3 blueprints for the St. Louis Cardinals’ offseason

When the lockout ends later this offseason, what route will the Cardinals front office go to improve the team in 2022 and beyond?

Major League Baseball began its inevitable lockout on Dec 1. Much to the surprise of fans, many of the league’s top free agents found new homes before the work stoppage. But with big names like Carlos Correa, Trevor Story and Freddie Freeman still available, and many of the top trade targets still available, Cardinals fans will spend this lockout wondering and dreaming about the moves the team may make.

Having already re-signed TJ McFarland, bringing in lefty Steven Matz to fill out the rotation and making some calculated minor-league depth signings, the team has been active so far this offseason.

Many Cardinals fans came into the offseason with hopes of signing Trevor Story, Marcus Stroman or Max Scherzer, so the moves thus far may feel mildly disappointing. If you were to look at this ballclub heading into the 2022 season, there does not appear to be a ton of improvement for their World Series odds.

Has St. Louis made moves to make a run at the World Series in 2022? Yes. Has the club pushed all of their chips into the center though? No. What has made this organization so great over its history, and notably over the last few decades, has been its ability to be opportunistic with near term moves, while maintaining a healthy long-term future for the team.

Whenever the lockout ends, there are three different directions president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and general manager Mike Girsch could take this team in. Each direction impacts St. Louis not only in 2022, but in future seasons as well.

Here are the three different ways the remainder of the 2022 offseason could play out…