St. Louis Cardinals: Three targets necessary to win the winter

The St. Louis Cardinals need to make moves this offseason and the winter meetings are a great place to start.

The St. Louis Cardinals need a win. They need this win to come in the way of a player or players who will be joining the Cardinals roster for the 2018 season and preferably for a few seasons to follow. While the Cards lost out on their bid for Giancarlo Stanton, a winter “win” is still within reach.

Would the “Best Fans in Baseball” be content with nothing happening this winter beyond the pick up of Miles Mikolas and Luke Gregerson? Terribly unlikely. Would the St. Louis Cardinals front office be content with a winter filled with just replacing some of the auxiliary coaches? Also unlikely.

So what will it take to feel like this winter was not for waste? What do the St. Louis Cardinals need to do to convince fans that what they leave Orlando with (or without) is in the best interest of the team for 2018 and beyond?

First, let’s dig here into the idea that Mozeliak and Girsch leave Orlando (where the winter meetings are being held) without making a single move. While this would certainly be a shock to the system, this might- in all actuality- be what happens. With so many rumors circling, landing on one of these might prove impossible.

That is not to say that the Cardinals will make no further moves this offseason, just suggesting that they might depart Orlando without a completed move in hand. After Orlando, the team’s clock on trades and acquisitions does not stop but will continue until July 31, 2018 (and even then not really either).

Now that I have shocked you into believing (if you did at all) that no moves will occur while in Orlando, let’s flip the coin and look at the three moves that I believe are necessary to call this winter (and maybe the winter meetings) a success.