The Cardinals recently signed general manager Michael Girsch to a multi-year contract extension, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Assistant GM/scouting director Randy Flores also just signed a new multi-year deal, Goold reports, keeping both in the organization beyond 2022.
Both Girsch and Flores had been on expiring deals, so it’s no surprise St. Louis struck to keep each in the fold at this time. Girsch has been in the organization since 2006, working up to AGM by 2011. The Cards promoted him to general manager in 2017, a move made in conjunction with bumping Mozeliak from GM to president of baseball ops. That promotion came with a new contract that kept Girsch in St. Louis through 2020, and he subsequently signed a two-year extension before today’s multi-year pact. It isn’t clear how long the current arrangement runs, but it’ll at least keep Girsch around through 2024.
Girsch has worked as Mozeliak’s top lieutenant for some time, and that arrangement will continue next year and beyond. Mozeliak has final say in baseball operations, but Girsch was sufficiently happy with his role in St. Louis he declined an opportunity to pursue the Mets’ front office vacancy (a position that would’ve come with a chance to lead baseball operations) last offseason. The Notre Dame graduate is clearly content to continue with underneath Mozeliak in the Cardinals’ front office hierarchy. He’ll try to help St. Louis to a fifth consecutive playoff berth this offseason.
Flores, a former big league reliever, was hired as amateur scouting director in August 2015. He began overseeing the team’s drafts the following season, a role he’s now held for seven years. Dylan Carlson, Tommy Edman, Lars Nootbaar, Nolan Gorman and Brendan Donovan are among St. Louis draftees of the Flores era who played key roles on this year’s NL Central-winning club, and 2020 first-rounder Jordan Walker has blossomed into one of the top few minor league talents in the game. The 47-year-old Flores earned a bump to assistant GM (one of three individuals to hold that title within the Cards’ front office) over the 2018-19 offseason.
Cocky move here.
He was an on expiring deal…
If not now, when?
I agree…. well there goes any chance of signing Jeff Luhnow to a deal
YUHHH
2 year extension right?
Great news. Both Girsch and Flores have done a good job for the St Louis Cardinals. Flores is a very good scouting director.
I’m excited to see this guy he drafted in the second round of 2021, Joshua Baez
Flores is the best scouting director they’ve had since Luhnow
Wish they’d give em more draft capitol to work with, but this is how they get those low picks in the later rounds and are able to sign them? Players like Brenden Donovan, Tommy Edman
Good move. Classy, top-tier organization.
I agree, St Louis sets the standards when it comes to organizational ops.
So far, I haven’t seen or heard anything that leads me to believe Girsch is anything more than Mozeliak’s puppet. No has the organization in a vice grip with analytics and the DeWitt family is happy as they are making good money. However, the Cardinals are more in a mindset of trying to luck into a championship than actually building for a championship. Analytics are getting pushed too hard and killing the organization from allowing start players to thrive. Analytics should augment talent not overshadow it. Mo doesn’t see that.
As far as Flores goes, I’m not sure you can ask for a better scout and draft lead. He’s consistently put quality players in the crosshairs and the organization has done well to develop many serviceable or better major leaguers. The consistency and flow of players able to contribute has been great to see. I’m glad the Cardinals are keeping him in the fold.
see above comment, COCKY move.
Your comment applies to almost every MLB organization in contemporary baseball. That notwithstanding, it’s still true.
“Analytics should augment talent not overshadow it.” Perfectly said. I wonder if we will ever get back to that, but I think it’s a long shot.
True!! Analytics over kill in Baseball is comparable to Modern Math!!
Why change completely to Analytics?? A great aide, but not the basics!!
Just as is Modern Math should be a subset of Basic Math Skills which connect Geometry, Algebra & Trigonometry.
Why do people do things so Backwards now a days? Ugh!!!!!
Funny the Dodgers use analytics just like STL does, Houston does, Tampa Bay does.
Cards have had 1 losing season in last 20 years due to analytics and Mo.. Mo detractors think they know more about the game then Mo does. Mo owns two World Series rings, your kind has exactly ZERO..
