It’s been another disappointing season for the Cardinals and their fans — one that has manifested in manners not previously seen at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals announced over the weekend that the season-long attendance clocked in at 2.8 million fans. As Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat points out, that marks the first time since Busch Stadium III opened in 2006 that the Cards have sold fewer than three million tickets in a season.
Jones adds that the Cardinals are expected to host an end-of-season press conference as soon as next Monday, writing that “staffing changes which stretch from the front office to the dugout” are “likely” to be announced. There’s no firm indication yet that president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, general manager Mike Girsch or manager Oli Marmol are on the chopping block, but there’s been ample speculation regarding Mozeliak’s future recently. He’s signed through the 2025 season. Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch opines that it’s time for chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. to make a change and move on from Mozeliak — the longest-tenured baseball ops leader in the NL (and second-longest in the sport, behind Yankees GM Brian Cashman).
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale suggested last week that former Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, whom the Cardinals hired as a senior adviser this past offseason, would have a larger role in baseball operations next year and could even overtake the top spot on the baseball operations hierarchy. Hochman suggests a similar outcome, calling Bloom a natural successor to Mozeliak.
As rumblings of changes up the ladder mount, there are players in the clubhouse hoping for some continuity. Right-hander Kyle Gibson tells the Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold that he hopes the Cardinals pick up his $12MM option for the 2025 season rather than pay the $1MM buyout and send him back to free agency. Gibson could command similar or perhaps even greater earnings on the open market after a season in which he’s pitched 165 2/3 innings of 4.13 ERA ball with a 20.8% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and 44.8% grounder rate. However, Gibson is a Missouri native who starred for the University of Missouri in college and makes his offseason home in the St. Louis area.
Goold lays out that Gibson has not only performed well on the field but taken up a key leadership role in the clubhouse. He’s rarely missed bullpen sessions for young pitchers and has been a mentor for Matthew Liberatore, Andre Pallante and others. The catching corps has cited Gibson as a huge part of the team’s game-planning, even for games he’s not pitching. Readers can check out Goold’s piece for a fascinating self-analysis from Gibson on a mistake he made to Jose Ramirez in his most recent appearance. The breakdown makes it easy to quickly glean the thoughtful approach Gibson takes to his opponents and see how his experience could benefit those around him — particularly younger pitchers and catchers.
The Cardinals have Sonny Gray, Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz and Erick Fedde all signed through next season. Gibson and fellow righty Lance Lynn have 2025 club options on their contracts. Of the two, Gibson seems likelier to have his option exercised. Keeping Gray, Mikolas, Gibson, Fedde and Matz would give the Cards a veteran quintet on which to lean. In-house names like Pallante, Michael McGreevy, Quinn Mathews and Sem Robberse (among others) would be waiting in the wings should injuries or continued struggles from Mikolas and/or Matz prompt changes.
Like Gibson, righty Andrew Kittredge is open to a St. Louis reunion. The 34-year-old setup man is a pure free agent and doesn’t have an option on his contract, but he tells Goold he would “definitely” be interested in coming back. Though the team’s results haven’t been what the clubhouse hoped, it’s not for any lack of effort in the clubhouse, Kittredge says: “I don’t have anything negative to say about any player in this clubhouse. Everyone comes to play every day, and I like to be a part of teams like that.”
The Cards reportedly plan to approach Kittredge about a re-signing him. The right-hander set a Cardinals franchise record when he secured his 36th hold of the season recently. He’s posted a terrific 2.93 ERA with sharp strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates of 23.2%, 7.2% and 44.4%, respectively. He’s not throwing quite as hard as he did prior to undergoing Tommy John surgery with the Rays, but Kittredge’s 94.7 mph average sinker still has plenty of life, even if it’s down nearly a mile per hour from peak levels.
Chaim Bloom is secretly sizing up John Mozeliak’s office for a decor makeover, just in case the Cardinals decide to give him the top job. Rumor has it, he’s already been spotted eyeing the perfect spot for his vintage baseball card collection!
Remember, MLBTR, to note that I was first to report the news!
