The Cardinals’s record dropped to 24-32 after today’s loss to the Royals, but unsurprisingly, St. Louis president of baseball operations John Mozeliak isn’t giving up on the season as the calendar approaches June. In an interview with Jim Hayes of Bally Sports (video link) today, Mozeliak said his team is preparing to make additions at the trade deadline, and “I don’t anticipate us [selling] at all. I think…where our division is headed, it’s going to remain very competitive. So really we’re going to be looking at ways that can really help this club.”
Despite their lackluster record, the Cards are still only 5.5 games out of first place in the NL Central, with the Brewers holding the top spot with a modest 28-25 record. Also, the National League as a whole is still very compact, so the Cardinals are only five games out of a wild card berth.
It’s therefore far too early for a team with World Series aspirations like the Cardinals to reload for 2024, especially considering that St. Louis has made a habit of second-half surges in recent years. It’s possible the Cards have already bounced back in some fashion from their brutal start, as St. Louis is 14-8 in its last 22 games and can clinch a winning record in May with a victory over the Royals on Tuesday.
Mozeliak also provided an update of sorts on Tyler O’Neill, though not positive news for a player who has already been out since May 5 due to a lower back strain. O’Neill is still “feeling discomfort” in his back, so Mozeliak noted that “until he’s cleared to do more baseball activity, it’s hard to push him through that.” As a result, Mozeliak said “we’re doing to do a little bit of a pause” on O’Neill’s rehab work, and “do a few additional tests, and then decide what those next steps look like.”
Dylan Carlson has been sidelined with an ankle injury for the last two weeks but Mozeliak mentioned he could begin a minor league rehab assignment as early as this week. That would provide some help for a Cardinals outfield that looks like it’ll be missing O’Neill for the foreseeable future, and another injury concern emerged today when Lars Nootbaar left the game due to back spasms.
In the second inning, Nootbaar collided with the wall while making a catch, leaving the outfielder visibly sore. Nootbaar tried to stay in the game but in the next inning, he dropped to his knees while in pursuit of a Nick Pratto fly ball, and had to be removed. In postgame interviews with Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other reporters, Nootbaar didn’t seem too worried about the injury, but it would seem likely that the Cardinals will keep him out of at least tomorrow’s lineup for precautionary reasons. The Cards have a rare two-day schedule break on May 31 and June 1, so if Nootbaar could get three full days off to heal up before a potential return to action.
Cards gonna get Bieber at deadline. Bieber, Kwan and quantrill for hence, Carlson, Yepez and Herrera. Bieber is trending downwards so that should be fair.
Is this a serious trade proposal?
It’s a very light offer from STL and “not close” by any realistic measure. The Cards would have to throw in Gorman and Liberatore on top to make any serious run at that Cleveland trio… and I can’t see them offering that much. Take Kwan and Cal out and then maybe there could be a foundation for a trade. Carlson and Hence for Beebs could be very close…
Gorman won’t be going anywhere. Bieber for Gorman will get a hang up from the Cardinals.
I hear ya CardsFans, that’s why I said I can’t see them offering that much. Subtract Gorman (obviously) then the trade still isn’t close, but the gap in value could be made up with other players. Not a very serious or realistic offer for the CLE trio, though. Stevie needs to remove the STL colored glasses to see this, though…
If Gorman gets traded for anyone, even Ohtani, I will officially give up on MLB (unless the Cards sign him long-term) The “game” really doesn’t provide much happiness in my life anyway, but it sure does waste a whole lot of precious time that could be better spent doing just about anything productive. The bar keeps getting lowered for a bunch of so-so players to make more money than they ever should have been able to, and it’s a disgusting problem across most “professional” sports.
Bieber is on a vast decline and only 1 more year of control. Kwan isn’t worth much more than Carlson and quantrill is just a throw in. He has no value.
A 15-game winner is a throw-in?
That a former 15 game winner. Based on that way of valuing players, just think of what Detroit could get for Triple Crown and 2 time MVP Miguel Cabrera in trade!
LittleStevie is misinformed about Quantrill’s value. He would slot right into the Cards rotation. Wano is about done.
Gorman has more value than those 3 combined. Are you high buddy or has the padres failures made you a little crazy?
If you’re looking for crazy then I suggest you check the closest mirror. Have a good night, Lil One!
Figures you watch sound park! Let’s the grown ups talk buddy
At this point, they’re unlikely to give up Carlson with O’Neill’s issues and no one else but Nootbaar stepping up in the outfield. They’re much more likely to headline a trade package with either Burleson or Yepez.
Trade Winn plus a few other prospects for cease
Sure thing. The Cardinals need another under performing pitcher like Cease.
