ST. LOUIS — It has been just two and a half weeks since the CardinalsThey were eliminated abruptly from the postseason, having won their first division championship since 2019. John Mozeliak, president and CEO of baseball operations, addressed the Busch Stadium crowd. He made clear that the organization has already made major shifts towards 2023.
Mozeliak, 41, announced Wednesday morning that he was resigning. Adam WainwrightThe Cardinals will welcome him back for his 19th season with a one-year extension. The financial terms of the deal are not known. Mozeliak also announced the decision of hitting coach Jeff Albert, and pitching coach Mike Maddux not to be returning to the coaching staff for next season. Bryan Eversgerd, bullpen coach, will be reassigned to an assistant role within the organization. Following the appointment of Skip Schumaker as bench coach, the coaching shakeup will be implemented. Miami MarlinsTuesday afternoon
St. Louis will now have to fill at minimum four positions under Oli marmol, although Mozeliak indicated that he expects the remaining coaching staff to return next season, even though their roles might change. Mozeliak also stated that he was in touch with Yadier MolinaThe organization might consider adding a catching teacher to its ranks, which was a position that was previously vacant.
“The next steps are (putting) together a list of candidates we think can fill,” Mozeliak said. “We will look internally and we’ll look externally. We have some qualified people within the organization, but we also want to make sure that we’re addressing all our needs.”
Adam Wainwright will be back for the 19th season #STLCardsIn 2023. pic.twitter.com/lTJW5VFnCZ
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) October 26, 2022
Albert and Maddux’s contracts were set to expire after the 2022 season, but Mozeliak admitted he was ready to offer both coaches extensions. Maddux, who had been the team’s pitching coach since 2018, ultimately decided to step down, with Mozeliak adding that the 61-year-old was not fired nor retiring. Mozeliak also mentioned the possibility of Maddux returning to the organization as an assistant.
“He wants to do something different,” Mozeliak said. “He wants to do something at a different pace.”
Albert’s departure was more complex. From a statistical perspective, the Cardinals were a dominant team in many offensive categories. They ranked seventh among major league teams in slugging percentage, at.418, fifth in OPS and fourth in strikeouts with 19.9%. Albert, who was with the Cardinals for six seasons, joined the team in November 2018. Astros, was hired to help revamp the organization’s hitting process at the major-league and minor-league levels, and the organization felt he was successful there as well. Albert faced criticism from outsiders throughout his tenure. This was partly due to the poor offensive performances of previous seasons.
“I think Jeff accomplished exactly what we were hoping he would do,” Mozeliak said. “He modernized our hitting program, our strategy, he made a huge contribution to our minor-league side. It was, in my opinion, a huge success from this perspective. If you take a look at what was going on at the top-league level, it is clear that people were hard on him. It wasn’t an easy job.”
“Both (coaches) have their own separate narrative,” Mozeliak continued. “I think in Maddux’s case, he had just done it for so long, he’s just really looking for a change of pace. In Jeff’s particular case, I think there was some levels of frustration and feeling like he took a lot of blame when things weren’t going well. For him, I think he’s just open to change.”
Mozeliak reiterated that he was willing to extend his offer to Albert, but Albert told him before he could respond that he wouldn’t be returning.
Mozeliak was not expecting such significant staff turnover and does not have a timetable for his coaching hires, though teams generally prefer to have most personnel pieces in place by the annual general manager’s meetings. This year’s meetings are scheduled for mid-November in Las Vegas. A number of internal candidates may be eligible for promotions. Dusty Blake, a pitching strategist, just completed his second year at St. Louis. He previously worked under Maddux as the Duke University’s pitching coach. Turner Ward, the assistant hitting coach at St. Louis was a popular player. Stubby Clapp, first base coach, would be a natural choice for promotion to coach.
The Cardinals are known for rewarding minor-league coaches with opportunities at the major league level. Jose Leger, the Double-A manager who has served Springfield for two years, impressed the organization and is now managing in the Dominican Winter League. Minor-league hitting coordinator Russ Steinhorn has an excellent rapport in the organization, as does Double-A hitting coach Tyger Pederson, and both have seen success incorporating Albert’s philosophy in the minor-league levels.