Seems like Gray, Fedde and Pallante are the top of the rotation. Lynn should be sent packing.
@MLB Top 100 Commenter
Lance Lynn for president.
@Old York
President of Golden Corral maybe
@MLBT1C
You write as if that were a bad thing!
President of Pizza Hut
120 losses….they already used all the stretchers.
And Matz to the bullpen so Pallante is in the rotation.
“Vintage baseball card collection…..” and his BLM flag.
Bloom likes mayonnaise!?
That’s BLM just in case you can’t put two and two together.
The St. Louis Cardinals have long been known for their on-field consistency and extremely supportive and enthusiastic fanbase. But when that “consistency” turns into mediocrity, it’s time for substantial changes.
Meh. Before the last two years, the Cards averaged 90 wins since 1999. Two years of mediocrity is kind of meaningless.
As recently as 2022 the team looked terrific. I do think it’s time for Mozeliak to step down but the situation isn’t as bad as people are making it out to be. Cardinals fans expectations are higher that’s the issue.
As they should be. It’s quite the disappointment for Cards fans to deal with the last 2 years. I’m curious on why they should keep Mozeliak at this point?
The alternative could certainly turn out to be worse.
That said, I’m willing to take the chance. Flags fly forever.
Thanks ChatGPT!
Gibby is one of baseball’s true good guys.
I hope they bring him back
Good guy who eats innings. The senior leadership role thing was part of his MO in Baltimore too.
Have the Os had a pitcher like that this year? Maybe FO was hoping that would be Kremer who by the way is about $11 million cheaper than Kyle.
He needs to start mentoring liberatore more it seems.
Gibson is a native of Greenfield, IN. He pitched at Missouri. But he’s a Hoosier.
Bring him back
Correct. I think his wife is from St. Louis — they met at Mizzou.
Well he can’t pitch for an Indiana team so…..
I imagine he’ll be there for another year anyway. Cards would be crazy to not run it back with Gibson.
It appears to me there is an organizational development problem. Prospect studs can’t make the transition to MLB. Recent trades have shown what other organizations can do with that talent. This is a deep issue that is going to take some time unfortunately.
Great answer- you hit it on the head. O’Neill, Lane Thomas, Arozarens, Garcia and many others did better away from Busch- not to mention Luke Voit. The guys kept have disappointed
Terrible franchise in decline as I have said for the last couple years. Old and long past their prime “stars”, empty farm system after the top 3-4, bleak future. Couldn’t happen to a better franchise. Enjoy the cellar the next 5-6 years, right where they belong
Cubs fan?
He’s obviously a very bitter Cubs fan.
I love it when armchair GMs think their unoriginal ramblings are some great accomplishment. Two “bad” years (one of which is a .500 season for “bad”) and you write them off for the next 5 years?
That’s precious. Enjoy Iowa, if that’s possible.
Chaim Bloom is perfectly fine as a top lieutenant but he should never be the top guy in a front office again. He’s good at stockpiling prospects but atrocious at roster building
You know it’s bad when you have Contreras and Arenado both calling out the front office publicly.
They will trade conteras
I must have missed that. Is this a recent thing?
‘We’re going to probably need some help,’ this offseason“ -Arenado
“If I was the front office, I’d be hungry to own this division. But we haven’t owned this division in the last two years.” –
Contreras
In short, wrong
But impressed that you’re happy with where the Sox are. I guess if you have no expectations, its hard to be disappointed even by the pile of excrement served up to Sox fans year after year.
(By the way thats a genuine compliment. Real fans follow their club through thick and thin like you do.)
“nice and comfy” with the worst team since 1900? I’m happy for you. 2026 Wild Card seems ambitious, but stranger things have happened.
What is “Busch Stadium III”? Is there a Busch Stadium Sr and Jr somewhere?
There are Busch 1 and 2, yes. They’ve had three stadiums over the years and all of them were named Busch Stadium.
Busch Stadium I was known as Sportsman’s Park until long after it closed. I’ve never referred to it as Busch Stadium I.
