The Cardinals have enjoyed an excellent summer of pitcher development. Most of their key prospects are on or ahead of schedule.
Pleasant surprises have offset the disappointments, such as the inability of pitchers Seth Blair and Jordan Swagerty to get their injury-marred careers back on track.
So general manager John Mozeliak is well-positioned to shop for a corner outfielder and/or a first baseman to overcome the loss of outfielder Matt Holliday.
What he doesn't want to do is trade top pitching prospect Alex Reyes, who is quickly moving toward the Carlos Martinez/Michael Wacha heights.