Cardinals Secretly ‘Can’t Wait’ To Sell, Analyst Claims: ‘Anxious To Move On’

What’s going on behind closed doors with the St. Louis Cardinals these days?

With the trade deadline approaching, it’s difficult to guess what president of baseball operations John Mozeliak is thinking. Mozeliak recently told the press that he might wait until the final 72 hours before the deadline to make decisions. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have lost five of six and are surging toward seller status.

The problem with the Cardinals right now is that they haven’t committed to a direction, at least not from the outside looking in. The idea of balancing winning now with developing players for the future was a trendy idea in May and early June — and one that manager Oli Marmol handled admirably — but it’s not a helpful idea in July, when a singular, crystal clear franchise identity must be established in order to make pivotal roster decisions.

MLB analysts are scratching their heads in observing the Cardinals, and everyone seems to have a different take on what the front office should do.

During a recent episode of the Baseball Tonight Podcast with Buster Olney, ESPN’s Karl Ravech and David Cone talked through the situation.

Ravech pointed out that Mozeliak and the Cardinals’ leadership might be attempting (in vain) to placate the team’s fan base with non-committal language about the deadline; Ravech also considered it possible that the Cards are genuinely stuck between two, polar opposite goals.

“I think it's a knowledgeable enough (Cardinals) fan base to know … (that) there's a little smoke and mirrors going on here (from the front office),” Ravech said. 

“And as we approach the trade deadline, they have to sort of straddle this line of, ‘We're in, but we need to develop. And we'd like to shed salary, but we have to stay competitive.’”

Cone, in responding to Ravech, leaned into the smoke and mirrors theory and suggested that St. Louis’ balancing act is a publicity stunt entirely, and that, within the clubhouse, the Cardinals can’t wait to sell, sell, sell so that they can finally commit to a new direction. Cone also asserted that this would be by far the smartest path for the Cards to take.

“It just seems like they can't wait for the auction to happen,” Cone said. “I mean, they have one of the best closers in the game (who is) gonna be a free agent. He has to be dealt … Ryan Helsley has to be dealt … and it makes you wonder about Nolan Arenado, too … (and) where he fits into this, having already rejected one trade in the spring.”

“I think it's just a matter of, ‘We can't wait for this auction to happen, and we can't wait to sort of get some more prospects back and get on with this process.’ … They're very anxious to move on. Maybe winning a few too many games is throwing a monkey wrench into it … that's the awkward part of the whole thing. (But) it doesn't really matter … their most important commodities have to be traded. They just do … and they can't really get fooled by whatever record they have now.”

Listening to Ravech and Cone, it would be hard for Cardinals fans not to jump behind the idea of selling.

With the deadline less than three weeks away, Mozeliak’s moves will be unveiled soon enough.