MLB insider hands out horrendous grade for Cardinals offseason thus far

Major League Baseball's offseason is two-thirds of the way through. Plenty of deadlines including the Rule 5 draft, winter meetings, and even arbitration deadlines. Free agency has been in full swing, as major players like Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, Willy Adames, and Max Fried have all signed. Every team sans six -- the Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins, and St. Louis Cardinals -- have spent money to improve their major-league rosters.

Jim Bowden gave the Cardinals offseason an "F" letter grade

The Cardinals' inactivity has led Jim Bowden, a writer for The Athletic, to fail the Cardinals this offseason. Bowden graded the Cardinals so harshly primarily due to their lack of moves. They watched Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew Kittredge walk via free agency, and they still haven't made any trades.

Now, the organization has made several small signings including the signings of left-handed pitcher Bailey Horn off waivers, left fielder Ryan Vilade, catcher Jhonny Chaparro, and right-handed pitcher Michael Gomez. These players were all signed to minor league deals or waiver claims.

From a roster perspective, Bowden hits the nail on the head. The Cardinals have lost valuable talent that they haven't replaced in Goldschmidt, Kittredge, Kyle Gibson, and Lance Lynn. They also haven't worked towards their stated goal of trading Nolan Arenado. While rumors have been aplenty surrounding the 10-time Gold Glove third baseman, very little has materialized in his market.

Additionally, the Cardinals have yet to spend a single dollar on the major-league roster. The team is going in a youth direction by focusing on internal players, but external acquisitions, particularly veteran role players, would go a long way to improving the ball club.

Where I disagree with Bowden would be that the entire organization has been a failure this offseason. From a front-office personnel perspective, the offseason couldn't be going any better.

Chaim Bloom has had his fingerprints all over the front office revamp, and that's great for the direction of the organization. Bloom's first move was to hire Rob Cerfolio as the Assistant General Manager, Player Development and Performance. Cerfolio came from the Cleveland Guardians' organization, a hotbed for pitching development.

One of Bloom's next moves was hiring former Seattle Mariners' minor league pitching coordinator Matt Pierpont. Pierpont became the Cardinals' Director of Pitching. Bloom plucked another high-ranking executive from an organization that has thrived in producing talented pitchers.

Several other front office and coaching moves have been announced in the last month as well including the hirings of Ryan Barba, Minor League Field Coordinator; Jose Leger, Assistant Minor League Field Coordinator/Baserunning Coordinator; Austin Meine, Minor League Pitching Coordinator; and Ethan Goforth, Minor League Catching Coordinator.

These front office and coaching additions should put the Cardinals back on track to becoming one of the premier development franchises once again.

While Jim Bowden's grade from a roster perspective is quite fair, taking a holistic view of the offseason should boost the Cardinals' overall grade. They still have significant moves to make on the major-league roster, but the coaching and front-office acquisitions have been exactly what the doctor ordered. Trading some players to make space on the roster while boosting the farm system would go a long way in improving the outlook of the 2024-2025 offseason.

With exactly one month to go before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, time is running out for John Mozeliak and Chaim Bloom to transform this roster into a truly competitive one.