ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Let's be frank about what the 2023 Baseball Winter Meetings were: Boring. With a capital B.
The Baseball Winter Meetings is traditionally, the most active event of the baseball off season where you see a few big moves happening. Who remembers the 2019 event in San Diego where super agent Scott Boras went on a rampage and got deals done for Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg and Anthony Rendon? Or last year when Jon Heyman sent the baseball world on fire with his 'Arson Judge appears headed to the Giants' tweet? The list goes on.
What is usually the most active part of the offseason was not true this year. This year's Winter Meetings was as boring as sitting through a 90-minute lecture of your least favorite college course.
Granted, a few major moves - such as the free agencies of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinubo Yamamoto, along with the eventual Juan Soto trade to the New York Yankees - has kept about 90 percent of the industry on a standstill. But when most fans on Baseball Twitter(or Baseball X?) were waiting to see which team (eventually the Chicago White Sox) would sign Erick Fedde, a pitcher who spent last season overseas and had a career ERA of 5.81 in the majors, that sums how rather dull the Winter Meetings were.
The St. Louis Cardinals, just like a majority of teams, didn't make any moves on the free agency front or trade market during the four day event. However, the club didn't leave the event empty handed or with no answers whatsoever.
Clarity was given on Yadier Molina's role with the club in 2024. While he won't be back as full-time coach, Cardinals Nation will likely see the number four jersey back in the dugout at times this season.
The club headed into the Winter Meetings looking to add help to a bullpen who tied for blowing the second most saves in the National League last year, and while some were hoping for the team to sign a relief pitcher on the market, the team did add to the bullpen, picking right handed relief pitcher Ryan Fernandez during Wednesday's Rule 5 Draft.
Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak had previously stated even before the Winter Meetings took place the team's focus during the week and after getting three starters was to get a better gauge of the trade market, which Mozeliak has routinely reiterated was the next main focus this offseason.
"I think we have a pretty good feel for (the trade market)," Mozeliak told KMOX's Tom Ackerman before the Winter Meetings. "But like anything, I think as this week starts to unfold a little bit more, we'll have a better gauge of what is realistic and doable."
Mozeliak reiterated it again when he spoke to reporters Wednesday, telling them he feels they have more clarity now.
“I think the one thing when we came into these meetings, we were hoping to get some clarity on what the trade market looks like,” Mozeliak told reporters Wednesday. "I think we have a better idea of what that looks like, but we don’t feel we’re at a point where we are ready to make a deal.”
The team will no shortages of options to do in the trade market, but it appears the team's first priority is to look for a suitable trade partner for Tyler O'Neill. With O'Neill projected $5.5 million in his final year of arbitration, moving on from him and using that money to potentially go after a relief pitcher in free agency is certainly feasible. But it requires the team to find a trade partner for him first. So it appears that is their priority.
On the trade front, starting pitchers Tyler Glasnow, Dylan Cease, and Shane Bieber are still available. The paths are still there even after the Winter Meetings ended for the Cardinals to go in and get one of them if they want.
There's still a little over two months left before pitchers and catchers report. Like Mozeliak said, "This is not the finish line. This is just a day in time and there's still a lot of work to be done."