To be entirely fair up front, the St. Louis Cardinals have improved their roster in a variety of ways this offseason – most notably, adding Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew Miller – and do not need to make any additional moves to be considered “competitive” in the NL Central.
To be less fair, it’s hard not to laugh when you read things like this:
Mozeliak: Any additions to Cardinals roster 'would just make things tougher' https://t.co/dD0lIvdSsx
— St. Louis BBWAA (@StLouisBBWAA) January 31, 2019
The full quote that Cardinals president John Mozeliak provided is even more lulz-producing: “Is there another piece we could add, based on where the market is? Any move we would make now would sort of complicate things. Even if we were to break (camp) today, we’re going to have guys competing for at-bats already. And we still feel we have a lot of depth in our pitching. If nothing changed, we would have some tough decisions. Any additions would just make things tougher. We have competition now. In fairness, is it over-competition?”
So, if the Cardinals had the opportunity to add Manny Machado or Bryce Harper or Craig Kimbrel on a relative bargain deal, they’re not interested because … it could complicate things and create over-competition?
Just say money, man. Just say money. There isn’t a great reason not to pursue elite talent when it’s available at such a young age, but, hey, at least the Cubs have been a little more honest and just said money.
Perhaps the Cardinals simply didn’t want to upset the boring atmosphere …