What the St. Louis Cardinals need to do before next year

“A lot has to happen (for the team to be competitive next season), and clearly that’s not going to be solely defined as what happens in the next two weeks,” Mozeliak said. “It will be like how active we can be in the free-agent market this offseason, as well as potentially what types of deals we could do then as well.”

So the Cardinals may or may not be competitive next season. Not my words

If this team truly wants to be competitive next year why aren’t they making changes and getting prepared? There is more to do than just wait for pitching. The Cardinals need to look at the hitters too. Can anyone tell me why Taylor Motter is taking up space?

The hard part is to look at this roster and try to decide what the roster should be next year. St. Louis has outfielders playing infield and outfielders playing in the infield. Starters and relievers have swapped positions. Players are moving up and down from the majors to the minors. Players that need reps are getting pulled for defensive purposes. I am unsure how management expects anyone to improve, especially if they don’t know their roles.

Nothing is more important than starting today and pretending this is 2024. That means deciding what this team should be with the players you have available and if you make improvements this off-season, all the better. I realize some of these moves might not be possible until the September expansion, but I still want to see this.

With that in mind, this is is what I would do with the team starting tomorrow.