Could the St. Louis Cardinals buy and sell this at this trade deadline?

During the All-Star Break, the questions among the Cardinal fan base on how the Front Office would approach the Trade Deadline were answered.

President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak spoke with Martin Kilcoyne on the Kilcoyne Conversation about what the Cardinals could try to do before the end of the calendar month of July with the current roster. Even though Mozeliak mentioned that they will not "wave the white flag" this season, they will make moves that will "focus on the 2024 team".

It's hard ever to expect the Cardinals to "blow it up" because they always seem to be in the thick of things late in the year, but just about everybody is starting to realize that the Cardinals' chances of getting back in contention are bleak. With Mozeliak saying that he will look at moves that will improve the 2024 team is implying that this will not be a rebuild, but a way to set themselves up better for next season.

Regarding the current Cardinals rotation, Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty are pending free agents. They could possibly be traded, and with Adam Wainwright retiring upon season's end that doesn't leave the Cardinals with much starting pitching to work with next season. The glaring need for pitching is obvious, so if Montgomery and Flaherty are out the door potentially soon, how can the Cardinals approach it?

Flip Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty while still adding Major League-ready starting pitching.

The Cardinals would be wise to test the market for pending free agent pitchers Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty with how well they have both been pitching recently to see what they could get in return. The same applies to Jordan Hicks who has looked sharp since taking over the closer role, There have also been recent reports that the Cardinals could be interested in acquiring pitcher Logan Gilbert from Seattle.

Gilbert, 26, is a right-hander that has been steady this season in Seattle, putting up almost a strikeout an inning and has been efficient with limiting traffic on the bases (0.98 WHIP across 108 innings). He is also not arbitration eligible until 2025 and several years away from free agency, Gilbert could fill a current need for the Cards while also helping the rotation in the future.

Getting young MLB-ready pitching under contract beyond this season would be very beneficial for the Cardinals to try and fix a rotation that has been unreliable for the most part over the past few seasons. Unless the front office plans on spending money on starting pitching in the off-season, this would be the way to go in an attempt to get some stability within the rotation. But how else could the Cardinals approach things?