3 ways the St. Louis Cardinals could fumble the trade deadline

They overload on trading for pitching

Although Mozeliak stressed the need to acquire pitching at the deadline, there is a chance that the Cardinals are so focused on trading for arms that they neglect their offense. If the Cardinals trade too much from their glut of position players, they risk making the same mistake they did a few years ago when they had a large number of pitching prospects and traded a bunch of them, leading to a surplus of offense but few promising minor league arms.

To keep this from happening again, but with too many pitchers and not enough position talent, the Cardinals can't just commit to trading for pitching and giving up their position players. They need to sign some free agents as well so they're not surrendering so much offensive talent. Aaron Nola and Blake Snell make sense as free-agent targets for the Cardinals to sign and plug-in as their ace. Ideally, the Cardinals will trade for a young, up-and-coming starter and fill other holes in free agency.

It's worth noting that the Cardinals no longer possess a surplus of minor-league hitting. Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, and Ivan Herrera are now with the big league club, so while the team should make pitching a priority, it can't overlook the offensive side. The Cardinals should complement the pitchers they do trade for with young hitters ready to contribute at the major league level in 2024.