ARLINGTON, Texas — Up in the suites at Globe Life Field, Cardinals’ president of baseball operations John Mozeliak peered down at a mostly empty playing field from the box reserved for the visiting team’s front office. First pitch between the Cardinals and the Rangers was still multiple hours away, yet the pressure to eke out a win against a surging Texas squad had already started to mount.
Advertisement
St. Louis entered play Tuesday afternoon at 25-36, 11 games below .500 and 7 1/2 games out of first place in the National League Central. It was a grim reality for last year’s division champions, worsened by their style of play, something that at its best can be defined as uninspiring, and at its worst can be downright unwatchable.
By the end of the night Tuesday, the Cardinals had thudded their way to yet another loss, dropping a 6-4 contest despite home runs from Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras and Jordan Walker. St. Louis owns the worst record in the National League and is staring its most disappointing season in decades squarely in the face. As the losses continue to pile up, so does the frustration. This season is unlike any year most people in the organization can remember. The entire starting outfield in Tyler O’Neill, Lars Nootbaar and Dylan Carlson are on the injured list, but that doesn’t excuse the Cardinals and their .403 winning percentage, the third-worst mark in baseball.
Mozeliak is in his 16th year as the head of the organization and signed a two-year extension through 2025 at the beginning of spring. He has never recorded a losing season. But unless the Cardinals make serious changes — and quickly at that — his streak is in jeopardy, and his team is at risk of registering its most mediocre season in years.
25-game hit streak! #StraightUpTX
Vote Marcus:
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) June 7, 2023
In an exclusive interview with The Athletic, Mozeliak shared his thoughts on the state of the organization, including his evaluations of the team on the field, the manager and the roster construction. Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
In your opinion, what has happened over the first 60 games that has led to the Cardinals’ current state?
I think any answer I give is just going to seem like an excuse, and I’ve been in this business long enough to know that throwing up excuses is not something our fan base wants to hear. Reality is we got off to a very, very poor start in April. We dug a very, very deep hole. May, we had a bounce back, and now we’re trending in the wrong direction again. When you look at the team as a whole, it’s not any one thing that sticks out. When things are going bad, I do think internally the pressures mount. There are some teams that have losing records that planned on having losing records, there are teams that go out with the intention of winning, and then lose. That’s what we’re experiencing. I think all of us that are involved in it on a daily basis are really struggling to find that path forward because historically, we’ve certainly had bad weeks or a bad month, but to be where we are today is not something this organization has really experienced in a long time.
Advertisement
Candidly, we’re all looking for the right tools to get ourselves back, but we haven’t chosen the right ones yet. We have to keep trying. The reminder to everyone right now is there are still 101 games left. This isn’t mid-August … it’s early June. So you can right this, but the way you feel today, it feels very daunting to get yourself back to where you can feel that success. But we still believe in this roster, still believe in our staff and I certainly feel there are better days ahead, but I’m not going to sit here and tell you that we’ve got this figured out.
Given the fact that this is such uncharted territory for this organization — and that there currently is no clear-cut answer to figure out how to right this — how is your job more difficult?
Right now, it’s about finding some level of consistency with our club. Whether that’s the rotation, the bullpen, the everyday job. Some of these things are manageable. You can’t control injuries, but look at our outfield. It’s not what we envisioned it’d be, so we’re trying to make do. But, those are just excuses. We have to try to find that right combination with the players we do have. Now that always leads to the next question typically in this type of conversation: Are you looking? Is there something out there that you feel can help you?
When you think about starting pitching, do I feel like our starting pitching is trending in the right direction? I believe it is. Do I think we can go out and find a starting pitcher to help us? Right now, no. Those types of markets have not been developed yet. From an organizational standpoint, it’s not a popular answer, but we have to figure this out from within. Hopefully, the month of June ends up being something that is positive and then that will catapult us into July where maybe we could find something that could help support this club.
I know it’s June and things will fluctuate before the trade deadline. But at this point, would it be fair to say that you don’t anticipate selling?
So that’s a question that is coming up a lot, are we buying or selling? Right now, we’re staying. We’re holding. Ultimately, as we see the next four to six weeks develop, that might decide what we really do in the end. I hope we’re actively trying to get better come July than looking to move talent.
A big focal point in the offseason was starting pitching and whether or not the organization needed to add in that department. You ultimately decided not to. How would you evaluate the starting pitching so far and how confident are you in this group going forward?
I think you would agree that we definitely got beat up for not doing something about starting pitching. I can say, without naming names, the majority of the pitchers we did chase are currently on the IL. Now, that doesn’t justify why we did it or why not, but my point is it wouldn’t have helped.