Despite top 2 payrolls in baseball 111 win Dodgers & 101 Mets arent in NLCS., 101 win defending WS champs lost in NLDS, if Yanks fall tonight they will have lost to a team with 68 million dollar payroll.
All a team has to do is make it to postseason and get hot.. Payroll doesnt matter, how many All-Stars doesnt matter.. A team of all-stars would not win in MLB postseason every year like they do in NBA and NFL.
Cards overcame a ton of injuries in 2022 to win division, they werent playing their best when postseason started, unfortunately that happens. See Dodgers, Mets and Braves..
Now it’s time to get to work improving a batting lineup that was outside of two players pretty impotent most of the year. At least one outfielder is needed and a middle infielder would be handy as Donovan and Edman are much stronger as utility players. Catcher is always difficult to upgrade and I imagine the game plan is to see what Knizner can do in full time duty.
a manager that can’t make out a lineup card is the problem
Donovan and Edman are just fine as starting middle infielders. (DeJong, however, should remain on the bench as their backup and a late-inning defensive replacement for Donovan.)
The starting outfield is also just fine with O’Neill, Carlson, and Nootbaar as starters, while Yepez and Carlson can platoon at DH.. The main issues there were that either O’Neill, Carlson, or both was injured for almost the entire season (and were somewhat disappointing offensively when they were healthy enough to play), and it took until the second half for Nootbaar to get going, which is when Carlson collapsed. Adding a decent veteran bat to fill out the bench and grab some DH time would be nice, though.
Catcher is very concerning, though, as neither Knizner nor Herrera did anywhere near as well as hoped, yet they also don’t want to keep blocking Herrera by signing someone like Contreras to a multi-year contract,while the overall free agent class of catchers is very weak.
knizner will be traded and blossom
Sorry, I meant Gorman could platoon at DH with Yepez and was the one who collapsed in the second half. I keep getting his name mixed up with Carlson’s.
This is who Corey Dickerson was suppose to be… didn’t pan out other than 2 months of the season after the all star break? I like them signing Joc Pederson? They need a left handed power bat to platoon with Yepez. If Carlson wrist injury lingers into next year he’s better off sitting against right handers? They also need a rebound season from Tyler O’Neill. Catcher is concerning… and they for sure don’t wanna block Herrera with Contereas, but Contereas has been limited in his catching duties recently and has split time at DH and could add offensive, but I still like them getting a left handed power bat who can split time in the field and also at DH. I also like the idea of giving an extended look to Kizner to allow Herrera more time to develop, still very young. If Kizner is able to develop having two good catchers wouldn’t hurt, especially these days?
Oh you meant Gorman…. that changes things.
Good job by Mo
Worst mistake was firing Schildt, this Cardinals team could have won 100 games with him atleast. Oliver Marmol is too young and he looks overmatched out there. Analytics are great and all but you need a manager that can use them and have the respects of their players. Almost a quater of their roster was older than their manager, not going to produce much respect
especially with oli’s holier than thou attitude. also, he calls his players out in the press.
New manager Yadi when?
Shildt was a terrible manager. If he was so great, why did no other team hire him to manage? Oli was great all year and NEVER looked overmatched, until the playoff debacle when he completely crapped the bed. Players loved him and we never had more kids playing regularly before this year.
Well, in terms of an objective answer, it’s not like there are 30 new vacancies to manage an MLB team every year, right? More like 1-2, tops, sometimes 0? Don’t fired managers who aren’t Dusty Baker customarily serve a bench role aka “manager’s jail” for a bit before getting another shot? I think his hill back will be steep bc he wasn’t able to add something definitively-successful like a WS title to his resume but i guess my main point is that him not managing right now isn’t totally related to his abilities. I do think he’ll be remembered as competent, at the very least, and could well see himself managing again within the next five years.
Why isn’t he wearing a Cardinals branded mask?
So easy to screw up the little things…..
Why is he wearing a mask at all? Outside with no one else in sight.
Oh hahaha hahaha, ahahahahahaha