Red-Hot Cardinals Criticized For 'Never Picking A Lane'

The St. Louis Cardinals have been red hot this season. They're 16-6 at home while coming off a huge win over the Detroit Tigers, who boast the best record in baseball as of now. The Cardinals have been very successsful despite a lack of urgency from the front office to add talent.

In fact, the front office might have taken steps backward during the offseason and it's likely to come back and haunt the Cardinals.

Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller recently criticized the Cardinals for "never picking a lane" during the offseason. This decision to hang around on the fence has left the Cardinals in between contention and a rebuild this season which might be the worst place to be in professional sports.

"While the Baltimore Orioles have been the surprising disaster of the season, the St. Louis Cardinals have been the surprise success story, sitting one game back in both the NL Central and NL wild card pictures at the start of play on Sunday, despite entering the offseason looking like a team destined for a rebuild," Miller wrote. "Instead, they had one of the most uneventful off-season's ever and could be headed for a difficult decision on how invested they are in winning in 2025, sort of stuck in no-man's land."

Being in the middle is the worst place to be.

The Cardinals have the talent to make a postseason push, but do they have the talent to keep up with the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers in October? Both the Dodgers and Mets should be expected to add a lot of talent at the trade deadline. Will the Cardinals look to add at the deadline? Or will they trade players like Ryan Helsley and Erick Fedde, who are on expiring contracts?

St. Louis should have committed in one direction or the other.