This move signals a couple of things, to me:
1) The Cards are satisfied with their pitching depth, which I’m not sure is much better than last season’s.
2) With the extra playoff spot, the team is now probably aiming for 85ish wins rather than 88 like before. The Reds, Pirates and Cubs will be bad enough that it wouldn’t be surprising if both Milwaukee and St Louis won 92+ just due to the weak schedules. Neither team would win 85 in the other two divisions, IMO.