5 moves the Cardinals made that worked out for the best, with John Mozeliak in charge

There's no easy way to say it. Cardinals fans are fed up with the front office. They're sick and tired of what has been a truly terrible season. To make matters worse, many of them claim they saw this failure coming. Over the course of this season, fans have taken to Twitter and other social media sites, disparaging John Mozeliak and other front-office executives.

Fans frequently point to players excelling in other organizations, such as Patrick Wisdom, Lane Thomas, and Adolis Garcia. These players, they argue, were practically given away for free. Now, they're contributing at an All-Star level for other teams. But this isn't the real problem. Even angry fans can generally understand that Lane Thomas didn't have a clear opening here. They can see that Patrick Wisdom would not have been a better investment than Nolan Arenado, and, when they look over Adolis Garcia's awful numbers with St. Louis, it becomes obvious why they shipped him out.

What can't be as easily explained, however, is the emergence of legitimate superstars in other organizations. This includes Zac Gallen, Sandy Alcantara, and Randy Arozarena. Each of these players would absolutely make the current roster better, and there is little argument that their replacements are doing so right now. As effectively as Liberatore pitched against Tampa Bay, he has struggled this season.

This leads fans to argue that Mozeliak's time is up and that he needs to be removed from his position as the Cardinals' president of baseball operations. In reality, Mozeliak is still one of the better front-office executives in baseball. While the Cardinals have made mistakes recently, they've also made some excellent trades. We'll look over five such moves today!

1) INF Edmundo Sosa for RP JoJo Romero (2022)

Leading up to the 2022 trade deadline, the Cardinals were rather quiet. They waited until July 30th to make their first deal, and it's safe to say that their opening move left many fans unsatisfied. The Cardinals announced that they'd acquired left-handed reliever JoJo Romero in exchange for infielder Edmundo Sosa.

Sosa was coming off of an excellent 2021 season. Filling in for several injured players, Sosa was an above-average producer at the plate, and a surprisingly effective defender. Though he made several critical errors, including a throw that nailed an umpire's head, he was flexible and played multiple positions at a high level. Unfortunately, 2022 wasn't going his way. Sosa had regressed significantly at the plate, and with the return of Paul DeJong, Sosa had no discernible role.

Thus, the Cardinals traded him for Romero, an unproven reliever best known for crushing (no, literally crushing them) cans of Red Bull before appearances.

Since that trade, Sosa has been solid enough as a Phillie. He's just below league average in terms of offensive production, and while he may be better than Taylor Motter or Jose Fermín, it's unlikely he'd have been able to carve out any sort of role in St. Louis. Between Gorman, Winn, Edman, Donovan, and previously DeJong, there just weren't enough at-bats to go around.

Meanwhile, Romero has been the best lefty option out of the bullpen in 2023. He was consistent and trustworthy enough to step into the closer role once Jordan Hicks departed at the 2023 deadline. Romero, who was solid down the stretch in 2022, has been outstanding! His 3.55 ERA is solid, but metrics hint that he's actually been very unlucky. He's running a career-high 10.1 K/9 and has managed to drop his walk rate by over 50%. Romero has turned into a bona fide shutdown reliever. Though this deal got little attention at the time, it's now a clear win for the Cardinals.

2) OF Harrison Bader for SP Jordan Montgomery (2022)

Bader was a fan favorite here in St. Louis. Bader was well known as a streaky hitter with otherworldly defense. He was a gold glover in 2021, though he probably should have won several more of those awards. What really won him over with legions of fans was his exciting style of play and, of course, his hair. What's more exciting than watching a player fly around the bases, running so fast that his own helmet falls off?

How about a starting pitcher who makes a full season's worth of starts and pitches to a 3.31 ERA? Because that's what the Cardinals traded Bader for at the 2022 deadline. Initially, a lot of fans were disappointed and puzzled. Bader had, at times, teased incredible upside. Montgomery was, at times, viewed as a sixth option with the Yankees. He ended up functioning as St. Louis' ace. Montgomery was excellent down the stretch and nearly better in 2023. Though the Cardinals struggled, he was his reliable self this season.

While Montgomery excelled in St. Louis, Bader was mostly disappointed in New York. He was terrible at the end of 2022 (though he was awesome in the playoffs) and he's currently having his worst full season since 2019. His .668 OPS is well below league average, and his defensive value has been lowered by his inability to stay on the field. Bader missed most of 2022 and has already hit the IL for an extended period in 2023.

