What is Mozeliak planning for Deadline?

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ST. LOUIS -- After the Cardinals posted a 71-91 record in 2023, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak promised that the last-place division finish was an outlier that would not be repeated in 2024.

After the club’s pitching underperformed last year, Mozeliak promised to spend his energy and available resources in the offseason to address “pitching, pitching, pitching” to improve the product in the season ahead.

Now, after delivering on those promises and being predominantly right about talent that many doubted -- especially during the troubling 15-24 start -- Mozeliak is again vowing to address the cracks that have started to show in a Cards club that has been one of the league’s best teams over a two-month stretch. Whether or not he can add another difference-making arm or fortify the lefty-heavy lineup with a right-handed bat before Tuesday’s 5 p.m. CT Trade Deadline remains to be seen. But Mozeliak’s focus is intently locked on making the Cardinals’ roster more balanced and potent for August and September and what the club hopes will be a triumphant return to the postseason following a one-year absence.

“We’re looking at ways to try and improve our club, and that’s what we’ll do,” said Mozeliak, who had just returned to St. Louis following a week in Florida to negotiate contracts for 19 of the players the Cards selected in the MLB Draft. “Obviously, it’s going to be a very interesting Trade Deadline because there are so many teams not sure what they are doing [buying or selling]. Ultimately, it’s our job to pay attention to the market, and if there’s something we think we can do, we’re going to try to do it. But this could be one of those Trade Deadlines where July 30 is a very busy day.”

The bunched-up NL Central race could become even more clustered in the coming weeks if the Brewers lose star left fielder Christian Yelich to a serious back injury that might necessitate surgery. Meanwhile, the Dodgers suddenly look vulnerable with their pitching losses and even the Phillies have wobbled a bit of late. Also, every team in the National League remembers that the World Series representatives from 2022 and ’23 -- the Phillies and the D-backs -- got into the playoffs at the very end of the regular season, got hot at the right time and pulled off stunning October runs.

But Mozeliak said he and his team can’t focus on the fortunes of others in determining the tact they take before the Deadline. While the NL might be more winnable than it was a few months ago, it won’t decide how aggressive the Cards will be.

“None of that matters to me, because you’ve got to worry about your own team,” Mozeliak said of potential foes the Cardinals could face in the playoffs. “Hopefully there are ways that we can improve, but if you just take from mid-May on, we’ve been one of the better teams in the game. And hopefully we can keep it going.”

Asked specifically about the improvements his team would be looking to make, Mozeliak would go no further than to say “pitching,” refusing to clarify whether he thinks that his aging starting staff could use some reinforcements. But a source pointed toward Rangers veteran Nathan Eovaldi and Rays righty Zach Eflin -- players the Cards have had interest in for years -- as potential targets. Former Cardinals pitchers Jack Flaherty and Austin Gomber also have familiarity and should be available, but those reunions aren’t as likely.

Speaking of potential Cardinals reunions, couldn’t White Sox veterans Tommy Pham and John Brebbia fill the need for a righty hitter with thump and a proven arm for a bullpen overtaxed by all the close games played this season? Getting fireballer Garrett Crochet or Erick Fedde in that deal would also fill the need for starting pitching, but many other teams are likely to offer more than a Cards club that is often protective of its top prospects.

Mozeliak got the club back on track after 2023 by signing Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn and deftly trading for difference-making reliever Andrew Kittredge.

For his next act, Mozeliak wants to be bold and aggressive in making the Cardinals better than they’ve been over the first four months of this season. Whether he can make them incrementally better or something resembling a legitimate World Series contender remains to be seen.

“You’re always looking for ways to improve and you can ask yourself a thousand different questions [about being contenders] in different ways,” said Mozeliak, who has every intention of safeguarding the franchise’s future even though he affirmed that he has no intentions of leading the baseball operations staff beyond the 2025 season. “When you sit in my seat, you’re trying to figure out ways to win it all. But, in the meantime, you also have to be realistic, and some of the decisions you are making are thinking about the future.”