Cardinals were "hit a lot" on lefty bats at trade deadline, per GM

The St. Louis Cardinals were sellers at the trade deadline this year. They traded all four pitchers on expiring contracts, those being Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton, Steven Matz and Erick Fedde.

The team seems to have finally picked a direction. Instead of trying to contend in the next few years, they have chosen to fully commit to a rebuild.

This is ultimately the right call, as the Cardinals do not have the roster to compete with teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Houston Astros, and others.

However, according to outgoing president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, the Cardinals received interest in several other players. The offers just weren't compelling enough.

"We got hit a lot on our left-handed hitters," Mozeliak said. "But we were not motivated to move players that we had under control unless we were, to put it mildly, blown away. And we just weren't."

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This will certainly frustrate some fans. The Cardinals didn't get much in return for their expiring contracts.

Mozeliak focused on the distant future rather than the immediate future, which doesn't exactly set them up well for 2026. Had they moved other players, they could have brought back some value.

This could also have given incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom some more flexibility with next year's roster. However, any other moves are going to have to wait until the offseason.

The next roster moves will be made by Bloom as the focus shifts to the future of the organization rather than trying to contend in the immediate future.

We'll see what the offseason has in store for St. Louis.

More MLB: St. Louis Cardinals trade reliever Phil Maton to Texas Rangers