John Mozeliak kills the dreams of Cardinals fans everywhere again

The St. Louis Cardinals were dealt a tough blow on Monday when newly signed ace Sonny Gray was pulled from his start against the Washington Nationals.

Although the initial prognosis is ultimately encouraging, the reality is that the veteran right-hander will likely start the season on the injured list thanks to a hamstring strain.

Fortunately, it doesn't appear as though Gray is going to miss significant time, but even so, it would be wise for the Cardinals to dive back into the free agent market and potentially make a play for Blake Snell or former Cardinal Jordan Montgomery.

However, President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak played the role of Captain Buzzkill for fans on Tuesday when he said he didn't envision the Cardinals making an attempt to sign either one of them.

"I definitely feel it's not something that is required at this point," said Mozeliak. "Obviously if something changes, we'd have to look at it differently. But we're not thinking we'll have to do anything now.

Cardinals won't pursue Snell, Montgomery according to John Mozeliak

This is certainly going to be frustrating for Cardinals fans to hear.

While it should be encouraging that Gray won't be out for too long, he's still likely to start the season on the IL. To make matters worse, the Cardinals will be facing the revamped Los Angeles Dodgers in a four-game series to start the season.

Without Gray, they won't have a top-level starter to combat Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Walker Buehler, unless they make a move.

This means another rough start could be on the horizon for the Redbirds. And for all the talk of "pitching, pitching, pitching" last year, the Cardinals are entering 2024 with an eerily similar rotation to the one they began 2023 with. That rotation fell apart quickly. and the Cardinals went 71-91, finishing in last place in the NL Central.

In light of 2023, it doesn't make sense for the Cardinals to once again trust their internal options that have repeatedly failed them. When Adam Wainwright went down before the season began, St. Louis replaced him with Jake Woodford. It did not go well.

The Cardinals consistently have not prepared for pre-season injuries, and this has been the result.