Cardinals Will Be Buyers at the Deadline

The St. Louis Cardinals are 49-45, in third place five games back in the National League Central.  At this time

last year, St. Louis was 51-47.  They were in third place and one game back in the Central.  We all know what happened with the 2011 team.  Last year’s team had Albert Pujols and Tony LaRussa, but this year’s team has veteran leadership and savvy new manager Mike Matheny.  They are far from out of the race.  With the additional Wild Card team this year, the Cardinals are just 1.5 games back of a play-off spot.  According to their GM, John Mozeliak, the team will be buyers this season and plan on making another run at the postseason.

While Mozeliak wouldn’t go into specifics about who the Cardinals would pursue, their bullpen needs help, and they could use another starter.  The Cubs still have not dealt Ryan Dempster, and Matt Garza talks are heating up across the league.  Either pitcher could help the Cardinals immensely.

The Cardinals have the 10th best team ERA in the league.  However, they ranked 20th in batting average against.  They could stand to benefit from some improvement there.

In year’s past, the decision to be buyers or sellers at this point in the season with the record the Cardinals hold would be a difficult one.  However, the additional play-off spot with the second Wild Card team makes the decision easy.  St. Louis is very much in the thick of things, and their front office understands that.

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