John Mozeliak's stunning lack of urgency could doom the Cardinals again

As the trade deadline approaches, the St. Louis Cardinals have several needs to address. The biggest needs for a team coming off a 91-loss season are a right-handed bat and a starting pitcher. While they seem intent on adding another bat to their mix, the urgency to add a starter is lacking.

When asked about the idea of adding another starting pitcher to the mix, President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak threw cold water on the idea, citing that the team had two options, Gordon Graceffo and Michael McGreevy down in Triple-A Memphis.

"We're not going to chase something or do something that doesn't make sense or you have to overpay for," said Mozeliak.

John Mozeliak's comments could come back to haunt Cardinals

This is not going to sit well with Cardinals fans.

While the Cardinals do have a few starting pitchers at Triple-A, those options are quite limited. One more injury could spell disaster for the St. Louis rotation. Also, Mozeliak seems to be missing the point of making trades.

Any good trade is going to hurt a little bit because in order to acquire what is needed, teams have to give up something good in return. In most cases, teams will overpay to get what they need. The Cardinals also only have one starter that they can trust in a postseason game, that being Sonny Gray. The rest of their starters won't be able to match up against guys like Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, or Ranger Suarez.

Offense may be the biggest need, but another starter who can be trusted in the postseason is a need as well, one that can't be ignored. Mozeliak's lack of urgency to acquire another starter is of course predictable, and it could doom the Cardinals this year at the deadline. This is one of many reasons why fans in St. Louis are tired of their longtime president of baseball operations.

This approach isn't going to help the Cardinals. This is a team that hasn't won a playoff series since 2019, much less a playoff game since 2020. They also endured three straight Wild Card exits before finishing in last place in 2023. Their collapse last season was thanks in large part to Mozeliak failing to add starting pitching the previous offseason.

We'll see if Mozeliak changes his tune, but this is not a good omen for the Cardinals, and their fans won't be happy either.