The Cardinals are in agreement with president of baseball operations John Mozeliak on a two-year contract extension, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The deal, which is tacked onto the final year of Mozeliak’s current contract, keeps him atop the baseball ops department through the 2025 campaign. Goold adds the club is expected to announce the move as soon as tomorrow.
It’s an entirely unsurprising development. Mozeliak has been a member of the organization since 1996, when he joined the club’s scouting department in his mid-20’s. Now 54, he’s spent over two decades with the franchise, quickly rising to the top of the front office. He’d taken over the scouting group by 1999 and was tabbed as an assistant general manager four years later. Following the 2007 offseason, he took hold of baseball operations upon receiving a promotion to GM. He’d retain final say on decision-making with a 2017 title boost to president of baseball operations.
Mozeliak has led the group for more than a decade and a half, overseeing a period of remarkable consistency. The Cardinals have had an above-average record in all 15 seasons. They’ve reached the playoffs in 10 of those years, including an ongoing streak of four consecutive appearances. While they won at least one playoff round every year from 2011-14, highlighted by a World Series title in 2011, the franchise has not had a ton of playoff success of late.
St. Louis has only advanced past the Division Series once since 2014, during a ’19 campaign in which they were then swept by the Nationals in the NL Championship Series. In each of the last three years, they’ve lost in the first postseason round — Wild Card series in 2020 and ’22 and the one-game Wild Card playoff in 2021. That has surely been a source of frustration to the organization and fanbase alike, but there’s little question of the club’s regular season success since Mozeliak took the helm.
The Yankees (30 straight) are the only other franchise with an active streak of 15+ consecutive winning seasons. (St. Louis’ streak is tied for sixth-longest in MLB history). The Cards have finished first or second in the NL Central four years running, taking the division in both 2019 and ’22. Mozeliak’s clubs have six division titles overall despite player payrolls that annually wind up only a little higher than league average. St. Louis doesn’t typically do a whole lot via free agency, but they’ve established a knack for a strong drafting/player development pipeline and executed a number of impact trades.
That has remained on display over the past few seasons. The Cards have gotten MVP-caliber production from Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, both of whom were acquired in some of the more high-profile trades in recent memory (deals in which the players the Cardinals surrendered have largely underperformed). As with any baseball operations leader, Mozeliak’s group doesn’t have a perfect hit rate. Surrendering Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen in the 2017 Marcell Ozuna trade, for instance, has turned out disastrously. By and large, though, the organization has made strong player personnel decisions in recent years — manifesting in their consistency in churning out winning seasons.
St. Louis has continued to supplement that star talent with internal promotions, with players like Tommy Edman, Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan and Ryan Helsley making strong contributions despite entering the professional ranks as mid-round draftees. The organization’s development pipeline remains solid. Keith Law of the Athletic recently slotted their farm system ninth in the majors.
While that hasn’t translated to the recent playoff success the organization desires, the Cardinals appear to be in good shape for continued success throughout the coming decade. Ownership has certainly been pleased with the results, with Mozeliak and longtime top lieutenant Michael Girsch kept in place for over a decade apiece. Girsch is also locked in for the foreseeable future after inking a multi-year extension last fall.
Was Mozeliak the one responsible for the Ozuna trade? If so, I’d wanna give the man a good ol’ handshake.
Takes a drunk to know one, John has never seen a bottle go to waste. Big scumbag.
Definitely does not take a drunk to know one.
Easy gas? Must be what you got after eating too many sliderwithcheese. Changed your name because you finally got tired of White Castle?
Perk: very below average comment. #fail
Its not fair to give him too much heat over the Ozuna trade. Before Ozuna they had a deal in place for Stanton but we all know how that turned out. They had also expressed interest in Yellich but were able to come to a deal for Ozuna. I think Alcantara has thrived because of the Marlins coaching. He is a different pitcher than he was in St Louis. He wasn’t even the headliner of the deal. Sierra was the big get for the Marlins at the time. Alcantara had only pitched in relief for the Cards and was barely a top 10 prospect for them. At the time the Cards looked like they had gotten a steal for an allstar gold glove OF who hit over .300 with an OPS over .900 without including any of their top pitching prospects (Reyes, Hudson, Weaver and I think there was one more). At least with Ozuna they were able to cut bait after a couple of years. Imagine if they had gotten Stanton instead and had his contract and defense right now. Yeah, they probably would have been better off with Yellich but then again they could have his contract to deal with right now. Plus, they had Bader nearly ready. It looks bad in hindsight but I am not sure Alcantara would be the same pitcher had he stayed with the Cards and Gallen was a single A lottery ticket at the time. I think he gets a pass on that trade. Could have been much worse.