Sportsman’s Park was renamed Busch Stadium in 1953, 13 years before they moved to Busch Stadium II. (Seriously, do they not teach y’all how to research things on the north side?)
Didn’t realize I was replying to the wrong person, but you can’t delete, so…
I know when it was renamed. Everyone ignored the rename, including the baseball announcers.
Yes. Google is your friend, kiddo.
Anyone who can’t google info that simple should be bound in chains and sent to live with Alice in Wonderland.
My biggest concern is player development, mainly with young hitters. St. Louis will never be able to buy a winning team. They must develop most of it and fill in holes with a few free agents.
They used to be so good at player development and then Jeffrey Luhnow skipped town for Houston.
Is it time for Sig Medjil (sp?) to circle back around?
For the Cardinal fans to be disgruntled is saying something. They’re the most loyal and high baseball IQ fans in the league and this is coming
from non-Cardinal fan.
And those Cards fans never tire of proclaiming themselves the so-called BFIB.
Tell that to Jason Heyward, after the treatment he got from those “loyal fans”.
Another comment from another person who thinks they know what they are talking about.
The BFIB moniker did not come from the fans. It came from fellow players saying the Cardinals fans are the best.
Read, kid, read!!
Before leaving us to go to our sworn rival, please explain how he was mistreated by fans.
I’m sorry, what? Heyward had one of the best years of his career in St. Louis and Cardinals fans loved him. The team tried to give him a record contract.
The only incident I can find of Cardinals fans “mistreating” Heyward is some trashy New York tabloid putting out a story that he was called the N word at Busch after he left, but both ESPN (who broadcast the game in question) and Heyward himself said that there is zero evidence that this even happened. The tabloid even nuked their own story and deleted a bunch of it after it got debunked. Unless there’s something I’m missing here, it’s all BS.
What I’ve noticed from afar watching Cardinal games. … they are one heck of a boring team … seems like no identity
Off topic but I was wondering what you St Louis fans feel when the Rams play the Az Cardinals ? Do you root for any one ?
I’m betting most STL fans cheer for “not-Rams” in any situation. The owner screwed our fans over pretty well.
The hatred for the Rams is real. They effed over the city so bad that the NFL had to give StL $792 million dollars. What happened to that money idk but I didn’t get a dime
No one watches, or cares. That said it’s crazy that STL does not have an NFL team.
I don’t believe the city or state would fund another NFL stadium even if the NFL approved another team in St. Louis. The NFL made it very clear how they feel about St. Louis.
As a Brewers fan, I’d love for Bloom to take over the Cardinals.
To the surprise of no one here, I am more than ready for Mo to step down. While I’m not ready to voice my full support for Chaim Bloom just yet, I will say that he may have done a better job in Boston than most people thought at the time of his firing.
The Red Sox haven’t had a great season, but they were hit hard with injuries ,and several young players stepped up to give them hope for the future. Better health and better depth in 2025 should put them in contention with Yankees, Orioles, and Rays.
If Boston’s improved trajectory is a result of Bloom’s big picture plan, then I am willing to accept that many of his bad decisions were the result of interference from heavy-handed ownership. All of which might mean that Bloom is a solid baseball executive who was dealt a bad hand in Boston.
More concerning to me at this point is ownership. So far, all signs indicate that the son is not the father. That’s bad news.
The team is a cash cow when fans are engaged. The future could bring a team to Tennessee which would eat up a part of Cardinals nation. Continued losing and aging of fans could shrink the Midwest chokehold that they have if they don’t keep a good product on the field. St Louis alone can’t fund this team as it is currently being operated. Hate to be negative but I would hope ownership sees the long term trend that could play out.
I would love to see a hybrid Presidency type situation split between talent acquisition and development and physchological/fundamental(old schoolish) operations that handles the dugout and big league roster construction. Each side headed by a person willing to lean on the analytics team in their decision making but neither slave to it. It would be tough if the egos involved didn’t mesh well when signings and extensions came together, but I think the checks and balances would produce a more well rounded team top to bottom and greater accountability.
