Cardinals Hint At What Will Determine Trade Deadline Strategy

The St. Louis Cardinals are a team that has been speculated about a lot.

Each day more and more people make up wild mock trade scenarios for each St. Louis star. This is in large part because of the rumors of the offseason and the team's clear statements then about wanting to make moves. They didn't and now the team has a 19-19 record through 38 games. The Cardinals finished above .500 last year and there's an argument that they have a better roster on paper right now.

The rotation has been solid and the offense has been one of the best in the game, even with Iván Herrera out. He's expected to return this weekend and will give the Cardinals even more firepower. If the Cardinals can get their bullpen in order, there's no reason that this team can't be better than last year.

There's still been a lot of chatter, but Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak gave some insight into what will drive the team's summer strategy, as shared by The Athletic's Katie Woo.

"The Cardinals will continue with their current plan for the foreseeable future," Woo said. "But Mozeliak’s comments suggest that if St. Louis has a chance to contend for the division, he will deviate. There is no set blueprint for how Mozeliak will navigate the team approaching the trade deadline — it’s much too early to know whether the Cardinals will buy or sell come July. But the team’s play over the next six weeks or so will certainly help dictate those choices, and Mozeliak hopes that process won’t be easy.

"Things will be determined by how we play and what our record is," Mozeliak said. "We hope we’re in a position where we’re adding to our club. But if we’re not, we have a lot of exciting pieces that teams would value as we get closer to July 31. Time will tell. But I think it’s a fun team to watch, I think it’s entertaining. And I hope we have to make some really hard decisions."

At 19-19, the Cardinals could realistically go in either direction. All of the speculation has been about guys the team could trade away. But, what about people who could come to town?

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