Coming off a disappointing stretch of two seasons — including a 91-loss campaign in 2023 – the St. Louis Cardinals are poised to make significant changes to the front office and roster. The executive moves have already started.
Team owner Bill DeWitt announced Monday that general manager Mike Girsch has been removed from his position, which he's held since June of 2017, and is now vice president of special projects. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak will finish his contract, which runs through 2025, in his current position but that'll be his final year. Chaim Bloom will then succeed Mozeliak and take over as president of baseball operations after the 2025 season.
Manager Oli Marmol will remain in his current position. He guided the Cardinals to a division title in 2022. However, a 91-loss campaign in 2023 followed, and then this season the Cardinals missed the postseason with a 83-79 record. Across those three seasons Marmol is 247-239. Although the 38-year-old Marmol is under contract through 2026, he'll likely be managing for his job in 2025.
Bloom, 41, spent 15 years as part of the Tampa Bay Rays front office and worked his way up from intern to senior vice-president of baseball operations. With Bloom as a key decision-maker, the Rays enjoyed an impressive run of success is the latter half of the 2010s despite the bare-minimum commitment from owner Stuart Sternberg. Bloom's record of success with low payrolls made him attractive to the Boston Red Sox under owner John Henry, who opted for a period of retrenchment despite vast club coffers. Bloom took over as the Red Sox's lead executive prior to the 2020 season. Straightaway, Bloom had forced upon him the complicated and deeply unpopular trade of homegrown superstar Mookie Betts, and then another homegrown star, Xander Bogaerts, departed via free agency. Bloom did as he was ordered by ownership and rebuilt the club's farm system and player-development program, as well as signed franchise third baseman Rafael Devers to a long-term extension. Results on the field in Boston, however, did not follow after a 2021 ALCS appearance, and Bloom was dismissed after the 2023 season in what reeked of a scapegoating by Henry.
Bloom joined the Cardinals this past offseason in an advisory capacity, and he was tasked with performing a full audit of the organization, particularly with regard to the farm system and player-development infrastructure. That player-development program, once the industry standard, has faltered badly in recent years and failed to keep pace with other organizations. As Katie Woo in The Athletic recently detailed, the Cardinals badly lag other organizations when it comes to the number of instructors, coaches, and coordinators overseeing development at the minor-league level.
On this front, longtime director of player development Gary LaRocque recently announced his retirement and, according to The Athletic, it's Bloom, now a full-time member of the front office, who will choose LaRocque's replacement. While many Cardinal fans have been clamoring for Mozeliak's ouster, allowing him to finish out his contract will allow Bloom to focus his energies on revamping player development be assuming the top role after next season.
Elsewhere, the Cardinals will reportedly not make an effort to re-sign first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, and this winter they may look to shop veterans on long-term contracts like Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Arenado – provided their respective no-trade clauses can be worked around. As well, lockdown closer Ryan Helsley is a trade candidate heading into his final year of arbitration. Mozeliak during Monday's presser did suggest that payroll will likely decrease for 2025 as the organization focuses on reconstructing the player-development program and presumably prioritizes youth and long-term pieces at the highest level. The end of Goldschmidt's contract alone will remove $26 million from the books for 2025.
Mozeliak has been the club's lead decision-maker since late 2007. What will perhaps be most interesting is to what extent Mozeliak remains truly in charge of the critical decisions the club will make this coming winter or if he's being shunted into a graceful exit and more benign role while Bloom's influence continues to grow within the organization.