The St. Louis Cardinals had one of their worst seasons in recent memory, at 71-91.
Traditionally a playoff team, the organization showed a shocking lack of depth and notorious pitching shortcomings in 2023, and were ultimately overwhelmed by the situation and their rivals.
Even the Pittsburgh Pirates finished above the Cards in the NL Central.
The team, however, still has some pieces to compete in 2024.
For starters, they still employ Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt.
They might be declining veterans, but if they are not going to trade them and start a rebuild, they need to acquire some complementary pieces to strengthen the roster.
That appears to be the plan for the offseason, and the area of focus is very clear to everybody: pitching.
“The Cardinals are looking to add two starting pitchers this offseason. They could sign one top free agent starter and then trade from their position player depth to fill the other vacancy,” MLB insider Jon Morosi tweeted.
The Cardinals are looking to add two starting pitchers this offseason. They could sign one top free agent starter and then trade from their position player depth to fill the other vacancy. @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 9, 2023
The Cards have several top options to choose from when it comes to starting pitchers: Sonny Gray, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Blake Snell are some examples.
Names like Jordan Montgomery (who already had a stint in St. Louis) and Eduardo Rodriguez might be more realistic, though.
As for the trade market, they are in the hunt for a young, controllable starter.
They do have a surplus of hitters: Nolan Gorman, Arenado, Goldschmidt, Jordan Walker, Masyn Winn, Lars Nootbar, Tommy Edman, Brendan Donovan, and several others are currently employed by the team.
One or multiple players from that group could be flipped.
If the Cardinals get creative, there is a path towards contention for them in 2024.
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