A hypothetical St. Louis Cardinals offseason blueprint

If you had control of the St. Louis Cardinals offseason, what moves would you make? Here’s one course of action.

Every St. Louis Cardinals fan has a dream or a plan for this offseason. Even after a strange, up-and-down 2021, the talent is on the roster for a lengthy postseason run in 2022. That is, if the right moves are made.

We’ve spoken at length about the pressure the front office faces this winter. The decision to fire Mike Shildt brought a lot of heat on John Mozeliak and his crew, and while the hiring of Oli Marmol as the new manager was applauded, it’s clear that all eyes are on the front office to deliver a better result than last year’s wild card berth.

What’s it like working under that kind of microscope? Very few of us will ever know. But for now, I’m inviting you all to come along as I run the Cardinals this offseason. Imagine a world where a 21-year-old college student is giving out $300 million contracts. Yep, it sounds pretty awesome.

Jack Flaherty, Harrison Bader, Tyler O’Neill, Giovanny Gallegos, Alex Reyes, Dakota Hudson, and Jordan Hicks are all arbitration eligible this winter. While these negotiations are each their own big offseason storylines, I’ll be delegating this task to another article. The focus of this exercise is free agency, roster construction, and trades.

The 2021 Cardinals had one of the top defenses in baseball. However, they ranked 15th in MLB in OPS, 15th in home runs, and 12th in team ERA. To be a top team, you need to be better in these categories. Luckily, plenty of hitting and pitching upgrades are available.

Here comes the six offseason moves I’m making as (hypothetical) general manager/president of baseball operations/supreme ruler of the Cardinals. And we’ll recap it all at the end – just stick with me, it gets better as the offseason blueprint moves along.