Advertisement
When you look at our rotation, where it is today versus where it was in April, I do feel better about it. I think for two reasons, and specifically, two players. Obviously losing Adam Wainwright in the World Baseball Classic was not great. And then I think Miles Mikolas was slowed by not having a normal spring, to where after the month of April, he’s now caught himself back up to being a productive member of the rotation. Jack Flaherty is throwing the ball much better. When you look at where we are, I do feel like we are trending in a positive direction. Overall, our starting pitchers are giving us a chance to win. That needs to continue for us to get ourselves back on track, but where we are right now? I’m more encouraged with what we’re seeing.
Another bet this club made in the winter was on the outfield, specifically on Tyler O’Neill and his production. How has his absence — and the outfield injuries in general — impacted this team?
Most of our outfield that we were counting on, they weren’t in camp. They were participating in the WBC. Lars getting injured first homestand and is now back on the injured list, the significant time Tyler has missed because of the IL and then Dylan spraining his ankle, these are things where you ask, “Do you feel like you have enough depth to cover it?” That’s where somebody like Jordan Walker emerged, and we’re trying to get (Alec) Burleson opportunities with his at-bats.
But to get more specific, missing those injured players for this time has adversely affected our club. Did we make a large bet on that? Yes, but our bet was on performance, not injury. But having said that, either way, it’s not working to what we had hoped. There are 101 games left in the season. Hopefully, these guys can get back and make the impact that we thought, If not, that definitely will affect how we think about 2024.
In what ways will that affect your plans for next season?
Ultimately, you’re going to need production out of your outfield. We have 101 games to see what that looks like. But if it’s not to (the level) where we feel like we can compete over 162, then adjustments will have to be made.
How do you feel Willson Contreras has adjusted after temporarily losing his starting catching job? Is there anything you would like to add or clarify regarding that situation?
I don’t think there’s really anything more to add to that. He didn’t get to work with all of our pitchers in camp, and some of the nuances that we’d like to see done, he understands and is working on that. From his standpoint, he’ll continue to add and grow. When you think about what he brings to the table, he was more of a complete type of player, meaning super athletic, from a catching standpoint he could receive and throw, and then from an offensive standpoint, he could hit. I think some of the pressures that are happening is the classic, “sign a big contract and try to make everything work at once.” I truly believe if he just takes a deep breath, smiles a little bit, he’ll be just what we hoped. But right now, with the way that we’re playing, I think everything gets magnified.
How would you evaluate the job Oli Marmol is doing as manager?
This is always a tough question to answer, because people will say we’re not winning. But I think he’s done an amazing job. I think he has the trust of the players. Unfortunately, he wasn’t dealt the hand he thought he was going to get. You have to make adjustments, those things happen. I do think he does a really good job, and I think most importantly, he has the trust of players.
How key is that? When we talk about the Cardinals in general, we tend to focus on leadership mainly because of the nature of the players that have cycled through over the years. How important is it to have that player leadership along with their trust in their manager, especially given the state of the team currently?
I don’t think any one person can take too much credit or too much blame for something like that, but I do feel the veteran players trust Oli, and I think the younger players admire him as well, so that combination has been helpful. Anytime you’re in turbulent seas, things get tested. From my standpoint, I trust him, I believe in him and I stand by him.
Advertisement
We touched on this a bit with the outfield, but when you think about the key players that are injured, along with the young players that you’ve had to rely on from Triple A, what’s your opinion on the club’s roster construction? Where could there be improvements?
We need production from our outfield. It can’t all come from (Paul) Goldschmidt and Nolan (Arenado). Nolan Gorman is having a breakout offensive season, that’s awesome. Paul DeJong has contributed very well. But where you’re not getting consistent production is out in the outfield. We’re trying to mix and match, we’re trying to do it as best we can, but until guys come back from the IL, it’s just putting more and more pressure on others. There has to be a bit of patience, but fingers crossed, some guys can get it going.
How does the state of the National League Central complicate matters here? This isn’t a very competitive division. No team has run away with it so far. The record is what it is, but you also aren’t out of contention. What do you need to see from the team in June for things to remain that way?
Well, I think the simple answer is we have to get back to winning baseball. When you’re 11 games under .500, you can’t be digging a hole deeper and deeper. At some point, it’s just very hard to dig out. But the division is open. It’s something that I do think adds a little life to our club, knowing that. There’s a lot of baseball left to be played. You specifically asked about the month of June; we have to get back to finding ways to win and not lose. If we do that, then you still have three months of baseball left to go. So there is time, but you do have to change that trajectory. There’s a variety of ways to do that. Part of that is becoming a little more consistent from all 26 players, not just simply saying you need more output from the outfield.
Look at how we’ve lost games over the last couple of weeks. I think we’d all agree you could point to a variety of different areas where we didn’t play the winningest baseball. In other words, we’ve cost ourselves some games. To truly have success in this league, you have to stop that.
(Photo of Jordan Walker: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)
