Cardinals Looking Forward To 'Really Hard' Deadline Decisions

We are just a few weeks away from the 2025 Major League Baseball trade deadline and unsurprisingly that is the biggest talking point around the league right now.

No matter where you look, there is chatter about the deadline left and right. Most of the noise is just that. Most of the rumors and speculation will never turn into anything. That doesn't stop speculation from spreading, though.

It's tough to cut through some of the noise, but the most important thing to do is attempt to listen to insiders or directly from teams themselves. The St. Louis Cardinals are a team in a complicated spot. There already is a succession plan in place with Chaim Bloom taking over as the team's president of baseball operations after the season. John Mozeliak is in his final year with the team in the role.

Before the season, it was clear the Cardinals wanted to trim payroll and they did just that. Now, the Cardinals are in a position to fight for a playoff spot. But, with the offseason transition coming, what are the Cardinals going to do?

Mozeliak addressed the upcoming deadline, as transcribed by MLB.com's John Denton.

"Rather than seeking long-term assets for incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom -- 'That really hasn’t changed any of our thinking yet,' Mozeliak said -- he would rather acquire pieces that might push his final Cards squad into the playoffs," Denton shared. "'It’s bad to approach the next 30 days speaking in absolutes,' Mozeliak said of the Cards potentially being labeled as 'buyers' or 'sellers.'

"Trying to understand what someone may want to give you for something is probably worth hearing or at least listening because you can always say no. The mindset is to remain open-minded. I hope we have really hard decisions to make come July 31, because that means we’re playing well."