This story was excerpted from John Denton’s Cardinals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

When the clock hit 5 p.m. CT on Tuesday, it not only signified the MLB Trade Deadline, but it also effectively ended the Cardinals' 2023 season as they know it. There are still plenty of games to be played -- such as Wednesday night when the Cards used four home runs and some stellar pitching from Dakota Hudson to beat the Twins at Busch Stadium -- but the focus has not-so-subtly shifted to 2024 in many ways.

For veteran players such as Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Carlson and Hudson and youngsters Lars Nootbaar, Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liberatore, Ivan Herrera and likely Masyn Winn soon, the remaining two months of baseball will be used as a proving ground and for individual development.

Cardinals president John Mozeliak said as much with his actions in recent days, trading a core part of the roster -- namely starting pitchers Jack Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery and closer Jordan Hicks -- for nine Minor League prospects and a middle reliever. As difficult as that was for Mozeliak to do, he said it’s not too soon to start shifting the focus to what the Cardinals roster will look like in 2024 when they fully expect to be playoff contenders again.

“The difference for us from the past two decades to now is that October [playoff push] is not likely going to happen, but we want to come to the ballpark every day, still want to put an entertaining product out there and we still hope to win baseball games,” said Mozeliak, the architect of Cardinals teams that have had 15 straight winning seasons. “From a front office standpoint, [the remainder of the season] is going to weigh heavily with how people perform and what we see. That will determine how we put our offseason strategy together.”

The Cardinals need to know if O’Neill, who has homered in two straight games, can stay healthy for a long stretch for the first time since his second-half tear in 2021. They need to know if Carlson -- who the team held onto again despite swirling rumors surrounding his name before the Deadline -- can make tangible progress from the left side of the plate. They need to see if Liberatore can rediscover his velocity and get outs and if Hudson’s shutdown stuff from Wednesday -- when he no-hit the Twins for 5 1/3 innings before finishing with seven innings of three-run ball -- is sustainable.  

“The No. 1 goal is staying healthy, and I feel like I have formulated a very successful routine that I can rely on, confide in and have confidence in,” said O’Neill, who missed 2 1/2 months with a back injury before returning two weeks ago. “It comes down to showing up every day, trusting my routine and we’ll see what happens after that.”

Just don’t think for a second that the Cardinals won’t be trying to win games while providing opportunities to previously injured or younger players. Manager Oliver Marmol, who guided teams in the Minor Leagues prior to taking over the Cardinals, always felt it was important to teach an expectation of winning throughout the development process. That’s no different now, he stressed.

“I think you develop winning players and not just players,” Marmol said. “Our Minor League system has always prided itself on doing that. Do you do it at the expense of development compared to winning at the Minor League level? No, but you do want young players to get a taste of winning. Being able to win ballgames as you’re developing, that’s the right environment we want our guys playing in.”