2:02pm: Both executives are now under contract through 2020, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch tweets.
12:24pm:Â The Cardinals are set to promote John Mozeliak from general manager to president of baseball operations, while assistant GM Mike Girsch will be promoted to the post of general manager, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Cardinals have called a 2:00pm press conference to announce the move.
Mozeliak will still, of course, oversee the team’s baseball operations decisions and will remain heavily involved in all facets of the department, Goold notes, though he’ll now have a title that is perhaps more commensurate with his considerable experience. Mozeliak has been the general manager of the Cardinals for nearly a decade, and in making this move, the Cardinals will adopt what has become an increasingly popular front office structure throughout the game. Among the teams that utilize the president of baseball ops/GM hierarchy are the Dodgers (Andrew Friedman/Farhan Zaidi), Cubs (Theo Epstein/Jed Hoyer), Athletics (Billy Beane/David Forst), Rays (Matt Silverman/Erik Neander) and Indians (Chris Antonetti/Mike Chernoff).
It’s not immediately clear if Mozeliak will receive an extension with the new title, though Goold notes that chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. has recently suggested that extension negotiations and talk of a new title for Mozeliak have been ongoing. His current deal runs through the 2018 season, though it certainly stands to reason that with the elevation in title will come a lengthier deal.
The 2017 season, of course, hasn’t been a strong one for the Cardinals, although the organization has generally prospered under Mozeliak. Since he took the job following the 2007 season, the Cards have made six postseason appearances, including a World Series victory in 2011 and a second World Series appearance two years later in 2013. Mozeliak, of course, also had a role in the Cardinals’ 2006 World Series championship, as he previously spent five years as an assistant GM to Walt Jocketty and has been involved in the organization’s scouting department dating all the way back to 1995.
Girsch, meanwhile, has held his AGM post since 2011 and has been with the organization since serving as an amateur scouting coordinator back in 2006. He’s spent six years directly assisting Mozeliak in nearly all facets of the game, including: contract negotiation, player evaluation, amateur scouting, player development and international operations.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I Believe We Can Win
Ha, as someone who isnt familiar with the cardinals organization I read the headline and was like huh wonder what positions they play and whos gonna get DFA.
frontdeskmike
They’re both relief pitchers.
kaido24
Well then…
Polymath
Didn’t overpay for Pujols like the Angels; didn’t overpay for Price like the Red Sox; didn’t overpay for Heyward like the Cubs; traded Allen for Lackey; didn’t extend Lackey; traded Jay for Gyorko; Gyorko for $6.2M v. $14.0M for Zobrist … pretty good decision making.
Priggs89
*Tried to overpay for Heyward like the Cubs but was rejected.
Fixed it for you…
Polymath
For anyone that understands complex finance and opt-outs, they offered less than the Cubs. Good thing Heyward picked the highest effective offer. But yes, they tried to keep him at a lower effective rate.
Putmeincoach12
Also tried to overpay for Price.
Gballer
Marvels it was released statement that we we 10 to 20 mil under what the red soxs offered
GareBear
The Twins also use that form of executive hierarchy
Steve Adams
More or less, albeit with a slightly different title. (“Chief Baseball Officer” for Falvey.)
But, point wasn’t to list every single team that utilizes a president of baseball ops, but just to illustrate that it’s fairly common throughout the industry.
cincyfan5
Reds too
gocincy
The Reds prove that this org chart doesn’t necessarily produce wins. Smart people produce wins.
JKurk22
Also forgot the Braves, John Hart and Copy
outinleftfield
Your team gets a major penalty for hacking another team and they completely stink this year so you get a promotion? Baseball is a different world.
mchaney317 2
To be fair though, that was all Christopher Correa and I don’t think there was any proof that Mozeliak had any knowledge of it
outinleftfield
Do you believe in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy too?
stl_cards16 2
You’re the one insinuating you believe Mozeliak knew about it with zero evidence to support your claim. Do you believe in Santa?
JFactor
Exactly.
Anyone who has supervised others would obviously know. It’s impossible to know what those that you lead are always up to. Especially if you are a good leader, you don’t micro-manage.
JKB 2
Santa says Mozeliak knew about the hacking
Birdman1182
And here I was hoping he would be fired for his piss poor running of the team since Jockety left. sigh
barkinghumans77
Do you really believe that? Mozeliak, while not perfect, has done a very good job overall. How many ill advised extensions did Jocketty hand out? How many prospects did he trade away? The Cardinals have had a great deal of success under Mo. Again, not perfect but he does a good job
gmflores27
Mozeliak is one of the top GMs in the game. Just because he doesn’t shell out prospects for rentals or spend big on free agents isn’t bad
LA Sam
Isn’t Moz the 1 who thought overpaying for a terrible defensive SS, Peralta, was a good idea….? Such a traditional baseball town w/such a proud history of defensive “wizards”….n u sign that bullfighter too play short…ole’!
Daryl125
Peralta was not a terrible defensive SS when signed. He lacked any range whatsoever, but he positioned himself incredibly well to make up for it. Always made the routine plays, just nothing spectacular.
