St. Louis Cardinals: Hopefully 2018’s half of the off-season is better

This morning I reached out to Craig Mish to see if there was any news regarding the St. Louis Cardinals.

I’m sure you have noticed, as many of us at Redbird Rants have, the off-season isn’t exactly the Hot Stove as in years passed. It’s more symbolic of the brutal cold weather gripping a majority of the nation right now. The Cold Stove certainly has dampened any hopes of the St. Louis Cardinals finishing 2017 with a bang, but just a couple of weeks ago you’d have thought differently.

While a majority of the team’s news focused on Manny Machado or Josh Donaldson, I was still looking for any news regarding Alex Colome and the Tampa Bay Rays. With the Evan Longoria trade finalized this last week, the Cardinals seemingly have secluded themselves until next year.

This morning I asked National Sports Radio host for Sirius XM Craig Mish if he had any news regarding the St. Louis Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Rays. Unfortunately, he did not.

I took a couple of things away from his response. The first regarding the Cardinals and Rays is simply about one thing John Mozeliak has preached all off-season. A couple of weeks ago, Mozeliak went on St. Louis radio saying the team, and fans alike, needed to be patient when making their moves this offseason.

Consider how patient Mozeliak was willing to be during the Giancarlo Stanton saga. Mozeliak is probably more than happy to continue his patient approach in hopes of landing a better deal in the long run. Consider this as well. What if the Giants were pressured into making a deal with the Rays for Evan Longoria knowing the Cardinals were lurking in the background.

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Instead of the Cardinals over-paying for prospects and money for Longoria, now the Giants have all but said we are going to try and win the next year or so.

They do not have a farm system comparable to the Cardinals, so their rebuilding process could take some time.

Mozeliak’s patience leaves the Cardinals in a good spot to either retain the top arms and outfielders or package them into a better deal.

However, the most frustrating thing about his patience is urgency. Two weeks ago it was practically a forgone conclusion Colome was on his way to St.Louis, but now we haven’t even heard a whisper of such news.

The anxiety adds fuel to Cardinal Nation’s already existing fire to improve the club as quickly as possible, with the best players possible. How long will the team actually wait to get another move done?

Unfortunately, as Craig points out, more than likely nothing happens until after New Year’s day. If that is the case, I urge Cardinal Nation to continue to be patient. Mozeliak and Co. have done a good job so far this off-season.

The second thing I took away from Craig’s response was the reality of the market this off-season. Craig followed up his initial thoughts on the off-season in a second tweet.

While I think the trade market and free agency worlds co-exist, neither is dependent on the other. However, it feels like for the St. Louis Cardinals, both worlds do depend on each other. As the Cardinals continue their trade talks, at what point does the team look to free agency to address their issues?

The way I see it, the best thing for the Cardinals is for the free agency market to continue at a snail’s pace. Imagine the frenzy the Cardinals would find themselves in if suddenly Wade Davis and Greg Holland signed with team within days of each other while the Cardinals talks for Colome stall.

If the Cardinals are willing to lag behind the market, then imagine what teams are considering what the Cardinals are doing this off-season. Recently Theo Epstein said all the moves done by the Cubs are purely in the best interest of the Cubs. That’s about as safe an answer you can give, but they know the Cardinals are gunning for them in the next couple of years.

However, until the market for free agency moves, I think we will see the St. Louis Cardinals play their moves close to the chest. I do think they will get a move done, but what I will be watching for is the timing of the moves. A trade doesn’t take the Cardinals completely out of the free agent market, but don’t be surprised to see the Cardinals abandon the trade market altogether. If they do that, I expect the news to heat up pretty quickly.

Next: Off-season questions still loom

What did you make of Craig Mish’s comments? Let me know in the comments below.