Forget the standings. Can future-focused Cardinals let offers shove them off the fence at trade deadline?

<p>Post-Dispatch podcasts page: https://go.stltoday.com/0hfn43</p> <p>Please consider subscribing: <a href="https://go.stltoday.com/9aigz5">https://go.stltoday.com/9aigz5</a></p> <p>As Major League Baseball's July 31 trade deadline rapidly approaches, so does another opportunity for the Cardinals to choose a side. Are they riding this "runway" toward the future, or are they going to tighten the race for the National League's third wild card to a point that they stand pat or add on the edges of the roster?</p> <p>The Cardinals' trends of risk aversion and playing it down the middle is about to be challenged.</p> <p>And, at the same time, the trade deadline may invite more questions than they have answers.</p> <p>In Part 1 of an extended conversation about the Cardinals at the trade deadline (Part 1) and the Cardinals nearing the Chaim Bloom takeover (Part 2), KMOX/104.1 FM's Kevin Wheeler joins St. Louis Post-Dispatch lead baseball writer Derrick Goold to discuss all the implications of moves the Cardinals could make, and why a "soft buy" or "slight sell" may be more of the same even if either is the right move for 2025.</p> <p>This episode ends with a provocative question about what have the Cardinals really learned about their next generation of contenders from the season.</p> <p>In its 13th season as one of the first and most popular Cardinals-related podcasts, the Best Podcast in Baseball in sponsored by Closets by Design of St. Louis. BPIB is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and Derrick Goold.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>