A pair of St. Louis Cardinals executives received promotions on Friday afternoon. John Mozeliak will become team president, while Mike Girsch takes over as GM.
The St. Louis Cardinals may be experiencing an underwhelming 2017 season thus far, but the organization gave a vote of confidence this afternoon to the leaders of its front office. As first reported by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cards promoted John Mozeliak from general manager to president of baseball operations. Assistant general manager Mike Girsch was named the new GM.
#STLCards promote John Mozeliak to President of Baseball Operations. Michael Girsch promoted to GM. pic.twitter.com/bHBWUyZt8E
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 30, 2017
The team announced the news at an afternoon press conference. In the grand scheme of things, these moves probably won’t change much about the way the Cardinals operate. Mozeliak will presumably retain final say on all baseball-related decisions, with Girsch supporting and working under him. However, it does reflect a growing trend in the way MLB franchises are setting up their front offices.
Many clubs have moved more seasoned executives into president or vice president roles while raising a trusted understudy into the general manager post. After the 2015 season, the Oakland A’s promoted longtime general manager Billy Beane to Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and tabbed assistant GM David Forst to take his place.
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Other teams have implemented such a hierarchy from the get-go. When the Chicago Cubs famously hired Theo Epstein in 2011, he took on the mantle of president while former San Diego Padres general manager Jed Hoyer assumed the same role with the Cubs.
This pair of promotions shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to followers of the Redbirds. Per Goold, a bump in title for Mozeliak has been discussed for a while. He had served as GM since the end of the 2007 season and been with the organization for even longer, so he’s certainly put in his time. Goold says that team chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. mentioned the possibility of a contract extension for Mozeliak recently. His current deal runs through 2018. With his new title, that would seem imminent.
Though the last season and a half have been below the Cards’ usual standards, Mozeliak has overseen plenty of success. Since taking the reins he has steered the club to four NL Central division titles, six playoff appearances, five seasons of at least 90 wins and the 2011 World Series championship.
Girsch, Goold notes, has been with St. Louis since 2006 and became assistant GM in 2011. He is credited with developing the franchise’s player evaluation system and use of analytics.
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Now the Cardinals will get back to the business on the field. They’re not happy to be 37-41, but the division still remains within reach. None of their rivals have separated themselves from the pack, so St. Louis is currently just 3.5 games off the pace. The Wild Card is a bleaker proposition, however. With the unexpected performance of the Rockies and Diamondbacks, the Cards are 8.5 games behind.