ST. LOUIS -- After a season of lackluster offensive production, highlighted by swift exit in the National League Championship Series, the Cardinals were clear about their satisfaction in returning to the postseason and their desire to have an improved offense in 2020.

So far this offseason, the Cards have added to their pitching staff by signing Kwang-Hyun Kim, traded outfielders José Martínez and Randy Arozarena to the Rays and lost cleanup hitter Marcell Ozuna, who is still a free agent.

But on the first day of the club's Winter Warmup on Saturday, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak emphasized that the offseason isn’t done yet. There’s still a month until Spring Training -- pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 11 -- and more than two months until Opening Day on March 26. Mozeliak said several times on Saturday that both of those dates aren’t deadlines for the front office to solidify its roster, because he views it as a fluid situation.

“There's always opportunities to try to improve your club,” Mozeliak said. “As you can all imagine, sometimes where your team is and how you're playing may dictate how you think about improvement. … There are some things that we still want to think about internally on what we can do. I think from a baseball operations standpoint, we understand there's still some work to do. But there is no artificial deadline.

“I think the improvement has to be internal,” Mozeliak said. “I think the improvement comes from consistent opportunity. And I think the improvement comes from individuals. … How many players performed at their level of expectation? Two? So you can easily imagine that getting guys back to their norm is realistic.”

Among those who underperformed were Matt Carpenter, who had career lows in almost every category, and Paul Goldschmidt, who had career lows across his slash line but still led the team with 34 homers.

Mozeliak remained steadfast in his confidence in both, especially Carpenter at third base -- despite rumors swirling about the Cardinals’ interest in Rockies star Nolan Arenado.

“Nothing’s changed,” Mozeliak said. “I’ve been pretty pleased with what I’m hearing about Matt Carpenter’s offseason, so my excitement for him is very real. Talk can be cheap though, right? I can sit up here and tell you all sorts of great things, but I really am encouraged about where he’s at, and I think he’s going to be a key member of our club.”

Another part of internal improvement is creating opportunities for new faces to emerge through competition. That’s what the Cards hope to do in the outfield this spring, which is why they’ve been reluctant in bringing Ozuna back on a multiyear deal. The Cardinals hope to see a quality bat emerge from the group of outfielders -- including Lane Thomas, Tyler O’Neill, Justin Williams and Dylan Carlson -- that they have in the system.

“I think when you have these discussions, especially when you try to mirror it into, or weave it into, free agency -- free-agent decisions are sometimes one-year decisions, and sometimes they’re multiyear decision,” Mozeliak said. “Once you make that multiyear decision, it sets that course or that path for some time. Allowing ourselves to create some flexibility as we think about our roster and as we try to build it is something we valued this offseason.”

Internal improvement can apply from the coaching side, and Mozeliak touched on his confidence in hitting coach Jeff Albert’s second year. This was Albert’s first full offseason with the Cardinals, and Mozeliak believes having him and his system in place for a full year will benefit the offense.

“I do think as you look back from where we were a year ago -- and I know I stood up here and I was very excited about Jeff Albert and talked about all the changes that were going to happen -- but I think reality is, sometimes when you’re drinking from a firehose, it’s not as smooth as you think,” Mozeliak said. “I do feel like, in this particular case, now everyone has had a little time to understand, ingest, digest, think about what we’re trying to do.”

There’s still a lot that can happen over the next few months -- and even until the July 31 Trade Deadline -- to significantly improve the roster externally. And the front office is actively looking for ways to do that.

“Pretty good team last year,” Mozeliak said. “Obviously, internally, we want to see some things that change in terms of how we think about our preparation and execution. But, obviously getting to the final four last year with this club, and looking at how we did it, you can understand why some of us feel like there's some upside and reason for the excitement for that club.”