Three moves the Cardinals could have made last offseason to prevent this disaster

Here we are again rehashing the disaster that was the 2023 Cardinals season. There's no way around the fact that the 2023 season was a complete and utter failure on so many levels.

The most frustrating aspect about all of this is that it was so preventable. The Cardinals front office shouldn't be surprised by this. There were plenty of opportunities for them to add pitching and fortify the starting rotation, yet they were all passed up.

Now, we're left waiting for them to have their end-of-season press conference and admit their mistakes, and that press conference has already been postponed. However, there would be no need to admit failure if pitching was added.

Again, this is what is most frustrating about the whole fiasco is how easily it could have been avoided. But the Cardinals were too set in their ways to spend the money necessary or trade the necessary prospects to add starting pitching.

Somehow, some way, they were satisfied with a starting rotation that featured Miles Mikolas, Jordan Montgomery, an oft-injured Steven Matz, a worn-down Adam Wainwright, and an inconsistent Jack Flaherty.

There were starters aplenty available on the trade and free agent markets, starters that were also quite affordable. But St. Louis passed on all of them, and a 71-91 season which sank them to last place in the NL Central was the result of such a failure.

In this piece, we will discuss three moves the Cardinals could have and should have made to prevent this disaster.