2019 and 2022, Gallegos held the National League’s lowest ERA (2.84) among relievers with 200 or more appearances. Eight of the 10 times the Cardinals called upon him in a postseason game, he didn’t allow an earned run.

I realize most of today’s current focus is going to be on players who just became Cardinals — or players who just became Cardinals again. As it should be.

Erick Fedde could be a sneaky strong addition. Like Miles Mikolas, he salvaged a stalled major league career overseas and has been strong upon his return. He’s got an affordable year of contract control left after this one and should be boosted by joining a team that, unlike the White Sox, actually has something to play for when it shows up to the ballpark.

Tommy Pham should be an energy booster and a lineup improver against left-handed pitching. The Cardinals are the second-worst team in the NL this season at producing on-base plus slugging percentage against southpaws. Pham always has hit lefties, and he’s still doing it. His .848 OPS against them this season is higher than all current Cardinals regulars not named Willson Contreras. Pham also will be a clubhouse and dugout plus. Those who convinced themselves he was bad for morale last time around were listening to people who did not know Pham.

Trading Tommy Edman for both of these additions is a smart move. That’s not a knock on Edman’s value. If the Dodgers want you, you’re a good player. But the Cardinals have a bulk supply of versatile middle-infield types. Masyn Winn has emerged at shortstop. Michael Siani might be the best center field glove in baseball right now. And Edman was out of the mix this season because of his recovery from wrist and ankle injuries. Edman once seemed untouchable. Things changed as Brendan Donovan emerged, then Thomas Saggese, then new draft pick JJ Wetherholt.

Edman will get many cheers and toasts on his way out. Well deserved. But let’s not forget to tip a cap to Gallegos, who on Sunday was designated for assignment.

Veteran relievers who get used until they are seemingly used up don’t get many cheers and toasts. So goes the road for them when their tread looks used up on their current team. It’s not personal. It’s business, and the business of baseball is especially hard on hardworking relievers as they age.

Few are willing to work as hard as Gallegos did for the Cardinals, and he did so while never making more than this season’s $5.75 million. Pretty good value, no?

Maybe he’s done. His decline began rapidly last season, and his body began to betray him. He departed in a hard-to-watch mop-up role.

Maybe he will rebound elsewhere, and there were some encouraging signs that he could after his mostly encouraging return since late June.

Maybe the Cardinals will be able to make a bullpen addition to help follow up Monday’s moves, and if they come anywhere close to the underrated win they got in Gallegos six deadlines ago, they will have had one of their best deadline flurries in recent memory.

That’s the best tribute one can give to Gallegos: hoping this team can find someone who offers close to what he did when he was at his best.

He should be remembered fondly for not just his work but the unflinching willingness with which he did it.

It’s rare. It’s special. It will be missed if not replaced.