ST. LOUIS – Spring training has arrived for the St. Louis Cardinals, but despite the spoken word of an organizational “reset” focused on cutting costs and embracing a youth movement, the projected big-league roster looks largely unchanged from last year.

For the Cardinals, more than most MLB teams, this has been a stagnant offseason. They have not signed a free agent to an MLB deal this winter and have quietly let a few veteran free agents walk away, all while coming up empty in efforts to trade third baseman Nolan Arenado.

Many rival executives find the Cardinals’ current approach to be “confounding” and appear to be scratching their heads, according to a new report from ESPN Baseball Insider Jeff Passan.

On Tuesday, Passan dove deep into the current state of the St. Louis Cardinals and questioned whether the team’s stagnant offseason approach would prove beneficial in the long term.

Passan criticized the Cardinals for not being more aggressive in leveraging their talent with Arenado trade talks in limbo.

“Why St. Louis hasn’t been more aggressive in dealing its bevy of talent — from Arenado to starters Sonny Gray and Erick Fedde to closer Ryan Helsley to young players (Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman) who have hit a wall — is confounding executives around the industry,” said Passan. “If the Cardinals aren’t going to spend — and they haven’t spent a dollar in free agency — surely, the thinking goes, they should leverage the players they’ve got now and start building toward something more.”

Passan described the Cardinals as “an organization stuck in neutral” and one that has lacked urgency toward strategic moves, notably as lead executive John Mozeliak prepares to step down at the season’s end.

“Instead, they are seemingly content to run it back, even if that means the awkwardness of Arenado returning. The Cardinals have prepared for that possibility — and are content after a mediocre season in which they lost nearly 400,000 fans with another uninspiring winter,” said Passan.

Mozeliak, who spoke to media members for the first time this spring camp on Wednesday, expressed some frustrations with a slow offseason but emphasized the organization’s vision toward a new direction and leadership.

“It’s sort of interesting, as you think about, this is my 18th camp and addressing media,” said Mozeliak. “Typically, we spend a lot of time rehashing accomplishments of the offseason. Needless to say, it’s been frustrating. We’re trying to do some different things as we transition into a new leadership group and really a new direction with the franchise moving forward in 2026.”

“This transition is going to be about a youth movement. It’s going to be about giving players an opportunity. We are excited about the guys we have in this camp. The Cardinals are excited about the direction we’re going, but we certainly understand there could be some things that happen between now and the time we get to St. Louis.”

Both Mozeliak and Passan acknowledged that the free agent market for third basemen, most notably what transpires for longtime Astros infielder Alex Bregman, could have an impact on if or when Arenado is traded.

“The big elephant in the room is, what are we going to do with Nolan Arenado? You think back to when we first met on this in October, the GM meetings, and candidly, we’re still looking at what that might look like,” said Mozeliak. “Could something happen in the next week? Possibly. Could this go into camp? Possibly. I really don’t have a definitive answer for everybody that’s curious on what will be the answer. Patience is required.”

NOTE: Video of Mozeliak’s comments Wednesday is from FOX 2 Sports Director Martin Kilcoyne, on assignment in Jupiter, Florida.