Lot of good points here.
I completely agree with your take on Bloom. It’s a disingenuous analysis to say “he can’t put a roster together” when he was literally instructed by ownership in Boston to cut payroll and rebuild the farm system. In his four years with Boston, he took their farm from ranked last in all of baseball in 19 to 3rd in 23. Considering the Cardinals desperate need for better minor league drafting and development, I think he’s a very good pivot for them.
The ownership has said that they’re not going to spend big this offseason because of tv related revenue issues (Bally sports), so why not start the rebuild now? I like the young core of Burleson, Walker, Winn, Herrera, wetherholt, hence, and potentially Matthews. I think the cards should give goldy the QO (you gotta spend some money, or get draft compensation), but trade guys like gray, Contreras, Fedde, matz (if possible) and try to bring in some more young talent to compliment those guys and see if it can all come together in a couple years. But I just don’t see this roster of old guys making a deep playoff push. The Cards need to get younger and faster.
Giving Goldy a qualifying offer would not result in a draft choice. It would result in paying Goldy more than he’s worth for a year.
It makes no sense to trade some of their veterans when they’re already at the equivalent of year 3-4 of a rebuild with the amount of young guys who played regularly this year. Why trade Gray after 1 year? Trading veterans has become the defacto reaction anytime a team has a down year or misses the playoffs. The Cardinals are set up rather well with regards to their younger players. Ownership does need to stop being stingy and restraining Mo, who honestly, should be replaced soon.
Fire Mo, then let the new guy run the show.
Ollie and Dusty need some permanent vacation time in Aruba as a waiter and janitor at the Days INN
If you let that ship leave the port without making sure Turner Ward is on it, I’ll never forgive you.
I’d be surprised if Mo comes back, even though he’s done after this upcoming year regardless.
The reality is DeWallet’s loyalty to the front office is part of the problem. He’s not going to fire Mo. Mo may hang them up, but BD Jr. isn’t going to fire him.
The whole organization needs a cleansing. I don’t what that means or how they should go about it.
The problem isn’t the past two seasons… its the utter failure of being able to draft and develop players anymore. We’re a half decade away from being truly competitive again. Not WC competitive. WS competitive.
The Cardinals have done as little as possible to make the playoffs the last decade. Which worked when there was an unbalanced schedule. Now that it’s balanced — about 20 games less against your division — they’re being exposed.
I’ve been a season ticket holder of some variety with friends for 25+ years. We’re all in agreement we’re done doing that. Doesn’t mean I won’t go to games, but it’ll be handful with clients and a few with family. They don’t warrant spending 20-30 games worth of tickets on anymore.
Seems as though Mo and Ollie both should go, but there does seem to be at least a whiff of a problem in the farm – at least at developing top prospects recently.
It would also seem fair to point out that there are serious concerns with the health of the downtown St Louis are with respect to urban decline. Since Covid ushered in remote/hybrid jobs, office buildings have seen businesses end leases, followed by the departure of jobs and the restaurants/support businesses, and now basically the exodus of many of the people who lived and worked downtown. Crime has risen in certain areas of the downtown and a lot of people I talk to from that area have serious concerns about even going into St Louis proper to see a game. Now a lot of that I think probably is blown out of proportion, but to pin all of the Cards attendance issues on the baseball team is a bit shortsighted. Cards fans are serious baseball fans, and they still follow the team and attend games. No doubt the issues with the city itself has kept many away. That could be the impact of reduced business and tourism.
The Cards need to fix a mistake they made a few years ago and make Skip Schumaker the new manager. They also should move up Randy Flores and let him be a true GM while Bloom can run baseball operations. Bloom got a raw deal in Boston and got stuck fixing the mistakes of Dave D.
I will agree with all of the opinions of Mozeliak, Girsch, and Marmol departing. Mozeliak has been in the position for too long and it shows. What Girsch’s actual role in this organization is has always puzzled me. The Marmol experiment has been incredibly underwhelming.