RedBirdsSwaff
Yea man, that is ridiculous. Name one GM who has been perfect. Even the great Theo has had some disappointing seasons. Mo is easily in the top 5 GMs
gmflores27
Bird man is one of the people these days that doesn’t see perfection and instantly says that thing has no value to society
Birdman1182
he oversaw an embarrassment in the hacking scandal, he has overpaid for past their prime veterans, and who are the stellar prospects…wong? Diaz? Grichuk? Piscotty? I give him credit for not overextending the club on Pujols and for the Craig Kelly for Lackey Trade, but other then that, compared to Jockety he has been a disappointment.
gmflores27
Jockeys sucks
cardinal9567
How about oscar taveras as a stellar prospect? Or Carlos Martinez? Those not good enough for you?
antonio bananas
you cant give mozeliak credit for carlos, taveras, rosenthl, etc. those were Lunhow guys. Lunhow is now in HOU with their monstrosity. meanwhile, the STL farm has run dry.
KiahFJ
^ correct.
cardinal9567
Oh and don’t forget the job jay for gyorko trade that the cardinals won hands down
Birdman1182
very true on Martinez and the Jay/Gyorko swap, I will give you that without a doubt…Tavares, unfortunately we will never know. He seemed to have it though.
vtadave
I believe Mo traded a washed up Jim Edmonds for David Freese who had a fairly big hit or something.
Holliday deal was a huge win.
They also probably don’t win a WS without the Rasmus deal
JFactor
His only stupid deal was Tootblans. Every thing else was at least justified and understandable.
Leave was overpaid, but it was justified. Fowler too, but with the hacking penalty, it made sense.
His trades are either positive or neutral. He doesn’t gut the system and stays moderate and consistent with his moves.
Even the Yadi overpay can be justified. He is probably the most disciplined executive in baseball.
JFactor
Moz has done a fantastic job, what are you talking about?
A few bad moves, but mostly great moves.
schellis 2
Same jobs with a paper promotion. All these are is just a changing of the jobs title.
We can’t lose our Assistant GM
But we like the guy we have now as GM he’s great
Can’t we offer the AGM more money
Can’t be done other owners would get upset that we pay our AGM that much coin.
What if we change our current GMs title to President then we can change the title of the AGM to GM and give him more money to stay, both will still do the same job though.
agentx
Steve Adams, is there contractual language or is it just an unwritten rule that teams with President, GM, and AGM vacancies cannot or typically will not hire another team’s executive current holding that title?
I understand that convention is as significant a factor in these “paper promotions” as compensation and each candidate’s title requirements or demands.
Dookie Howser, MD
I know footbally has suck a rule that teams can only “poach” other team’s AGM and GM types if there is a promotion involved.
TheGreatTwigog
Interesting thought
wkkortas
As long as the field management remain wretched, this is just moving the deck chairs on the Titanic.
mchaney317 2
Mozeliak is, at least in my opinion, one of the best executives in baseball. I had to write a report on someone in the sporting industry for one of my sport management classes last semester, and I wrote it about him. Not that that really matters, but I’m not even a Cardinals fan and he’s one of my role models.
antonio bananas
hope you never work in a highly regulated industry.
mchaney317 2
hope you never deal with kids since you like ruining their dreams.
Cardinals17
I’m sorry, but over the past 3 years Mozeleck has regressed. Hung with his low hanging fruit theory 2 years to long.
mchaney317 2
Fair enough. I’m not a Cardinals fan so I don’t understand why most of the fanbase dislikes him so much, but from an outsider’s perspective, I’ve really liked a lot of the moves he’s made. Even recently, the trades he made for Lackey and Gyorko turned out to be pretty solid, and those are just the first ones that came to mind. Some of them didn’t work (Justin Masterson says hi), but I think he’s done a great job of making the Cardinals yearly contenders without having a top flight payroll.
Dookie Howser, MD
Next time, could we use a picture of Mozeliak not masturbating?
RedBirdsSwaff
Hahahah well said
gmflores27
How did that make it through the censoring
agentx
Is that a security fob in his pocket, or is Mozeliak just excited about his promotion?
kaido24
Mo has been extended through 2020.
DKS31085
This is who the Jays should have hired instead of beatnik Shapiro.
steviewah
I guess the owner likes them. Now to see if there is a direction change in player productivity. What I’m seeing on the field and at the offensive level is very problematic. Perhaps some managerial shifting could bring a wake up call.
antonio bananas
or better players?
dtwb93
Mo made three moves in the offseason. He signed Fowler and Cecil both May above market, the cut Holliday. A promotion?
JFactor
Was more really needed? Players need to perform, that’s it.
CompanyAssassin
I actually like all of those decisions. I know Cecil hasn’t been great out the gate but I think he’s coming to form. And other than his injuries, Fowler has done relatively well. I know Holliday is on somewhat of a hot streak but there’s no guarantee he’d have done that for us. Plus finding a place for him to play would be difficult to say the least. Left is occupied (regular lineup) by Pham who has been doing great, and first has Carpenter, who I’m relatively unimpressed with but the FO and fans like him so that’s his domain now.
EndinStealth
If you seriously thunk Holliday would be doing the same in St. Louis as he is in NY then I’m glad you’re not in baseball.
antonio bananas
why? mozeliak hasn’t proven anything except that Lunhow was the real brains.
RobM
Title inflation. Same jobs.