Cardinals' Top Exec John Monzeliak Details Massive Roster Overhaul For 2024

St. Louis needs to be active this offseason

Scott Neville | Aug 15, 2023

Cardinals' Top Exec John Monzeliak Details Massive Roster Overhaul For 2024 /

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals have seemingly learned from their mismanaged roster construction entering the season and do not plan on making the same mistake next offseason.

The upcoming free-agent class is loaded with frontline starters and St. Louis seemingly appears ready to participate in the plethora of bidding wars set to begin in the offseason.

“Realistically, we know we have to add three starters this offseason. We know we have to add depth. We went into the season thinking that we would have that covered. It didn't work out that way," Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told MLB.com's John Denton.

"Having a repeat of that would not be in the best interest of the franchise," Monzeliak continued. "So I think our approach is going to be very aggressive on the pitching side. We'll see where it takes us.”

St. Louis will retain Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz as locked-in starters for the next season. The trade deadline departures of Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty combined with the impending retirement of Adam Wainwright create room for a massive overhaul, and this is the winter to strike.

The upcoming free-agent market is loaded with starting pitching, led by Los Angeles Angels' Shohei Ohtani, San Diego Padres' Blake Snell, Los Angeles Dodgers' Julio Urías, Philadelphia Phillies' Aaron Nola, Chicago Cubs' Marcus Stroman (opt-out), Detroit Tigers' Eduardo Rodriguez (opt-out), Japanese superstar Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Montgomery and Flaherty.

If the Cardinals were to acquire one or even two of the aforementioned hurlers, they would be in a far stronger position than they currently are. St. Louis will also have the option of using their deep farm system or abundance of outfielders to acquire a controllable young starter via trade.

Monzeliak and company will have plenty of options heading into a franchise-altering offseason. It's great to hear that they want to be as proactive as the fanbase and media were hoping for.

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Published Aug 15, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the St. Louis Cardinals for FanNation's "Inside The Cardinals" on Sports Illustrated. Before starting "Inside The Cardinals", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." After a few months as the top Major League Baseball site in the program, Neville sought expansion and pitched "Inside The Cardinals," one of the newest additions to FanNation and the Sports Illustrated Media Group. The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Cardinals" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu