Juxtaposition of Cardinals roster decisions says everything about struggles

You wouldn't know it based on their 18-25 record entering Friday's action, but the St. Louis Cardinals actually had a solid offseason. The three starting pitchers that they signed have all met or exceeded expectations. Even the Andrew Kittredge trade has worked out despite the Rays potentially getting a piece who can help them for longer.

The problem is, the way things are going right now for the Cardinals, when they win they still lose. For every move that works in their favor is another move or two that doesn't. That, at least partially, explains their poor start to this season.

Jon Heyman of the NY Post ranked the top 20 offseason moves. The Cardinals got a win in there, but they also clearly made some poor decisions too.

Cardinals good offseason move is overshadowed by pair of major misses

The Sonny Gray signing was seen as the eighth-best move of the offseason according to Heyman. He even said, "Not everything is going wrong in St. Louis." He's right about that.

Gray has been excellent for the Cardinals thus far, posting a 3.05 ERA in seven starts and 41.1 innings of work. He hasn't been great in his last two starts and did miss time due to a hamstring injury that he suffered in Spring Training, but for the most part, he's been great. The Cardinals are 5-2 when he takes the ball and are 13-23 whenever somebody else does.

As good as that signing was, the misses John Mozeliak had overshadow it.

The San Francisco Giants signing Jordan Hicks was seen as the seventh-best move of the offseason, one spot ahead of Gray. Hicks, a longtime reliever for the Cardinals, has been starting games for the Giants and has pitched wonderfully, posting a 2.44 ERA in nine starts and 48 innings of work.

Nobody could've expected this kind of performance to start his Giants career, but the Cardinals gave Hicks a total of eight starts in his 187 appearances with St. Louis. I get it, he was good in the bullpen and injuries hampered him, but he's proving that the Cardinals, a team without any young starting pitching, made a mistake not trying Hicks out in that role.

The Detroit Tigers signing Jack Flaherty was seen as another top move of the offseason, and for good reason. The Tigers banked on Flaherty regaining his star form as long as he stayed healthy and so far he's done that, posting a 3.88 ERA in eight starts with 63 strikeouts and only six walks.

Flaherty is another arm under the age of 30 that the Cardinals traded at last year's trade deadline and have had to watch break out in another uniform.

The Gray signing was a good one, but he's 34 years old and this team is going nowhere. Meanwhile, the younger arms that they let go have flourished the first chance that they've gotten away from St. Louis. For every win, it feels like there are many losses to come. It feels that way in the front office and it feels that way on the field as well.