Why would Moe trade a future superstar SS? Do you realize the last decent SS the Cardinals developed in their system was Garry Templeton from the 1970’s? Just because the Cards need an Ace more than anything, it doesn’t mean they throw away the most important player in the system. Masyn Winn is our future Ozzie Smith and he’s not going anywhere but to St Louis’ MLB team.
Why not both
The Cardinals should have pursued Beiber seriously in the offseason. But they didn’t.
They’re going to have to trade a high end player and prospect to get the Tribe to even think about it. Sorry. The G’s.
After attending today’s game against the Royals however, we need well more than ONE better starting pitcher.
Mo’s irrational confidence it’s merely a veil of protection. It’s not going to bear fruit.
We’ll be lucky to finish .500
We’ll see. Mikolas is back to his old self, Flaherty and Montgomery are good the majority of the time, and the jury is still out on Liberatore. Depending on things go the next couple of months, the four of them could maybe work well enough alongside an outside addition, and don’t count out Wainwright just yet.
The is a PR campaign. I can’t see the Cards making any major additions with the team’s trajectory still unstable. There are some serious problems with the roster. When the offense explodes, it papers over the other holes. Mo’s history suggests he will wait until the offseason to do any heavy lifting.
Mo’s track record would indicate this is not a PR campaign but another delusional outlook on the current state of the roster. This is the same guy who did absolutely nothing in the off-season to address a pitching staff that we all could see was not going to cut it.
No, most of us could see that the projected rotation should’ve been just fine, and it would have been if Mikolas hadn’t had an awful April out of nowhere, and the rest of them hadn’t unexpectedly regressed so badly (except Flaherty, who’s actually been a decent surprise).
While Matz also had issues last year (although thought to be injury-related at the time), there was absolutely no reason to suspect that Mikolas would suck in April or that Montgomery, Wainwright, Woodford, and Hudson (in AAA) would fall so far below their recent track records, while filling the huge hole at catcher was a much bigger need.
It’s like how there were such an incredible amount of injuries in the rotation in 2021 and 2022, except this time the problem is performance-based. Still, at least that means they have a chance to turn things around like Mikolas has already done.
I have the feeling you’re talking about our projected rotation being “fine” or good enough to win the Central, which may be true, but once the competition really heats up in October, the rotation was/is clearly not strong enough. To think an entire rotation full of 3s, 4s, and 5s is fine is kinda crazy, in my opinion, that’s worth no more than 2 cents anyway. The Cardinal Way should be known as Living On a Prayer.
Mikolas is a #1-#2 starter who can easily win a playoff game. When he’s on, so can Flaherty. Montgomery should be a #2-#3 himself if he weren’t so inconsistent this year.
Anyway, we’ll see what happens at the trade deadline to patch things up.
When the outfield is “crowded” with mediocrity I’m not sure that should be viewed as a plus.
That’s why the trade deadline isn’t until the end of July. By that point, the team’s trajectory should be much more clear. Still, at this point, they’re likely to still be contenders at the very least by the deadline.
Mo’s history is that he will usually make at least one notable addition at the trade deadline or a little sooner.
Maybe Nootbaar to the braves for strider, Harris and shuster. Would hurt to trade Noot but you would get a great pitcher back and a decent 4th outfielder/pinch runner
As a Cardinals fan, Nootbaar alone wouldn’t get you Spencer Strider let alone Harris and Shuster. Braves would hang up the phone.
No Noot has a lot more value than strider. Noot is one of the most valuable players in the league. Strider is great but he’s a pitcher 1 injury away from being nothing.
Well, until Strider actually becomes a “Nothing”, and I don’t see that happening for many moons, any suggestion that Nootbar for Strider and Harris is utter nonsense.
Mo should have acted earlier when he had a plethora of outfielders and the Braves and the same situation with SP. That was the perfect match for a trade that would have helped both teams.
Now both teams’ surpluses have been wrecked by injuries and/or poor performances..
Is Nootbar more valuable when he’s down on his knees? Injured? I’m a big fan, but MVP? Strider’s mustache is worth more than most players.
Just flat wrong. You could not find a GM (reality or video-games) that would agree with that.
Hey Mutt! Missed you since RR comments got turned off. Is this a decent comment section? Kinda looking for another outlet to express views. Did Josh contact you about his new attempt at adding a comment section to his RR articles?
You’re kidding right? Strider? Not even Mo would make a move that dumb if he was running the ATL.
You’ve gotta stop drinking the bong water dude…
One SP, no matter who it is, isn’t going to fix the holes in this team. They’re finding out what happens when you go into a season with your entire outfield and most of your rotation as “we hope so’s”.
