Q&A with John Mozeliak
To be honest, I was not planning on writing about the session but then figured that since I was invited there because I write about the Cardinals, I should probably write about the experience. So I did not record, only took paraphrased notes on the questions, and did not recall who asked each question.
Before the first question, Mozeliak took it upon himself to talk about his 30 years with the organization before touching on the current team. He quickly recapped how this year was supposed to be a transition with young players and a Nolan Arenado trade was expected to kickstart that process. He said “we attempted to trade our third baseman, actually did at one point” before referring to Arenado not approving the trade, which altered plans slightly. This ended the runway opportunity for Nolan Gorman while Victor Scott II played his way into a starting center field role.
Mozeliak then touched on how this team is young and hungry (without mentioning “Yungry”) while also defining them as “gritty”. He spoke to the 2023 season being a disappointment, where there were games where you felt like it was over as soon as it started or the team fell behind, while this year is different. Mozeliak said he comes to the ballpark feeling that this team can win every day and so far, they have done that more often than not. Because of the change of plans Mo said “I hope we have to make some complicated decisions” when mentioning the trade deadline. This is an interesting spot because the team is competing in the division but Chaim Bloom is taking over the team next year and is currently a member of the front office. Mo acknowledged this but also said that “when I walk away, this franchise is in a good spot.” At this point, he ended his opening lines and opened up to questions.
What is Mo’s biggest regret in his 30 years with the team?
What a tough question to start and Mo jokingly said that to the young fan who asked the question. When he answered, Mozeliak simply said “the Ozuna trade” referring to the 2017 trade where the Cardinals sent Sandy Alcántara, Magneuris Sierra, Zac Gallen, and Daniel Castano to the Marlins in exchange for cleanup hitter Marcell Ozuna. The deal was made out of necessity but one that did not pan out for the Cardinals sake. Mozeliak even mentioned that he “lost sleep” over the deal.
What was Mo’s favorite acquisition?
This was a fun question to get the mood in the room lightened a little! Mo answered in two different ways, his biggest acquisition via trade and his best signing. To the first part, he mentioned trading for Mark McGwire was huge not only for what he did for the Cardinals, but what he did for baseball. He said that even though the team was not always winning, the ballpark was filled with people wanting to see Big Mac.
His favorite signing was bringing in Carlos Beltran in for the 2012 and 2013 season as an experienced, veteran presence who played a major role in the Cardinals’ success. Beltran is remembered in a variety of ways for Cardinals fans, first being the victim of a beautiful Adam Wainwright curveball to end the 2006 NLCS. Others may recall Beltran as a member of the ’12-’13 teams while some may only know Beltran as a ringleader in the Astros sign-stealing scandal. No matter your thoughts on Beltran, his signing was a success as he hit .282 with 56 homers during his two year stint with the Cardinals.
Andrew Wang asked how Mo would balance competing this year while also building for the future at this year’s trade deadline.
Mozeliak answered with saying that the question is very fair but the current timing doesn’t allow for an answer right now. He mentioned that there are still eight weeks until the deadline and plenty can happen, both good and bad. Mo said that moves that are made will definitely have future implications weighed in those decisions.
While some maybe rolled their eyes at the answer, I think it was fair. Andrew had the right to ask it and many people probably would have done the same, or if someone didn’t ask it, others would wonder how we couldn’t ask. Mo’s answer is honest and makes total sense. He has had success as evidenced by his 16 winning seasons in his 17 years as the POBO so tanking is not something that he’d want to do. However, with him stepping down and Bloom being in the building, I am sure most decisions made would have to have both guys approve.
Josh Jacobs asked about the transition to Bloom and if there’s a timeline for the handoff of power.
Another good question that nobody really seems to know about since Mozeliak is still in charge. Bloom hasn’t really talked much and has no reason to but it makes sense to wonder what things look like behind the scenes. I thought the answer to this was so good and made me excited for what’s to come. Again, I recommend checking out the full spoken answers but Mo said Bloom being in the front office is putting him at an advantage. With most decision-makers either being fired or quitting, there is a fast transition period that comes with someone who may not have been with the organization. Since Bloom has been in St. Louis already, he understands the personnel and has more intel where he can truly focus on the team when he takes over.
Josh followed up asking if there was a timeline for the transfer to which Mo sarcastically said that we can’t wait to get rid of him. His answer was basically saying that there is no specific date but it we could infer that after the deadline makes sense for when Bloom gets more responsibility. Again, this makes sense as the 2025 Cardinals are still Mo’s team.
My friend Kyle asked Mo who is one prospect he’s excited about that maybe other people aren’t aware of.
Mozeliak answered with someone I honestly probably would not know about if I didn’t start doing this blog stuff. Since joining Twitter and the Cardinal community, there are nonstop discussions about prospects so I was caught up on Mo’s response of catcher Rainiel Rodriguez.
Now, if you’re tuned into the Cardinals minor leagues, you know that Rodriguez has been on an absolute tear this year. He was just named the Cardinals minor league Player of the Month in May and has hit eight homers in 22 games this year at the lower levels of the organization. St. Louis has an amazing supply of catching talent at each level, with Ivan Herrera (yes he is DHing now) and Pedro Pages at the Major League level, Jimmy Crooks performing well in Memphis, Leonardo Bernal coming off his own Player of the Week award in Springfield, and the Rodriguez in Palm Beach.
The 18-year-old Rodriguez was described as “built to hit” by Mo, who admitted that he never gets excited about really young prospects but this guy is different. He also said that Rodriguez is “doing things you don’t see 18-year-olds doing), showing that he is maturing quickly and could progress quickly up the minor league ladder. Mo said he would be “shocked” if Rodriguez isn’t a top-100 prospect by the end of the year. The Cardinals are going to have some decisions to make at the catcher position in the near future.
Again, there was plenty more covered in Mozeliak’s 30+ minute session that ended with the custom bobblehead so I again recommend checking in on Viva El Birdos and Dealin’ the Cards. My final plea to these readers after sticking with me in this long recap is to just drop a follow, like, retweet, or comment on things you actually like. I honestly was never one to do this but now that I am on the other side, I truly see how much it means to get that type of engagement and not just for money or popularity.
I want to one more time thank the Cardinals for inviting me to this event and Josh, Jeremy, and Matt for giving me the chance to get my stuff out there while setting up for additional opportunities. Here are a bunch of the links I shared in the story all in one spot.
Scott’s socials: Twitter, Bluesky, Redbird Rants
Redbird Rants: Twitter, Website, Facebook, Josh, Andrew
I-70 Media: Website, Twitter, Bluesky, Facebook, YouTube, Jeremy
Dealin’ the Cards: Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Podcast
Viva El Birdos: Website, Podcast, Jake
Redbird Rundown: Bluesky, Podcast
Baseball Banter Broadcast: Twitter, YouTube
My favorite Cardinal twitter accounts
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