The rumors of a change in the guard, decreased attendance, and whispers of financial instabilities doesn’t look favorable to any higher paid veterans currently. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a partial rebuild come under Bloom if he’s appointed the new team president. Remember, Bloom learned from the Tampa Bay Rays player development schematic.
If they get the chance to slash payroll, keep Gray, Fedde, Pallante, Gibson, and even Lynn…We’re done with Mikolas though! Can we please move on from Mikolas!
Their roster is actually already at about year 3 of a rebuild with the amount of young players. The only veterans I’d really trade are the hardest TO trade; Mikolas and Matz. I’d say if it comes to Gibson or Lynn, keep Gibson. He was better this year and more durable. If you can bring back Goldy on a reasonable 1-year deal do it. Otherwise you have Burly who can step in.
I certainly agree with the Mikolas/Matz issue.. Mikolas is movable if hes sent to a team in need of a veteran presence in the rotation (the Angels seem to be a fair example. Matz might take a straight buyout because we know he has zero trade value.
Bringing Goldscmidt back might be the only option, however, it doesn’t solve the problem with the offense at all. They need a centerpiece hitter badly and I don’t see a feasible option in sight. They aren’t going to win the bidding war for Soto and I don’t see Alonso walking on the Mets.
No need for a full rebuild. Some of the younger guys are already getting valuable MLB experience on a .500 team. Plus their minor league pitching staff ranks 3rd overall. They’re actually set up pretty well to use assets in the majors AND trades while supplementing the big league team with veterans. And I think Mo will stay one more year (unfortunately). Ownership was really the ones behind the moves, restricting what Mo could do (he and Marmol are both “yes” men. But he has one more year on his contract and has said a year or two ago that he would like step down or into an advisory role at the end. I think Bloom will be promoted to a second-in-command/successor position for next year in advance of taking over for 2026.
They don’t need a rebuild, it’s not the players that are the issue, the talent is already in the organization. It’s the minor league development that is the problem. That takes an organizational shift, not a player shift.
A lot of their core guys are young enough that a change now should be able to get them back on the right path to recapturing a lot of their wasted potential. They have to find some way to improve the transition to the majors for a lot of these guys and then develop a much better way at keeping them good once they get there.
Cardinal fans deserve better than Billionaire Bill Dewallet. He should sell the team to someone who puts fans before profits.
Where will he will find this mythical owner putting fans before profit to buy the team?
Mo the PBO needs to go, along with Marol. There are a number of veteran managers waiting in the wings.
The negative Mo/Ollie talk makes me wonder if we’re watching the same game. While the past 2 years have been underwhelming, this year’s team is going to be over .500 and be 11 or 12 games better than last year. Mo put together a very decent starting rotation, a terrific bullpen, and saw nice development of young players like Wynn, Siani, Herrera, Berleson, Pages & Liberatore. One good middle-of-the-order hitter and a healthy Contreras would put them back to the 85-90 win column next year. And I’m wondering what manager would have won any more games this year with Goldschmidt, Arenado, Walker & Gorman all being way below anticipated production. Most baseball people will also tell you that a manager may make a difference of 1 or 2 wins at most. Be careful what you wish for!
The 2024 Cardinals- so many disappointments: Gorman, Walker, Goldy, Carlson, Arenado,. Everyone except Winn, Donovan, Burly and Pallante. Guys traded away all have batted 4th for their new teams. All the starting pitchers are #3s. It will take a lot of changes to catch the Brewers in 2025.
Cardinals missing the playoffs is very simple- Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker regressed badly. I don’t think they were catching the Brewers no matter what the Cardinals did. The Cards downfall began with the Ozuna trade for stars to be Zac Gallen and Sandy Alcantara. The trade should have been for Christian Yellich. a needed LH hitter at the time. The other trade was the Luke Voit trade. Voit became a star in NY, a cleanup hitter, and a home run titleist. Injuries did cut Voit’s career but how could they not see his talent. Gallegos was decent at times. And the Arozarena trade was horrible at first and Adolis Garcia for cash. That was the start of things. And the guys kept never panned out as expected.