The Cardinals are in the midst of a Half Season

The Cardinals aren’t buying anything this offseason. Two months ago, that would have been a big surprise. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak announced at the end of the season that the team would reduce MLB’s payroll and give young players consistent answers. Seven of MLBTR’s top 35 trades entering the winter were with the Cardinals.

They all remain Cardinals for less than a month until the pitchers and catchers report. Not all situations are the same. In at least three cases, the Cards themselves are probably shocked. Wilson Contreras told the team he has no interest in waiving his no-trade clause. Sonny Gray he also expressed interest in staying instead of waiving his no-trade rights. Nolan Arenado He is reportedly very open to a move, though he used his no-trade clause to kill a potential trade to Houston.

Mozeliak came out and said that the organization is trying to deal with Arenado. The baseball leader called that an easy way to get the team’s salary where they want it to be. That may still come together, but it has proven to be tougher to orchestrate than the front office seems to think. The Astros have already moved on. Other teams reportedly don’t want to pick up much of the $64MM left on the third baseman’s contract. Katie Woo of The Athletic wrote last week that talks with Arenado have stalled.

Those conditions are beyond Mozeliak’s control in addition to the fact that he was willing to include no-trade clauses in Contreras’ free agent deals for Gray. (Arenado received his NTC from the Rockies when he signed his 2019 extension.) The front office likely expected those veteran players to be eager to move rather than wait a season or more. In that sense, the Cards are in an unstoppable position.

The most puzzling part of their offseason is that they aren’t making any moves to address those roadblocks. Their offseason included shopping Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn again Keynan Middleton while saying the depth of release Bailey Horn without giving up. That needs to change between now and Opening Day.