St. Louis Cardinals: What Winter Meetings Is Like For Cardinals Fans

The St. Louis Cardinals have yet to really get anything going at baseball’s annual Winter Meetings. Cardinals fans are not strangers to this slow process.

The hot stove has been cranked up at Winter Meetings over the last few days, but it appears that John Mozeliak and the St. Louis Cardinals have a problem with their stove. Is it faulty? Nope. It’s simply not plugged in.

Winter Meetings is that time of the year that we all love — rumors, rumors and more rumors. Most of the time these rumors or “internal discussions” turn out to be nothing. For Cardinals fans this time of the offseason can be maddening.

Mozeliak is one of the most conservative, smart, and cool-as-a-cucumber general managers in all of baseball. He has always been that way, and it is irrational for us to think that might change in one offseason because the Cardinals missed the playoffs by one game.

Still, what is going on with St. Louis’ GM this week?

Yoenis Cespedes — gone. Carlos Gomez — gone. Ian Desmond (with whom the Cardinals had a, albeit slim, connection) — gone.

Dexter Fowler? Well, it appears he may not even want to be in St. Louis after hearing about his former Cubs’ teammates time there.

Aside from the Jason Heyward trade in 2015 (and we know how that turned out; granted at the time it was a big trade, so credit goes to Mozeliak there) the Cardinals have never been huge players at the annual Winter Meetings. They were never going to be the team that signed Cespedes to a huge deal, or traded half the farm system for ace Chris Sale.

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Still, Mozeliak has stated that moves are to be made this winter, but it’s been crickets so far — right in line with what Cardinals fans are used to seeing come December.

So, just what is Winter Meetings like for Cardinals fans? Well, let me tell you. Winter Meetings for Cardinals fans is like receiving socks for Christmas. But not just any socks, those itchy wool ones that you never wear. It’s like ordering a steak medium-rare and taking the first bite only to realize that it’s well done.

Winter Meetings for Cardinals fans is like signing Ty Wigginton to a 10-year deal. Remember that guy? Yeah, me neither.

Winter Meetings for Cardinals fans is like an alternate reality in which Stan Musial played his entire career with the Chicago Cubs. It’s like your parents getting you this 1984 Dodge Caravan for your first vehicle:

How would you like to roll up to your school the first day of your junior year in that ride, kids?

Winter Meetings for Cardinals fans is like missing the playoffs by one game over, and over, and over, and over again. It’s like Jon Jay hitting .330 with thirty homers and 120 RBI for the Cubs next season.

Maybe I’m being a tad bit dramatic.

More than anything, Winter Meetings for Cardinals fans is like a typical day at your 9 to 5 office job. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with it, and it pays the bills. But there sure as hell isn’t anything exciting about it.

And that’s John Mozeliak’s way. We can’t argue too much with the results so far. Mozeliak has helped St. Louis reach the World Series twice (2011 and 2013) and won it all in the miraculous season that was 2011.

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Patience is a virtue. Many Cardinals fans, including myself at times, have very little of it. Despite the crickets chirping this week, I still expect Mozeliak to make a move very soon. Let’s hope it isn’t something absurd like 5 years and $95M for Fowler. At this point, a trade for someone like Charlie Blackmon or A.J. Pollock would seem out of this world, crazy. We’ll see what happens. Thanks for reading.