Mo & Co can be an infuriating group, even after you learn the methods to their madness, which they will repeat year after year. Anybody who was really paying attention prior to the season starting should have been able to look ahead and foresee much of what’s happened so far, and known what Mozeliak’s answer to the problem(s) would be. This is just more of the same ole song and dance from them, more of the same ole BS we are put through almost every season, because they don’t want to spend unless they really feel like they have to, or Mo has a man-crush (Goldschmidt, Arenado, etc).
Well, if a GM is gonna have a man crush on a couple of players, Goldie and Arenado would be a god place to start.
What? You were expecting Matz and the rapidly cooling DeJong?
Mozeliak, realizing the crowded OF he himself has created on his own 40-man roster, noted O’Neill will miss more time after unexpectedly being hit by a car at the stadium with the car tag “Mo and Co.” The suspect remains at large
So the guy whose upper-body is three times the size of his lower body is having back issues? Shocking.
He has huge legs
Bieber is on a decline? Since when?
We hear this every year. We heard it last year, esp as his velo dropped. The same thing was said about Greinke. Some decline.
Last season Bieber finished 8th in fWAR among all MLB starters last year…12th in ERA…7th in FIP…8th in IP.
Bieber has had one bad start this year…it happens. Minus that start his ERA is 2.58.
Carlson would get the Cards half way there. The rest of the package would depend upon whether Cleveland wants to put all their eggs in one more MLB ready piece, or spread things around with several lower level prospects.
Adding another MLB SP to Bieber is almost inconceivable, because it would eliminate almost all of Clevelands pitching depth, esp since most of their remaining pitchers will have their innings monitored.
Kwan is virtually untouchable.
To get a package of Beiber, Quantrill, and Kwan, St Louis would have to virtually gut its future. Nobody would be off the table. Neither team is doing that.
You’re massively overrating those players. Sean Murphy just went for scraps and is one of the best players in baseball. Quantrill has no value and is a reclamation project for a team. Bieber only has 1 more year of control and has a declining 6k per 9. And Kwan is a defensive first slap hitting outfielder those don’t carry much value. The offer I put up is more than fair.
Little Stevie doesn’t follow any other team but St. Louis, so he believes all Cards players are stars and other teams’ players are mediocre. Give him chops for being a “homer”. I was the same way as a teenager.
I’m not saying that we couldn’t have easily topped the ATL offer. But what they gave up was not “scraps”. Ruiz is an extremely talented rookie OF, and the young pitching they got, will probably be coveted by us in the coming seasons.
Division trade if Keller for Jordan Walker and a lottery ticket player.
Pirates aren’t actively looking to trade Keller but are trying to sign him to an extension.
The Cardinals would not, and should not, make that trade.
The biggest immediate problem for the Cardinals is the extended slumps by Arenado and Contreras. Add to that all three original outfielders being injured and the middle infield surplus playing in the outfield.
Someone has to get healthy before the Cardinals are in a position to trade anyone. They aren’t trading Walker and Winn isn’t enough to get what the team needs. I’m skeptical that anything can save this season even though we are still in May. The pitching is so bad that Wainwright’s 5.40 ERA outing against the second worse team in the league is painted as hopeful.
I agree, if July rolls around and they are still mediocre I’d rather have the FO admit that sometimes things just don’t go your way. Play out the season, bring the younger guys up and see what you have instead of rolling out the same tired lineup and rotation. Head into Spring Training without half of your roster being we hope so players.
Now our shortstop is playing centerfield.
If I were Mikolas, I would insist on being allowed to hit. Just to make a point.
……..
Oakland doesn’t have a clue, while Cleveland and St Louis are two of the best orgs in baseball. The Murphy trade has nothing to do with a Bieber trade.
That defense first, slap hitting outfielder without much value ranked ninth last year among all MLB outfielders in fWAR…and is better than anybody the Cards have in the outfield. The Cards couldn’t get him straight up for Carlson.
Biebers lowered K rate is much discussed by fans, but his effectiveness hasn’t dropped a bit. He’s among the top ten pitchers in baseball.
Quantrill is a mid rotation starter who takes the ball every fifth day and eats innings. Its not a sexy profile, but has lots of value, esp to a team with an ancient pitching staff that can’t stay healthy.
When referring to Kwan being better than anybody the Cards have in the outfield, I meant to type…except for Nootbaar.
The cards seem very unbalanced, they need pitching and have a surplus of outfielders. I could see them cooking something up by the trade deadline, or they will stay the same and be a mediocre ballclub
So Mozaliak is telling us he will be targeting Syndergard, Corbin or Grienke at the deadline. WooHoo!!
May not want to wait until the deadline to make moves are its going to be too late.