Here is how the Cardinals roster would look if did not make their huge trade mistakes

Infield/Catchers

Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Tommy Edman, Brendan Donovan, Nolan Gorman, Ramon Urias, Willson Contreras, Ivan Herrera

We start off with the position groups that the Cardinals have actually "held onto" the right talent for, as the group largely remains intact.

One thing to note though is that if the Cardinals have made the right decisions when it came to their outfielders (more on that on the next slide), they probably could have moved someone like Lars Nootbaar and Nolan Gorman for Sean Murphy, getting the best catcher in the game, saving money by not handing out the Contreras deal, and perhaps still having the best outfield in baseball. Oh well.

You'll see one addition to this group who was not here previously - Ramon Urias.

It's honestly a toss-up between Urias and DeJong, but being on a much cheaper deal and coming off a Gold Glove season in 2022, he'd be a value utility guy off the bench, with the ability to play all four infield positions.

Overall, you've got to like how the Cardinals have handled their infield, outside of the catcher position. For all the head-scratching decisions the Cardinals have made in recent years, grabbing Goldschmidt and Arenado while also having the middle infield depth they have is a big win.