The St. Louis Cardinals basically won the NL Central in 2022 by forfeit. Only one front office in the division made any sort of positive step toward improving its product this just-concluded season, and that one team — the Milwaukee Brewers — was operating from too large an inherent talent gap to make any difference.
Not that Cardinals team President John Mozeliak and general manager Mike Girsch had to do much that was constructive in 2022. Mozeliak and Girsch entered the season with players already under contract who would contribute +20.6 games worth of WAA to the team’s cause. That was an MLB high for residual talent entering the season, and a full 15 games more than any division foe. That made even an unproductive Cardinals front office too top-heavy with talent for the Brewers or any of the division’s weaker sisters to overtake.
The analysis that follows is an assessment of the impact each NL Central front office’s personnel decisions since November of 2021 have had on their team’s standing. It is based on the aggregate Wins Above Average of moves made in five areas:
- Players acquired by trade, purchase or waiver claim.
- Players signed as free agents or extended for more than one year.
- Minor league callups.
- Players lost via trade, waiver claim or sale.
- Players lost to free agency or released.
Wins Above Average is the preferred metric for this calculation because it is zero-based, meaning that it approximately reflects the number of games by which a front office either helped or hurt its team in the standings.
There were two changes of significance to front office leadership in the division this season. One occurred in Chicago, where former general manager Jed Hoyer was named team president to succeed the departed Theo Epstein, and Carter Hawkins stepped in to replace Hoyer as general manager.
In Milwaukee, David Stearns was promoted to president of baseball operations and Matt Arnold succeeded Stearns as senior vice president and general manager.
Here is the NL Central front office lineup as it impacted 2022.
Chicago: Jed Hoyer, president of baseball operations; Carter Hawkins, general manager.
Cincinnati: Nick Krall, vice president and general manager.
Milwaukee: David Stearns, president of baseball operations; Matt Arnold, senior vice president and general manager.
Pittsburgh: Ben Cherington, general manager.
St. Louis: John Mozeliak, president of baseball operations; Mike Girsch, vice president and general manager.