3 blueprints for the St. Louis Cardinals’ offseason

One Wing in Both Worlds

The most likely scenario, and one that seems to be Mozeliak’s tendency, is a little bit of the best of both worlds. If you asked me today, the club is likely to pull out one more Steven Matz level move, fill out the roster with a few more veterans, and extend one or two of their young core to solidify the future (we’ll use the O’Neill and Hudson deals again here).

While Trevor Story would still be an option in this scenario, I’d opt toward seeing the club bring in Archie Bradley and Joe Kelly, and one more veteran bench piece in the form of Josh Harrison.

This alignment reflects the best possible team the Cardinals could roll out during the season while keeping their foot in both worlds. Nolan Gorman can split time between 2B and DH, Yepez can get at bats at the corner infield, outfield, or DH spot, Tommy Edman can bounce around the infield and outfield on a day-to-day basis, and Matthew Liberatore can be called up to be utilized as a bullpen weapon or fill into the rotation in the case of injury or underperformance.

Relievers Kelly and Bradley join Gallegos, Reyes, McFarland, and Cabrera to form one of the deepest bullpens in all of baseball. Josh Harrison adds another veteran option off the bench with versality to give new manager Oliver Marmol different options each day. The rotation, barring another year of crazy injuries, is built to keep this club in games, and with a high upside lineup and top-level bullpen, they can get the job done in front of the Cardinals historic defense.