Untrue…Alcantara was the big get…and the reason he should get a pass is because this was a fallout from the Oscar Taveras death…if that wouldn’t have happened the cardinals would have been is a lot better shape and they would have Alcantara and Gallen right now…people don’t realize that the Cardinals suffered from the number 1 prospect in all of baseball who died in a car accident…that’s why that trade was made
Not true at all. Tavares passed away in 2016. Ozuna was acquired before the 2018 season. Jason Heyward was the knee jerk trade that was made to replace Oscar.
There was only an opening in the outfield because Taveras passed away, the effects of him dying wasn’t only immediately after. The Ozuna trade is not even considered if Taveras was still here.
Again. . 2 years after the fact. Jason Heyward was the reaction to the death.
The reason for Ozuna was less the position he played, and more the bat. We had no middle of the order bats that season. Carpenter led the team in HR. And Jose Martinez was butchering balls both in the OF and at 1b.
Ozuna didn’t know how to set his alarm.
Ummm…ok two years? Taveras would have been the bat the cardinals needed and therefore we wouldn’t have needed to trade for Heyward or Ozuna….therefore we would still have Alcantara and Gallen…sure Heyward was the “knee jerk” reaction but I said it was the “fallout” from his death…this trade was most certainly an effect from that Cause
Except taveras was dreadful in his rookie campaign and was never even guaranteed a spot in the outfield going forward anyway
Was never guaranteed? He was the top prosepect in baseball…he most certainly was guaranteed a spot…enough that the cardinals would not have made the trade or signing they did because of his death…im not even saying he would have been some Billy bada$$ but he most certainly had right field on lock down
Mo wouldn’t pay the price for Yelich. Shock me.
Committing to him for another three years (including 2023) seems on the light side for a PoBO already in place.
I know. Cashman isn’t even a PoBO and he has a limited lifetime guarantee, just like the starter in my car. The only difference is a starter fails much less often than Cashman.
FWIW, when a starter fails, you can sometimes get it working again by banging on it with a pipe.
It’s illegal to do that to general managers. In most states.
Or if no pipe or rock, try a can of soup. I had to do that once while the girl I had a crush on in apartment above me was looking and she looked like she thought I was nuts. I did not achieve relations with her.
Haha! That’s true, man. I just replaced the starter in my car….it was like Cashman & wouldn’t budge no matter how much I struck it.
i know your pain yc back in september i had to remove mine but the oil pan was more stubborn than cash i had to pull the engine to get mine out. long story short i had to remove the engine anyhow but thought i could get out before pulling but being a 4×4 i had the front axle in the way
Chrysler product?
Brodie, that’s absurd. Mine wasn’t quite that difficult – it was stuck behind a motor mount and wedged next to the catalytic converter. Pulling the motor? Yikes, you just made me appreciate mine.
@66 and yc no it’s a 94 k1500 silverado and i had to pull the engine anyways to put the new engine in. iirc for the k series there is a way to get the oil pan out without pulling the engine but it’s still a pain. i’m n the 2wd gmt400s there easy as (bleep)
Love GM/Chevy, especially the older ones.
@yc it’s hard to beat an obs gm truck especially with a good 350
@jbc1973 and Cards81: You’re both particularly right and wrong. Oscar Tavares died in 2014. The Cardinals acquired Heyward in 2015. At the trade deadline they traded for Brandon Moss. Moss played through 2016 for the Cardinals with underwhelming production. 2017 off-season saw the Ozuna trade.
By not signing Ozuna long term, it gave them the financial flexibility to traded and extend Goldy. Goldy’s team friendly extension allowed the Cardinals the flexibility to trade for Arenado.
The Cardinals made out fine, even if losing Alcantara stings.
Well deserved. Some mistakes looking back with hindsight but the team has been really good under him. More good moves than bad ones. One of the better top executives in the game.
Baseball is tough, so there isn’t a GM without a mixed bag of success and failure. It comes with the territory. Overall, he’s done a good job, so the extension is not a surprise. As I alluded to above, I thought maybe he’d get a three year extension so that it was a four year deal. That seems more in line for an executive of his level, but a minor point.
User name checks out.
Good news but completely expected.
