Change is coming in St. Louis.
Cardinals’ president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak, discussed his team’s future in an interview with FOX2 ahead of the All-Star break during what has been a disastrous season for the team.
One thing’s clear: It’s time to reassemble.
“When you look at how things have unfolded, I don’t want to go through every little excuse we see,” Mozeliak said. “We know it hasn’t worked. We know changes have to happen.”
Heading into the second half, the Cardinals hold a 38-52 record and are 11.5 games behind the Reds in the NL Central and 11 games out of a wild card spot.
St. Louis is looking at a 68-94 pace, which would mark the first season since 1990 that the squad has hit the 90-loss mark.
Expectations were high for the Cardinals coming off a 93-win season and NL Central crown, but an early slump, various injuries and the holes left by Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina’s retirements have proved too much to overcome.
It’s time to focus on retooling for the future instead of salvaging the present.
“Right now, I can tell you, we’re going to trade people, you just don’t know if it’s going to be household names or guys who are more likely to not be here next year,” Mozeliak said.
“We want to get some value in return. We want to get some value that helps us in 2024. And that’s really going to be our focus as we enter the trading period.”
With the Aug. 1 MLB trade deadline on the horizon, let the speculations begin on who will be dealt from St. Louis in the coming weeks.
Mozeliak said they’d like to “keep our core together and then supplement it properly,” most likely meaning top sluggers Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt are staying, but the team president also stuck to the sentiment that nobody was untouchable.
Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty and Jordan Hicks all become free agents at the end of the season, automatically putting their names in the mix.
Only time will tell, but the Cardinals’ roster is no doubt getting a facelift come 2024.
“The front office [and] ownership know we have to do something different. This is not the model we’re going to follow,” Mozeliak said. “That’s something we’ll take a hard look at [and] try to address it, but changes will happen.”
