I want you to respond to an honest question I have before I get into my usual jargon.

Consider it. Give it some serious thought. I would like you to really think about this. To avoid unduly influencing your response, I’ll even give you some room before responding.

What has to happen most urgently in order for the Cardinals to be competitive in the National League again in 2024?

This was the query that was on my mind shortly after Sonny Gray’s story broke. There are numerous correct responses to my query. A losing team can become a winning team for a variety of reasons.

However, I believe there’s

Let me just state up front that I think Sonny Gray is great. The fact that Sonny Gray is not Lance Lynn or Kyle Gibson has been overshadowed in the general annoyance with the Cardinals’ rotation additions over the last week. He throws a damn good ball. Since Jack Flaherty joined the Cardinals in 2019, he is among the best pitchers they have had. He’s most likely the best pitching addition signed by St. Louis from outside the organization since… Andy Benes, perhaps?

Not because he’s not good, but he wasn’t my first (Yamamoto), second (Nola), or third (Glasnow) choice for this team’s starting pitcher. I simply took a different tack when it came to reorganizing this team because of my differing priorities.