ST. LOUIS — One month before pitchers will be going through their first workout of the spring in Jupiter, Fla., the Cardinals remain open to the possibility of adding to that group.
“We’re not closing the door to anything at this point,” John Mozeliak, the team’s president of baseball operations, said on Saturday during the first day of the team’s annual three-day Winter Warm-up fan fest at Busch Stadium and Ballpark Village.
During a 30-minute session with the media, the status of the roster was one of the topics covered by Mozeliak as the Cardinals look ahead to how they can bounce back from their worst season since 1990.
The biggest way to reverse the dismal results from 2023, Mozeliak said again, is an improvement from the team’s rotation, which they addressed at the beginning of the winter by signing free agents Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn.
The team didn’t stop augmenting the pitching staff after those additions, however, with four new relief candidates being acquired since the end of last season.
Combined, one-third of the team’s 21 pitchers on the 40-man roster were not in the organization at the end of the 2023 season. Adding the pitchers acquired in trades before the Aug. 1 deadline, the total grows to 11 of the 21 pitchers who were not in the organization six months ago.
That total also doesn’t include non-roster pitcher Tekoah Roby, one of the Cardinals’ top prospects, obtained from Texas.
While he is happy with all of the newcomers, Mozeliak is still willing to add to that group if the opportunity presents itself.
“We’re pretty excited about where our roster is from where we were on Oct. 1 to where we are today,” Mozeliak said. “There’s been a lot of roster churn, we’ve brought in a lot of new faces, and we’ve been strategic about it. As we sit here on Jan. 13 are there still some things that could happen? Of course.
“We’re going to keep looking and see if there are ways to improve this club. Overall I feel good about where we are but we know there’s always some work to do.”
Mozeliak said there is room within the team’s budget for another move if he believes it is warranted.
Without any more additions, however, Mozeliak said he believes the biggest difference in the team from a year ago is that the three new starters have a history of throwing a lot of innings, which if they can do that again, also will affect the performance of the relief corps.
“We would like our starters to go deeper because if we can shorten the game we now feel like we have a bullpen that can manage that,” Mozeliak said. “Last year we just put so much stress on the bullpen from day one that I don’t think we ever got on track. That’s what we want to see happen.”
The latest addition to the bullpen was righthander Andrew Kittredge, acquired from Tampa Bay in exchange for outfielder Richie Palacios.
Kittredge was an All-Star in 2021 before missing most of the last two years because of an elbow injury.
“The unique thing about him is that coming from Tampa Bay, he understands how he might be used,” Mozeliak said. “He’s going to give us a lot of flexibility. We think there is a lot of upside in that arm.”
There are still multiple relievers available on the free agent market who could be added to the group of candidates for the eight-man bullpen – Rule 5 pickup Ryan Fernandez, former Marliner Riley O’Brien and Nick Robertson, one of the players obtained in the trade with Boston that sent Tyler O’Neil to the Red Sox, in addition to Kittredge.
Among the other topics addressed by Mozeliak:
* On the addition of former Boston GM Chaim Bloom to the front office as an advisor to Mozeliak: “He will be a huge asset for us. I think a lot of people are sort of jumping to conclusions with the Chaim hire but I would say at the very least it strengthens our bench. Where it leads to we will see.”
* On the injury recoveries from Tommy Edman, Dylan Carlson and Brendan Donovan: “Edman seems like he’s doing great. Carlson and Donovan both seem to be in really good spots. The feedback on Dylan has been really positive. We’re really encouraged where Donovan is at.”
* On a possible contract extension for first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, set to become a free agent after the season. “I think right now everybody just wants to see how this season starts. We want to get off on the right track and then address things like that.”
Follow Rob Rains on Twitter @RobRains
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