Fans of the Cardinals have heard it countless times from longtime president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, most often when a player has been let go, traded away or sent back down to the minors following an all-too-often major league stall. At the end of the day, Mozeliak reminds, it’s about performance. Easy for him to say.
"Perhaps to your chagrin," Mozeliak said Monday, "you're stuck with me for another year." On Monday, the strength of Mozeliak's grip on his role as king of Cardinals baseball operations was on full display again as the organization announced what it's referring to as a philosophy shift that aims to lead the Cardinals back to — well, what the Cardinals used to do best, which was draft and develop players who became internally produced answers for annually competitive and often contending teams. And who will be leading the start of that overhaul? Mozeliak, of course, the same entrenched leader most directly responsible for his historically successful organization's continued backslide.
Yes, in the final season of his current contract, Mozeliak will be trusted by Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., and his ownership group to start the repairs Mozeliak not only allowed but punished some for speaking out about. When former Cardinals manager Mike Shildt got mad about the Cardinals losing their way, for example, he was fired by Mozeliak in brutal fashion.
Now he's in the postseason with San Diego, and the Cardinals, instead of pointing to "philosophical differen.