4 ways the Cardinals can approach the trade deadline, ranked in likeliest order

While most of us were focused on the St. Louis Cardinals' play on the field during the London Series, perhaps the most important information we gathered came from the time that President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak spent with the media that weekend. When asked about the Cardinals' plans at this year's trade deadline, Mozeliak was candid about the options that were on the table.

"“I think we could probably define (four) models on how we think about the trading deadline,” President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak said. “As we sit here on the 23rd of June, we still don’t know exactly which path we’ll walk. From a front office standpoint, we have to start preparing.""

John Mozeliak

Four models? What does he mean by that? Well back in early June, I was able to talk to Mozeliak about how this deadline could play out, and he indicated something very similar to me. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat captured Mozeliak's most recent comments about this publicly, where Mozeliak further explains these four "models". They could look to buy, sell, do nothing, or a fourth path, which Mozleiak defines in this quote:

"“There could be some deals made that ... maybe could help now, but also could help in the future, or that maybe could be more of a reshuffling.""

John Mozeliak.

Everyone is going to have their own opinions on what the Cardinals should do at this trade deadline, but what I think matters most is what they actually will do in late July. We can talk all day about hypotheticals, but their actions, at the end of the day, are what will actually impact this team.

I've ranked the four scenarios, in order, of what I think is the Cardinals most likely approach at this year's trade deadline.