The St. Louis Cardinals made the right call to salvage their miserable season by trading away players at the 2023 trade deadline. Painful as it was to give up on the season after winning the NL Central last year, it will give them a better chance at being competitive in the future.

The Cardinals said goodbye to Jack Flaherty, Jordan Hicks, Jordan Montgomery, Paul DeJong and Chris Stratton, trading them all to American League teams looking to make a playoff run. The team simply needed to shake things up and did just that, though they held onto stars like Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt.

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak made it clear that the team will target pitching this offseason, particularly in the starting rotation, according to John Denton of MLB.com.

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

Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz are under contract for next season and Dakota Hudson has one more year of arbitration. The Cardinals, though, know that they need to be much better on the mound in order to compete in 2024. Fortunately for them, they are not without options — both external and internal.

The pitchers set to hit free agency this winter include Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, Blake Snell, Aaron Nola, Julio Urias, Lucas Giolito and Sonny Gray. While the Cardinals do have an intriguing roster and the potential to compete for a division title, it may be hard to convince a top-notch arm to come aboard.

The Cardinals' midseason trades may pay off as early as next season, as they acquired pitching prospects Tekoah Roby, Sem Robberese, Adam Kloffenstein and Drew Rom, all of whom have a shot to be up with the team next season. There's also Tink Hence, who has come up through the team's farm system over the years. St. Louis has to get its pitching situation sorted out in order to keep the window of playoff contention open.