The St. Louis Cardinals cannot let past mistakes paralyze them this trade deadline

Hey - have you heard that Randy Arozarena and Adolis Garica used to be Cardinals? Wild! In fact, they used to have Zac Gallen and Sandy Alcantara too! Insane! Now I'm hearing they even had THE Lane Thomas, who has an incredible .172/.289/.336 slash line for them in 84 games! How on earth could the Cardinals let a talent like THAT go?

Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice?

Yes, we are all well aware of the mistakes the John Mozeliak-led front office has made in recent years. And it's not just that they missed on one of these guys, it's that they somehow managed the fumble the bag with four All-Star level players at probably their two greatest positions of need - pitching and outfield.

I get the frustration, although I do find it interesting that fans can get so mad about the front office making big swings for a guy like Ozuna using guys who were not heralded as top prospects, while also being frustrated that the club is hesitant to give up more prospects in future deals.

I do not blame fans one bit for not trusting this front office to be able to right the ship, or at least not trust it in its current structure. Randy Flores has done a great job running drafts in recent years, Michael Grisch has received a lot of credit for the shrewd moves the Cardinals have been able to make, and although he may need to move on from his current role, Mozeliak has had a very successful tenure running the club.

The Cardinals cannot let these past mistakes paralyze their attempts to retool this club

I get why the front office is a bit gun-shy. What if they make another big swing in the trade market and give up a future All-Star? What if they hand out another big deal and it flops once again? What if the guys they keep instead of trade are the wrong ones?

Those are all very real concerns, but that's what the Cardinals' front office is paid to accomplish. Every single organization makes massive mistakes. The White Sox traded Fernando Tatis Jr. for James Shields. The Dodgers traded Yordan Alvarez for Josh Fields. The Pirates traded Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, and Shane Baz for Chris Archer.

It's the nature of prospects - they are lottery tickets. None of Alcantara, Gallen, Garica, and Arozarena were top prospects, and yet, they are some of the best players in baseball. Guys like Alex Reyes, Dylan Carlson, and Jack Flaherty were regarded highly by the Cardinals and national media, yet have not lived up to expectations.

What the Cardinals cannot afford to do though is get paralyzed like they did this past offseason. They were the front-runner to acquire catcher Sean Murphy from the Oakland Athletics. Instead of being aggressive and making the deal, they got afraid of giving up the "wrong guys", and missed out on an MVP-caliber catcher who is mashing at the plate and a Gold Glover behind it. Or look at Pablo Lopez. He was being dangled out there by the Marlins for months, and although that would have been costly as well, he would have been a nice, controllable starting pitcher for their rotation.

While St. Louis made the right call not ponying up for a Juan Soto trade last deadline, their hesitancy in other deals, especially the Murphy deal, cannot be repeated at this deadline. They must be aggressive with moves to capitalize on the value of their impending free agents and aggressively upgrade their team for 2024. Sure, pick a few untouchables, but otherwise, they have to go into discussions ready to make difficult and bold decisions.

That is what it will take to get themselves out of the hole they are in. No one can go back and change the mistakes they've made, but it would be equally as unfortunate if the Cardinals remain passive in response to those miscues.

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