So, they extended the GM instead of a starter. Interesting
Degrom will pitch 75inn over those 5 years sugartits.
Not as much money at stake, easier negotiations. Apples and oranges
Oh Boy! Looks like another division title and another one and done in the playoffs with his goal of having one of the best farm systems in baseball.
Yes, it must be frustrating to be eliminated in early playoffs rounds so many times. But I’d be happy if my team were good enough to have so many playoff opportunities.
Oh good grief! Everyone in baseball thought the Ozuna trade was a great idea until they were looking at it in hindsight. I’m more angry at the Marlins for claiming Yelich was off the table for trade. The truth was they were trading Ozuna first because they knew Yelich was the one everyone wanted. It turns out two good or really great years were all either of them had in them.
Well deserved. The team is well run and always competitive. They draw well too in a smaller market so they can spend more.
The Redbirds might be a rival but I give credit where it’s due.
Mo missed the part about spending more.
Are you freaking kidding me!!
Are you surprised?
No surprise but damn. Sure wish they would sign a guy who actually wants to win a World Series, not just a Wild Card. Lots of talk about prospects but no real action to support Goldschmidt & Arenado. Guess we really should know by now, it’s DeWitts fault. Yes we are spoiled but no playoff series win since 2019!
The guy got Goldy for peanuts and got the Rockies to PAY us to take Arenado. Yes, I’d say we are a tad bit spoiled.
Mo is the master of putting together a team just competitive enough to keep fans happy but not competitive to actually win anything.
You do realize that he operates under a budget that is not very close to the other teams… besides the Astros and Braves everyone else spends way more than the cardinals and the latter spend around at least 20 mil more than the cardinals
OK so you agree with me that he’s putting out the bare minimum to compete? Maybe it’s not his fault but the results are the same.
He does all that with less than half the revenue of the other teams consistently in competition every year. What a loser
How do you come up with the half the revenue of other teams? I thought I saw where they were 4th in revenue. They make more then the Mets who still have a comparitively bad TV deal.
Forbes listed the Cardinals as 14th in revenue. I’ve never seen them listed as 4th in revenue on any list. The Cardinals had $287 million in revenue compared to the Dodgers $564 million. That was for the 2021 season. Except for the Braves, all lists are estimates because privately held companies don’t publish their financial data. I picked the Forbes list for credibility. My question to you is in which internet comment section did you see the Cardinals at number 4 in revenue?
I know where you are getting your numbers https://www.totalsportal.com/list/mlb-teams-with-highest-revenue/#Ranking_MLB_Teams_With_Highest_Revenue_Generated however those numbers don’t include all of the number. They are kissing TV contract revenues to the club, ownership revenues of the club and their broadcast network. In addition to the broadcast money the cardinals get 30% of the money from Bally sports Midwest. Not just for their games but for everything broadcast. The cardibals are a lot of things, but sub 7 richest clubs is not one of them. And back on subjuct. The MO extension is terrible. He needs to go so the team can spend the money it has to win.
I just told you where I got my numbers – Forbes. You never did say where you got the ridiculous 4th in revenue statement you made.
Seriously laughing at any expectation of revenue from Bally Midwest. They won’t even get their contractual payments. I know MLB has said they will take back the rights and broadcast the games. The silence on whether teams will have the revenue replaced this year is deafening. 14 teams are swinging in the wind for their TV revenue.
Extend Zaidi now!
i guess the Cardinals like a guy who can lie to an entire teams fanbase and 80% of them can’t see through that lie. Here to 3 more years of making the playoffs and not being serious to win it all.
Do you actually think the Phillies were the best team in the NL last year? The playoffs have a good deal of randomness to them. As anyone around for 2006 should remember
They were still leaps and bounds better then St. Louis and that gap has not been decreased.
Mozeliak puts over 3 million fans into Busch Stadium every year with a team, that is in a weak division, and plays competitive baseball. One and done in the playoffs. His main job though is to make Billionaire Bill Dewallet money, and lots of it. He is very good at that.
I’m pretty sure that any business executive who isn’t good at making money for the owner will be looking for a job.
yay. 2 more years of Mo’s infamous “low hanging fruit” and teams built to have a winning record in the regular season that get bounced early in the playoffs because we won’t commit to spending and building a WS contender but since we play in the NLC it doesn’t take much to be just competitive and that’s good enough for our ownership group.
What is it, 15 seasons of winning baseball now? That’s really good, and not including the consistency in developing players.