Cardinals' front office could further anger fans if they took this deadline strategy

The St. Louis Cardinals are still in the early stages of a frustrating season that has few answers on the horizon, and fans are growing more irritated at each disappointing loss. After a promise of a rebuild, then renamed to a transition, the Cardinals are stuck in neutral, both at the big league and minor league levels.

The bullpen has been so disastrous that manager Oli Marmol went as far as to basically say to the fans that management has done nothing to support a contending team's needs. New hitting coach Brant Brown seemed like a guru when the offense started off the season hot, but that novelty wore off as the team's hitting has gone cold. The starting pitching is made up of pitch-to-contact veterans, a reliever turned starter on their own accord, and a former top prospect in a last-ditch effort to salvage a poorly executed trade. Not to forget that a sixth man goes in and out of the rotation mix, but not in the form of an exciting young prospect, but as a 33-year-old lefty on an expiring contract.

Add in a completely mismanaged offseason with a future Hall of Fame third baseman and a promised runway for certain players that was also only partially true, and that gives you the 2025 St. Louis Cardinals. Currently one of the best teams in all of baseball playing at home while being historically bad on the road at the same time, the Cardinals are not providing fans with much reason for optimism. A saving grace for some of the Cardinal faithful is the fact that this year is the final year of John Mozeliak's decision-making with the team.

John Mozeliak could buy for a playoff run if the Cardinals are in contention

After this season, Mozeliak will hand over the reins to Chaim Bloom, who oversaw the Boston Red Sox revamp and created an exciting minor league system full of top prospects. Mozeliak has seen so much success during his tenure with the team, he would surely hate for his final seasons at the helm to tarnish his Cardinal legacy. Because of this, it may not be out of the realm of possibilities for Mo to want to go out with a bang if the team he scraped together is in playoff contention at the trade deadline. Both aspects of this situation would be a surprising result for a team that returned the vast majority of their underwhelming roster despite a promise of changes in the offseason.

In a recent episode of Foul Territory, Cardinals beat writer Katie Woo brought a shock to the ears of fans when she was asked how the team could handle this year's trade deadline. While the question was slightly loaded and Woo's initial response mentioned that the Cardinals have plenty of pieces to trade away, she said she could see Mozeliak adding to the current roster rather than sending players elsewhere.

With the way that the Cardinals' season has started, it would be surprising if this team is able to right the ship quickly enough to contend in what is becoming a tougher NL Central. At the end of April, the team is projected to have fewer than 75 wins for the second time in three seasons and miss the playoffs for the third consecutive year. Even if they did find themselves in the thick of the race, the Cardinals do not have much MLB-ready depth to deal from if they did want to add some game-changing pieces, and they surely would not want to part with any of their top prospects for a short playoff window.

On top of that, Bloom will most likely have a say in any franchise-altering deals, and that includes any extension talk for currently rostered players. The most likely outcome for this Cardinals team is that they stay below .500, but how they handle the trade deadline will yet to be seen with an awkward balance of power at the top. Bloom probably wants to get his retool started early, while Mozeliak may want one more opportunity at a ring. If the Cardinals were to stand pat with their current roster construction, that could set the timeline back to contention even further behind schedule.

Cardinals fans are growing increasingly frustrated with the state of the organization and are showing their disdain by leaving plenty of open seats at the normally sold-out Busch Stadium. A playoff race could bring fans back in the seats, but if the team ultimately falls short of the postseason like they did when they dealt Tommy Edman for Erick Fedde, it could turn into a dire situation for the new leadership.