The St. Louis Cardinals are on their way to a second straight season missing the playoffs. Already a longtime front office member has announced his retirement. This weekend, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak hinted more management changes are coming.
“I definitely feel like we do have to have some changes from within because we’re not where we need to be and we need to get back there,” Mozeliak told KMOX radio on Sunday.
Mozeliak: Changes in Management Coming for Cardinals This Offseason
Gary LaRocque First Change of Potentially Many
Last week, the Cardinals announced that longtime director of player development and assistant general manager Gary LaRocque will be retiring. LaRocque has overseen the Cardinals farm system for the past 12 seasons. He’s been a part of the organization since 2008.
In that time span, LaRocque has been a part of developing some star players with the Cardinals. However, in recent years, player development has been disappointing. First-round picks like Nolan Gorman, Jordan Walker, Dylan Carlson, and Dakota Hudson have so far failed to work out or ended up on other teams. Other first-round picks’ success remains to be seen.
Mozeliak had nothing but nice things to say about LaRocque. However, he acknowledged that his retirement was a jumping-off point for change.
“I think as great a job as [LaRocque] did, it’s going to be a nice opportunity to welcome some change,” Mozeliak said. “I certainly look forward to the next few months and see where we end up and what that leadership looks like.”
A Disgruntled Fan Base
The Cardinals are on their way to missing the postseason for a second straight year. While they have already surpassed their 2023 win total, another last-place finish isn’t out of the question. They are 3 1/2 games ahead of last place.
The fans have taken out their frustration with lower attendance. The team is averaging 35,807 fans per game. That’s good enough to remain in the top 10 for average attendance in the league. However, it’s the lowest for the organization in a non-pandemic year since 1997. It’s also the lowest in Busch Stadium III.
Cardinals team president Bill DeWitt Jr. addressed the attendance issue earlier in the season.
“The thing I chuckle about is when I see sometimes comments ‘We’ve got to not show up to send a message that this isn’t acceptable to the owners’, I find that one somewhat illogical reasoning,” DeWitt Jr. said on the Scoops Sports Network Podcast in May. “We just turn this revenue machine into a payroll machine, that’s what this is, it’s business. We try to drive as much revenue as we can, and then it gets put on the field for the most part.”
Other Potential Changes
While management changes are likely coming in the Cardinals’ front office, some further changes could come in the dugout. Oliver Marmol is in his third season managing the team. This past offseason, he received a contract extension to keep him with the team through 2026. At the time, Mozeliak expressed confidence in Marmol.
“We know when we look at 2024, things have to be different, but I’m certainly encouraged with what I see from [Marmol] as a young manager,” Mozeliak said. “He’s well organized, I think he’s prepared, and I do think he gets a lot out of his players.”
However, things haven’t been very different in 2024. The Cardinals didn’t want to have a lame-duck manager. Even with the extension, Marmol appears to be on the hot seat.
Mozeliak has been at the helm of the Cardinals’ baseball decisions since 2007. He’s the second longest-tenured front office head in baseball behind Brian Cashman with the New York Yankees. While there doesn’t seem to be any indication he is on the hot seat, instead he seems to be leading the front office changes.
“When I think about the future for the organization…. there’s going to be some changes,” Mozeliak said on Sunday.
Mozeliak said the process of identifying new people for the front office has already started.
“Now it’s about beginning the process of the interviewing and getting that moving and hopefully within the next couple of months we have leadership in place and then we can just keep moving forward,” Mozeliak said.
Cardinals vice president and general manager Mike Girsch is entering the final year of his contract in 2025. He’s been with the team since 2007. Randy Flores has overseen the Cardinals scouting since 2015, he signed a multi-year extension in 2022 along with Girsch.
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