With a week to go before the season ends, it’s a little jarring that the St. Louis Cardinals’ returning star players are already talking about what the team needs in the offseason. This has been an unusually disappointing season, so it’s refreshing to see the players voicing their opinions. It means they want the changes necessary for this organization to return to its winning roots.

Sunday marked the Cardinals’ final home game at Busch Stadium, and it brought with it the disappointment that there will be no baseball in St. Louis in October. Amid the frustration that the team would not be returning to St. Louis to begin the playoffs, some of the team’s best players took the opportunity to speak out.

Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado acknowledged that the front office needs to make changes to the team. The front office is expected to make some changes in the offseason, which should make for an exciting time.

Arenado took some of the blame but said the team needs help. He noted that the team has a significant amount of young players, which presents its own particular difficulties because younger players don’t have the experience they need to get through a long summer of baseball. “We’re all open to a little help,” Arenado said. “I don’t know if that’s going to happen. … But we have to find a way to get better, and I think we will.”

Contreras noted the team’s inconsistencies on offense and how the roster was never able to put it together. “There are some areas that need to be addressed. I don’t know if the front office will do that, but we’ve been lacking on offense all year. There are a lot of holes in that roster, 1-9. All we can do is control how we show up next year and keep trying. I’d be hungry to own that division if I were the front office. As a group, we’ve got to adjust for next year.”

It’s nice to see two of the Cardinals’ highest-paid players see eye to eye on their needs. With a very young roster, the team needs veteran leadership to get through the season. It’s nice to say you want to see the young players play, but even giving them time to find their feet doesn’t compare to having a veteran player impart wisdom to a younger player and show them how to do their thing. Or having a veteran player help with a big game-changing shot.

Arenado and Contreras seemed to agree that they weren’t sure management would help the team, but the team needed that help.

The team brought in Matt Carpenter, Brandon Crawford, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn as veterans. Carpenter and Lynn were more sentimental moves. Crawford was not a serious move for the Cardinals as the team wanted Masyn Winn at shortstop. Gibson helped out with starter Andre Pallante and was a good presence in the locker room.

When these players say they need help, they obviously mean more than a veteran on his last hurrah.

It was frustrating to see a roster full of young players just trying to figure out what to do from a coaching staff that had to learn how to talk to the younger players. Younger players like Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman struggled to replicate the good things they did at AAA Memphis when taught by coaches in St. Louis. While a veteran could impart wisdom, there was a gap between these two so wide that both had to travel back and forth between Memphis and St. Louis. They didn’t have coaching that could adapt to their needs.

One of the management’s goals should be to support the club’s ailing offense through coaching. The next step will be to add some serviceable experienced players to the lineup and starting lineup.

This team desperately needs help to get back to the level they want to be at next season. It’s great to have two star players on the same page on this. Hopefully the front office will make moves to meet the team’s needs going forward. Just barely coming through is not acceptable.