The Cardinals’ 83-79 record is a big improvement on their dismal 71-91 mark from 2023, yet the team still ended up well short of the playoffs, let alone in any serious contention. Multiple reports over the last few days have indicated that the team will respond to the situation with a planned overhaul of both the player development department and minor league system, which could include some paring of the big league payroll so the Cards can reinvest in the lower levels of the organizational ladder.
While president of baseball operations John Mozeliak didn’t discuss payroll during an interview with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mozeliak did confirm several of these earlier reports, and an overall “shift in philosophy” for the team. “Instead of looking for short-term answers, we’re going to try to take more of a long view,” Mozeliak said.
To this end, the Cardinals are “shifting to a heavy emphasis that puts it back on scouting and player development. I would say that over the past 10 years or so we’ve run a lean operation, and part of that was to allow us to maximize success at the major-league level. But over time you learn that machine can wear down. It’s just not producing at the level it once did. That’s not to say our minor leagues are in disarray. But an emphasis on infrastructure is something we have been taking a very serious look at.”
Chaim Bloom will indeed be taking on “a more impactful role” within the St. Louis front office after spending the last year as an adviser with the team. Bloom will continue to work with the MLB roster but seems to largely be focused on the player development side, and Mozeliak didn’t specify what (if any) exact title Bloom might have in this expanded role. In general, however, Mozeliak said Bloom’s “voice on the decision tree is going up. He’s no longer observing. It’s about helping implement a plan.”
Mozeliak will still be the lead voice in the baseball ops department, as he told Goold that he’ll return in his current role for the 2025 season. Mozeliak has been running the Cardinals’ front office since the 2007-08 offseason, and at the time of his last contract extension, he stated that he would gradually be looking to scale back some duties to others in advance of the end of that extension, which is up after the 2025 campaign. The Cards’ recent struggles led to some speculation that Mozeliak might step down a year early or at least move into another role in the organization, in order to let Bloom, GM Mike Hirsch, or someone else take over as the team’s new president of baseball ops.
Oliver Marmol will also be returning as manager in 2025, Mozeliak confirmed. Marmol signed an extension last spring that runs through the 2026 season, so between that deal and the Cardinals’ improvement from 2023, it isn’t exactly a surprise that Marmol will return to the dugout. Of course, Marmol also drew a lot of criticism given the lack of playoff baseball in St. Louis over the last two seasons, leading to whispers that the team could potentially replace him with another prominent Cardinal name (i.e. Yadier Molina, or the newly-available Skip Schumaker).
“As we shift, I think Oli is going to be someone who has a tremendous coaching and development background,” Mozeliak said. “So I think some of his strengths will really shine as we make that shift directionally on what we’re going to look like for the next couple of years.”
While Mozeliak and Marmol will return, some level of changes are expected within the front office, and perhaps to Marmol’s coaching staff. It is perhaps notable that Mozeliak seemingly didn’t address Girsch’s status in the interview with Goold, though there isn’t any indication that Girsch’s job could be in jeopardy. Girsch signed an extension of an undisclosed length following the 2022 season, and he has been with St. Louis in variety of roles since 2006, including the general manager’s position since the 2017 season.
More details on the Cardinals’ plans will be revealed by Mozeliak and team chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. in a press conference on Monday. Some more light could be shed on what exactly the Cards’ renewed focus on player development might mean for the 26-man roster and the team’s offseason spending. Mozeliak made no mention of a rebuild, or reshuffle, or any other buzzword used to describe a step back from contending, and it is hard to imagine the St. Louis fanbase would take kindly to such a change in direction from an organization so used to consistent success.
The Cardinals haven’t had consecutive losing records (in non-shortened seasons) since 1958-59, a streak that continued with this year’s 83-win campaign. Still, just getting back over .500 wasn’t enough for many St. Louis fans, as attendance dropped under the three-million mark this season.
“I understand from a fan perspective expectations are high,” Mozeliak said. “I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t notice it. We certainly want to get back to creating a game-day experience that our fans appreciate and want to experience and enjoy. Part of that obviously is winning baseball. Part of that is enhancing that experience.”
Bart Harley Jarvis
Talk about the kiss of death. Within a week, Mozeliak sleeps with the fishes.
Ben Z.
