The New York Yankees guaranteed at least one more day of baseball with their win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the World Series.
When the Fall Classic does come to an end, the St. Louis Cardinals transition period can begin.
This will not be the typical offseason for the Cardinals, the last for long-time president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. St. Louis will unveil a reset in 2025 that aims to restore the organization’s once-robust player development system and emphasize youth and homegrown players. The Cardinals will be active this winter but won’t be among the teams actively perusing the free-agent market for marquee signings.
Instead, the Cardinals will look to trade some of their top talent for prospects as a way of restocking their farm system. Chaim Bloom, who will take over the organization for Mozeliak after the 2025 season, will spend the winter modernizing the Cardinals’ minor-league system. The two will work together, with Mozeliak overseeing major-league operations and Bloom assigned to the minor leagues, though they will collaborate on major organization decisions.
Already, this process has begun. Mozeliak spent October working to fill a variety of open positions at both the front-office and major-league level, including a new hitting coach in Brant Brown. St. Loius also brought back former Cardinal Jon Jay as a coach at large after Willie McGee elected to step down and move to a special advisor role. Most notably, the Cardinals hired Rob Cerfolio as their new assistant general manager of player development and performance, a process overseen by Bloom. Cerfolio, who previously served as the director of player development for the Cleveland Guardians, will be tasked with hiring a new farm director and a director of performance, a new role the Cardinals are incorporating into their minor leagues. The interview process for both positions has already started.
Thank you @Cardinals for the opportunity! Excited to join the STL family and learn what it means to be a Cardinal.
Let’s get to work! https://t.co/Xp4JavBBqw
— Rob Cerfolio (@RCerfolio) October 24, 2024
In years prior, the Cardinals operated player development and player performance separately. Now, Mozeliak and Bloom will prioritize the two departments working in tandem. “We had both in the past, but they were almost siloed in their departments,” Mozeliak said last week. “What we really want to do is become like one, where it’s a much more collaborative strategy than two departments running parallel paths but not really optimizing what both parties bring to the table.”
“It never got to the point where we felt it was running at 100 percent in terms of collaboration,” he added. “Creating a structure that will almost mandate that I think will be very helpful.”
Of course, roster decisions are looming as well. The Cardinals have five days after the conclusion of the World Series to exercise their club options on Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson and Keynan Middleton. St. Louis is not expected to exercise Lynn’s one-year, $11 million option for 2025 nor Middleton’s one-year, $6 million deal. The Cardinals could bring back Gibson for $12 million but doing so would almost guarantee the club trades either Miles Mikolas (due $17.6 million in 2025) or Steven Matz (due $12.5 million).
The rationale for this is twofold. The Cardinals expect to decrease payroll as they navigate their player development modernization along with their lack of clarity regarding the future of their regional sports network and television revenue.
“We have an understanding (of next year’s payroll),” Mozeliak said. “But we are still working through some things because there is still some uncertainty on what some of our revenue flows may look like. … Ultimately, the direction we’re going is going to be creating a lot of opportunity for some of our younger players.”
This would make carrying five veterans in the rotation next year (including Sonny Gray and Erick Fedde) highly unlikely. Mozeliak is expected to explore the trade market regarding many of the team’s veterans, though a majority (including Mikolas) hold a full no-trade clause. If the Cardinals believe they can trade Matz, or if Mikolas agrees to waive his no-trade clause, the odds of Gibson returning next year increase. There are also conversations to be had with Gray, whose three-year, $75 million contract is heavily backloaded.
Mozeliak indicated that multiple talks need to happen along those lines. The team privately informed Paul Goldschmidt at the end of the season that they would not re-sign him in free agency. The futures of Gray, Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras and Ryan Helsley could also be in jeopardy. Further clarity on the status of each player is expected within the next couple of weeks.
“I’ve had some conversations with some of our players,” Mozeliak said. “I still have a few more to make and plan to do that over the course of the next week or so.”
Mozeliak will begin addressing his roster in earnest in San Antonio, Texas, next week at the general manager’s meetings, which usually serve as the unofficial kickoff to the offseason. Until then, finalizing their player development and performance departments will remain the Cardinals’ top focus.
(Photo of John Mozeliak: Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)
