MLB Rumors: 3 offseason moves the Cardinals must make other than improving the rotation
By Curt Bishop
MLB Rumors: The Cardinals need to make personnel changes
President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak has already confirmed that manager Oli Marmol will be back at the helm in 2024, much to the dismay of many fans around St. Louis. But that doesn't mean that changes shouldn't occur.
Marmol and the front office have shown a lot of faith in Taylor Motter, despite the 33-year-old being a career .188 hitter. He drew several starts in the final games of road series. Marmol also pinch hit him for Brendan Donovan with the bases loaded and nobody out in April.
The pitching staff has failed under first-year pitching coach Dusty Blake, so it's very possible that they could make some changes on the coaching staff, even if Marmol remains the team's manager for 2024.
The front office could also use a bit of a makeover. There's no indication that one is coming, but Mozeliak and company failed to address the Cardinals need for arms last offseason, instead opting to trust a rotation of Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas, Adam Wainwright, and Steven Matz. That rotation failed miserably and both Montgomery and Flaherty are now with other teams.
The Cardinals are going to have a lot of work to do this coming offseason. But while the starting rotation remains their biggest issue, their problems run much deeper than the weak rotation they assembled for 2023. They will need to be very aggressive when addressing these issues in order to ensure that a season like this one does not happen again.