I’m throwing my hands up at this point. This is not Cardinals baseball. Keeping either or both of Mo and Oli is just bonkers. Can’t believe we’re going to have another season of Mo’s excuses and Oli p*ssing everyone off.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
When will the Dewitt’s have enough? This leash feels infinite
Kyle Pepperpants
Cards are shifting their philosophy by keeping everything the same…
HopefulTwinsFan
“Shift in philosophy” sounds like an excuse to retain every executive in their same position without changing much, if anything. Sorry, Cards fans.
jbigz12
It’s they don’t want to pay Mo and a new POBO right now so they’ll let his deal run out .
CardsFan57
Marmol has shown no ability to inspire and develop young players. Most of them including some highly rated young players have failed to develop. I think he needs to go for that reason.
Winn is the lone success but he’s such a positive confident player that he will succeed anywhere. Not all players have that trait.
sgord03
I wonder what Oli and Mo have on DeWitt.
gbs42
Guaranteed contracts.
anri_baseball
Local media is doing a good job of mitigating the damage, but it’s pretty clear Mozeliak and co. intend to sell off veteran assets and start a full-scale rebuild. Cards should plan to be out of the NL Central race for 2-3 years.
cards1994
Not surprised to see Oli back but also not happy about it. Hopefully there will be changes to some of the coaching staff. The fact that Mo will be over the rebuild of what he messed up doesn’t make sense.
CardsFan57
My take away here is that the Cardinals abandoned minor league development the moment Luhnow left the organization. That explains the slow steady decline from the organization that created the minor league system for MLB. This will be MO’s legacy.
Samuel
Today begins Groundhog Day for both Cardinals and Twins fans.
The Convoluted Universe
Bloom is going to slash and burn that ML payroll. Stl should be focused on developing talent anyway. They were great at it for so long and free agency and backloaded deals isn’t anyway to build a team unless you’re the Mets, Dodgers, Yanks.
If Mo had just kept Zac Gallen, Randy Arrozarena and Sandy Alcantara, this might be a whole other conversation though
dhaab1937
If “ifs and buts”…
The Convoluted Universe
it still shows that the infrastructure isn’t bare. I’m not a cards fan but I’ve always admired their scouting/development.
CardsFan57
I agree on scouting and drafting. The development has been lagging for a long time.
lwingo44
Did we really think that Mo was going to fire Ollie and himself?
LFGMets (Metsin7) #BannedForBeingABaseballExpert
Marmol was an awful hire. Schildt has proven once again that analytics do not triumph over a good manager. I don’t understand why Schildt was fired in the first place. You can’t replace that kind of veteran experience. I’d fire Marmol and hire Schumaker right away
CardsFan57
I’m coming to the conclusion Schildt was fired for pushing for more player development. Abandoning that may explain the mass exodus of excellent coaches before the 2023 season. I’ve always wondered why that happened knowing it wasn’t good.
Informed Sportsball Discussion
Shildt made history as the first MLB manager to win 90+ games in his first three full seasons as manager, while doing so for two separate organizations.
Usually when you manage a team to 90+ wins in your first two seasons, you do not get fired.
(2018, when Shildt took over mid-season, and 2020 do not factor into this equation.)
Macknoche
So Schildt was right
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Fired for being right
Macknoche
So
BaseballGuy1
First, the improvement of 2024 over 2023 is meaningless. Being over .500 is no great achievement. 18 teams are over .500 and it only matters if you are advancing to the post-season which STL is not nor was at all close to doing in 2024. Keeping Mozeliak and Marmol means nothing significant will occur in the off-season and 2025 will simply be another mediocre season.
CardsFan57
I question the improvement which came largely because they had horrible luck in one run games in 2023 and terrific luck in one run games in 2024. Average the seasons to see where they’ve been the last two years.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Bruh it’s an excuse for the owners to not spend money but at least the cards (might) rebuild
weaselpuppy
They’ve been letting other organizations hatch their eggs…Gallen, Sandy, Randy, Thomas, O Neil. We will see if they keep doing that with Walker etc.
3 finger split
I would just like to thank the Cardinals organization for firing Mike Shildt because he is exactly what the Padres needed…a manager that actually places a premium on fundamentals and the ability to have that translate to the game. The players love his approach, and they play for him instead of
in spite of him. I never understood why he was shown the door in St. Louis
Just as a side note…I still think that the Cardinals home white uniforms are the most classy is all of MLB…they are just so CLEAN.
Informed Sportsball Discussion
I’m sure Mike Shildt with the 93-win playoff bound Padres sends his regards.