With the Cardinals selling at the deadline, Montgomery, along with reliever Chris Stratton, was traded to Texas, where he has been unreal. In four starts, he has a 1.73 ERA. Montgomery may get the opportunity to pitch deep into October, and he no longer has the potential to be extended a Qualifying Offer, a move that teams make to artificially lower a player's value on the free agent market. He's raising his own value, and significantly.

For a true top-of-the-rotation talent like Montgomery, the Cardinals were going to get back a haul. And that's exactly what they did. They received reliever John King along with two exciting prospects: Thomas Saggese and Tekoah Roby. Both have been covered extensively since joining the organization. Saggese has been incredibly productive and may reach AAA this season, while Roby's debut on August 26th is sure to draw plenty of attention.

Mozeliak and the Cardinals' front office turned 1.5 seasons injury-riddled seasons of Harrison Bader into a full season of Montgomery and six years of control for Tekoah Roby (who ranks within FanGraphs' top 100 prospects) and Thomas Saggese. The Cardinals clearly came out on top here.

3) OF Lane Thomas for Jon Lester (2021)

This is probably a more controversial take. Lester only pitched the remainder of 2021 for the Cardinals and then retired. Before the trade, Lester was far from endeared to St. Louis fans. He'd knocked the Cardinals out of the 2013 World Series with the Red Sox and had then guided the rival Cubs to the 2016 title. Lester wasn't even that great on the surface with St. Louis. He pitched to a 4.36 ERA over 66 innings. However, he did the most important thing that a pitcher could do. He won, and he won a lot.

When the Cardinals acquired Lester and J.A. Happ at the 2021 deadline, they were fading fast. They were on the verge of no longer being considered a contender. Jon Lester was a huge reason that they turned their season around. They went on to win an incredible 17 games in a row and punched their ticket to the postseason late in September after beating the Cubs. Lester went 4-1 as a Cardinal, and the team won seven of his final ten starts. He went at least five innings in eleven of his twelve starts as a Cardinal, and at no point let a game get completely out of hand. Lester did everything the Cardinals asked of him.

The return piece, Lane Thomas, has found success in Washington. He probably should have made an all-star team this season! His .805 OPS would fit nicely in the Cardinals lineup today. Except, he probably wouldn't be in the lineup. Thomas would not have started over Nootbaar or Walker. It's difficult to believe that the Cardinals would have given him opportunities instead of Tyler O'Neill, Dylan Carlson, and Alec Burleson. Thomas, at best, would have occupied the role of a fourth or fifth outfielder.

Considering the fact that Thomas would never have gotten a true opportunity to shine in St. Louis, this is a clear win-win deal. The Cardinals received short-term help and made the 2021 postseason. The Nationals received long-term help and now have a player who may be worth building around in Thomas. Thomas, for his part, received the chance to become a full-time player and has run with that opportunity. Lastly, Lester got one more chance to see October, though the Cardinals were knocked out in the Wild Card round.

5) SP Johan Oviedo and 3B Malcom Nuñez for SP Jose Quintana (2022)

This was a classic Cardinals move. The Cardinals acquired an aging starter at the deadline to boost a team that was just hanging around in the postseason race. It wasn't exciting, but the cost was low and Quintana was enjoying a resurgent season. This was the same Jose Quintana who had played for four teams over the previous two and a half seasons. But, like J.A. Happ, Jon Lester, and many others, Quintana bolstered a floundering Cardinal rotation and ultimately helped lead the team to October. He was so outstanding that he was given the opportunity to start game one against the Phillies.

Quintana made his first start against one of his former teams, the Chicago Cubs. After allowing a first-inning homer to Patrick Wisdom, he was excellent at holding the Cubs to just one run. That home run was the first and last homer he'd allow in his tenure with the Cardinals. Quintana went 12 starts, covering 74.1 innings, without allowing another home run. He recorded a 2.01 ERA with the club.

The Cardinals likely haven't spent much time agonizing about the return pieces. Oviedo opened 2023 well but faded over the ensuing weeks. He was good enough to immediately draw comparisons to Gallen and Alcantara, though those ridiculous takes were rendered moot by June. Nuñez, for his part, is still toiling away in the minors, though he's now reached AAA. He could debut for the Pirates sometime in 2024. Even if Nuñez is a productive hitter, the Cardinals can rest easy, knowing that this deal gave their team the opportunity to compete in the 2022 postseason. It was just another example of an underappreciated move made by John Mozeliak.