In rebooting player development system, Cardinals finally acknowledge a problem
It's the first step in the long retooling of a once prominent baseball club.
On the surface, the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t a complete mess. They’ll finish with more than 81 wins this season following a 91-loss 2023 campaign, and it won’t be dead last. From a distance, the flames and overall inferno don’t seem so bad. It’s only when you lean in close and pop the hood, that a real problem emerges.
Once the belle of the ball, the Cardinals’ player development system is now far behind the pack of Major League clubs that bought into St. Louis’ philosophy and used it to climb over the Redbirds. It’s like the small tech store stuffed inside a strip mall that used to take up the entire parking lot space. They’re the horse way behind the other racers, powered by an engine that sure was cool 10-15 years ago.
In a scathingly well-written and reported article from Katie Woo of The Athletic, the Cardinals will begin a deep-rooted restructuring of the minor league system. Chaim Bloom, who helped reboot Tampa into a cost-effective and good player-blooming enterprise, is tasked with finding a new director of player development, following Gary LaRocque’s departure. A master consultant, Bloom will be more like George Clooney’s Michael Clayton, a guy brought in to fix a situation that has become untenable.
Woo talked to several Cards employees who went off the record in order to go off the cuff about a process that one says will take more than a season or two to fix. Most couldn’t fathom how it went so wrong, how the once juicy as ever apple went rotten. Part of the problem is the allocation of funds, as in spreading out the wealth throughout the MLB and minor league ranks.
Let’s say Bill DeWitt Jr. cuts a fat $176-200 million check at the dawn of each calendar year for John Mozeliak to split among the Cards and their minor league affiliates, specifically the hiring of full-time instructors. These aren’t coaches, but more like specialty artists who work one-on-one with a player such as Jordan Walker, a former top prospect who went from third base to right field. A lapse in player development has wasted two years of his promising career, leading him to be a possible first base candidate for 2025.
Instead of using a moderate portion of the cash to power the younger, lower levels of the organization, he pushed all the cash into the big league club. If spent well and it leads to championships, then the Woo article isn’t written. However, if it leads to ten years without an NLCS win and five years without a playoff series win, there’s a problem. Instead of inserting homegrown talents into the rotation, St. Louis bought a rotation for 2024. It worked out, but it leaves little in the form of minor league rescue.
If I had a chance to interview someone, I’d sit a former Cards prospect who isn’t wearing the birds on the bat anymore down for a long talk about his beginning and end in the system. Pick Tyler O’Neill, Harrison Bader, or Stephen Piscotty’s brain about their process from draft to Busch. It would most likely be ugly and full of holes.
Mozeliak screwed up the most here. For all the people who point the gun solely at DeWitt Jr. and his son Bill III, that’s a narrow focus. Bill Jr. is the primary owner, and most likely not as engaged in baseball discussions as some would think. He cuts a check, and that’s it. Bill III is the President of the club, which is everything BUT baseball stuff. It’s Mozeliak who chose where the money went, and that’s why the DeWitts would be wise in canning him immediately. They should choose the door for Mo, because he doesn’t apparently know.
Yes, Mozeliak was once very good at his job. But if you think about it, how much of his early success came from the remnants of Walt Jocketty’s success? How much of his later success was from the stronger part of the brain trust in Luhnow? Mozeliak was good at his job, but he’s not anymore. The Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Dexter Fowler, and Brett Cecil contracts are a clear-headed Mount Rushmore of bad ideas from the bow tie guy. You can be a Mo honk, and still acknowledge the pile of crap that sits at the team’s feet.
They’re not grossing three million fans, and will finish out of the playoffs for the fifth time in eight seasons. Friday was simply the official launch of the reboot, a team acknowledging a longstanding problem. That’s the first step in fixing a problem. After years of bullshit-laden “we don’t just want a winning record” jargon, the DeWitts are getting real and plotting a course for an improved future.
Losing seasons are a strong possibility, but it comes with the promise of a plan, something they have lacked for a while. What kind of plan acquired Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado without backing the duo up with pitching? Messes are cleaned up by mops. That’s the deal. You shut down, reboot, and reevaluate how you assemble a ballclub--a process that’s akin to installing a sump pump in a basement.
All of this is based on the findings of Bloom, a team consultant who was sent to investigate the minor league system like Columbo used to look into crimes, and realized like a broom wouldn’t do the trick (dad joke mountaintop reached). He is now a full-time Cards employee, which means the deep scrubbing has only begun. Along with Randy Flores and possibly Michael “what exactly do you do here” Girsch, Bloom will lead the future of how this Cardinals team looks and operates.
For the time being, the team will cruise around in the 80-win category, possibly less. Masyn Winn, Alec Burleson, Walker, Thomas Saggese, Nolan Gorman, Ivan Herrera, and the rest of the young core will lead the charge. Matthew Liberatore, Gordon Graceffo, Michael McGreevy, Tink Hence, and the lightning rod called Quinn Matthews will stock up the pitching shelves with farm-raised talent. Don’t forget about Luken Baker, who showed a few skills of his own this month.
Do not re-sign Goldschmidt. They can try to deal Arenado, but don’t eat half or more of the salary to let him go post a 3.0 WAR elsewhere. Pay Ryan Helsley the money he deserves, or unload him. Giving a closer around $7-8 million isn’t as crazy as it sounds, especially when that player helped secure 48 wins this year. However, Ryan Fernandez may be able to secure at least 30 next year, or possibly Hence. Remember Adam Wainwright was a solid closer before he became a great starter.
St. Louis needs to get back to that era of successful player development. Wainwright left with a red coat, but he came here as an Atlanta pitching prospect who needed the proper guidance. Waino wouldn’t find that on this current club, whose minor league oversight is led by the not-so-secret Jose Oquendo. With all due respect to Jose, he needs help and extra bodies.
The process will take time, but it’s what the team needs. As Gloria Epstein once said, “the truth will set you free, but it’ll piss you off first.” Medicine isn’t designed to taste good; it heals. The Cardinals may be heading in for a deep clean, but a newfound transparency will help the transition. Monday, Mozeliak and company will speak further on the Bloom overhaul, even if it follows a few employees sounding off first.
In typical Cardinals fashion, they’re the last person to walk into a realization party. But hey, at least they got there.