John Mozeliak outlines the St. Louis Cardinals’ trade deadline strategy

DENVER, Colo. –– In his final trade deadline as President of Baseball Operations for the St. Louis Cardinals, John Mozeliak discussed the club’s strategy in the place he made his Major League debut.

Mozeliak, then 24 and a recent graduate of University of Colorado at Boulder, was the left-handed batting practice pitcher for the 1993 Colorado Rockies. The Boulder, CO native worked various positions at Mile High Stadium with the first-year expansion club before trading in the purple pinstripes for three decades of Cardinal Red.

Despite a group of a dozen or so friends and family coming out to Coors Field for the first game of a three-game set with the Rockies, Mozeliak was more focused on the future of his franchise while addressing the media in the team’s third base dugout.

“It’s where it all started for me,” Mozeliak said of the Mile High City. “But there’s a lot going on right now with baseball, so it’s hard to just think about, reflect about being back in Denver.”

Starting the second-half by getting swept over the weekend by the Arizona Diamondbacks — another NL Wild Card bubble team who could either buy or sell before the July 31 deadline — was not helpful. 

“Obviously, where we are in the standings definitely affects our decision moving forward at the training deadline,” Mozeliak said of his 52-49 (.515) club. “We wanted to come out of the break and have a positive start to it. We didn’t. And so as we reflect on really what’s best for the organization, there is the long review in terms of, are there decisions that we can make that would better situate the franchise in ‘26 and beyond?”

A 30-year employee of the Cardinals, Mozeliak admits the situation is currently fluid with his club. While still two games above .500, they currently possess the ninth-best record in the Junior Circuit. Three of the teams ahead of them reside in the NL Central.

As much as the play of the Cardinals will dictate whether they buy or sell in the next 10 days, the fate of a few other clubs may be just as critical.

“You’ve got to compete in your division. Well, two teams are really hot right now. Actually three. So that’s a challenge. We’re not (hot),” Mozeliak said.

“I think we’ve seen over a three-game series at times, this team looks like it could win. But that’s why we play 162. That’s why (there’s) winning and losing streaks. And right now, the club is — it’s making future decisions more challenging in the sense of where we thought we were a month ago.”

Winning is important in St. Louis. The Cards have missed the postseason in each of the last two seasons. They haven’t made it to the National Division Series since 2019, losing in the Wild Card round from 2020-22. 

Fans have responded in kind. Attendance is down over 7,000 per game at home, the biggest drop in Major League Baseball this year. If the city can’t feasibly play into October this season, Mozeliak and the POBO-incumbent Chaim Bloom may prefer to err on the side of the team’s future.

With three more series to play before July 31, two against the last-place Rockies and the 46-53 Miami Marlins, the Cardinals may opt to be patient. Waiting — while it may be the hardest part — may be the best strategy as the deadline approaches.

“As everyone that pays attention to the trade deadline knows, a lot of things happen in those final minutes and more time you have to take it down to the wire, hopefully you can do better, but we’ll see clearly the weekend was not what we wanted to see.” Mozeliak added,

“Now we’ve got to understand what the future looks like.”

St. Louis’ 51 wins before the All-Star break are the most for the club since 2015. That might breed some confidence were it not for their 50-win total at the same point last season. However, the Cardinals went 33-33 and finished 6.0 games back of the third and final NL Wild Card.

Following the Dbacks sweep, phone calls to the 314 area code increased like the doubts surrounding the Redbirds postseason potential.

“I think people realize it was a tough weekend for us. More calls came in,” Mozeliak shared.

You can imagine the same is true in cities like Pittsburgh, Baltimore and West Sacramento based on their win-loss record. Still, we wait on the first shoe to drop for this year’s trade deadline. It might be coming soon.

“Even though the market’s undefined and there is a lot more talk to chatter going on, and that’s to be expected,” Mozeliak said of the lack of moves in MLB so far. “Pre All-Star Game you’re dealing with the draft. You have other distractions. Now you’re free to focus on this.”

St. Louis has a decision to make on five players with expiring contacts, all of whom are pitchers. 

Miles Mikolas (5.20) and Erick Fedde (4.83 ERA) won’t fetch a big return, but could be middle of the rotation pieces for a team in need. Every bullpen could use a guy like Steven Matz (3.29 ERA) or Phil Maton (2.55 ERA) and Ryan Helsley (3.18 ERA, 19 SV) is a bonafide closer.

Only Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray and Nolan Arenado are signed beyond this season. Arenado, 34, is the largest guarantee contract on the books for the Cardinals.

Then there’s still the business of Arenado’s no-trade clause. That might make it difficult to move him, but will that stop Mozeliak from talking to the 10-time Gold Glove Award winner about it?

“I will,” he said of such a conversation with Arenado. “I haven’t, but that is something that we’ll have a good understanding of going into that final week.”

Diamond Details

Austin Gomber, the final piece the Rockies have to show for the Arenado trade four years ago, had one of his better outings of the season during St. Louis’ 6-2 win on Monday night despite his pitching line suggesting otherwise.

“I thought I had really good stuff, but far the best stuff I’ve had all year,” Gomber said. “Couple of breaking balls wouldn’t break, just throwing the wrong pitch at the wrong time, too many times. Kind of story of what I feel like I’ve been doing all year, just getting beat in spots with the pitch that I probably shouldn’t throw there.”

Gomber entered the sixth inning with a chance to earn his first quality start of the year before two runs in the frame chased the 31-year-old southpaw.

A fourth-round pick by the Cardinals in 2014, Gomber begin the 2025 campaign on the injured list with left shoulder soreness. He didn’t make his debut until June 15 and has pitched to a 6.03 ERA over seven starts. Gomber will be a free agent at season’s end.