“Historically that is something that we have tried to do,” Mozeliak said in reference to minor-league promotions. “But I think in fairness to this process, we have to explore both inside and outside. I don’t think I anticipated that we were going to have these four openings as we sit here today. … In speaking to Oli this morning, even though you’re losing some key people and people that have helped us be very successful, you really have to approach this as just an opportunity. You hope in the end it allows you to be stronger and more prepared for the future.”
The Cardinals have a plan for the future. Wainwright will be locked up in 2023, giving them a rotation that they can feel confident rolling out if the season starts today. Wainwright will be joining Miles Mikolas, Jack Flaherty, Jordan MontgomerySteven Mats, but Mozeliak was open to the possibility of adding additional options. Due to injuries, the Cardinals experienced a series of pitching shortages in 2021-2022.
The 2023 season will be Wainwright’s final year, he confirmed in a press conference over Zoom on Wednesday afternoon. Although he is expected to retire at the end of next season, he expressed his desire to minimize distractions from retirement.
“My main focus in playing next year is to go out and win and help this team win,” he said. “Anything that distracts from that is not wanted. The end of the story, it will be the last year. Everyone, relax. Let me pitch, let’s go out and perform. Don’t freak out about it every single day, let’s just see what happens. How about that?”
Wainwright started to think about the possibility of returning for one more season in September. He then approached Mozeliak shortly after. After the Cardinals’ defeat in the Wild Card Series, Wainwright knew he would return to the game in 2023.
“I do tend to think the way the season ended led even more to me coming back, because I just didn’t like that. I just don’t like going out like that,” Wainwright said. “I wasn’t performing the way I should have been performing, I wasn’t helping the team like I knew I should’ve been. We didn’t win. … It just kind of feels like, looking back at it now, that everything that happened, happened to lead me back for one more year.”
“Obviously, September didn’t go the way he wanted it to, but we really do feel like there’s something left in that tank,” Mozeliak added. “We all know how competitive he is, we know how special he is in that clubhouse and what he means to this organization, so we’re just glad we were able to get it done.”
Mozeliak’s last major checkpoint is to ensure the return of Nolan ArenadoHe has one remaining opt-out clause in his contract. Mozeliak flew from St. Louis to meet Arenado on Monday. He expressed optimism on Wednesday that the seven-time All-Star would be returning to St. Louis. At this time, it’s not believed any restructuring of Arenado’s contract would take place. Multiple sources within the organisation indicated that they would not be surprised if Arenado decided to leave and opt for agency free of charge.
“I’m optimistic this will have a positive resolution,” Mozeliak said. “Very hopeful there is some resolution here shortly.”
With Wainwright guaranteed for next season, finalizing Arenado’s future in St. Louis and filling the coaching staff will be Mozeliak’s main priorities, as he already inked general manager Michael Girsch and assistant general manager and director of scouting Randy Flores to multi-year extensions earlier this month. After he’s accomplished these feats, Mozeliak can move forward with the upgrade of the roster. After finishing second in attendance in the majors, behind only the Dodgers (Busch Stadium tallied 3.32 million fans in 2022), Mozeliak confirmed the team’s payroll would increase. He credited the success of gate numbers and pointed out that the Cardinals were the only team to average close to prepandemic attendances this year.
In addition to pitching, Mozeliak identified the catching position and boosting offense as two areas he’d like to improve.
“There’s obviously some needs,” he said. “We’re going to have to address the catcher. You have to look at how we want to augment the offense, and … you’re always in need of pitching. So those will be our focuses as we enter the GM meetings and work our way up to winter meetings.”
The Cardinals met a pressing need on Wednesday by bringing back an iconic player from their past to complete their final season. However, there is still much uncertainty. Mozeliak knows that he has a lot to do over the next few months. The work is already underway with 110 days until catchers and pitchers report to spring training.
(Photo by Mike Maddux: Jeff Roberson / Associated Press
