Major challenges: Final 2024 grades for Cardinals owner, management, field staff
These are challenging times for the Cardinals, The franchise rebounded nicely from the "Hackgate" fiasco. It survived the pandemic. It won another division title in 2022.
Then came a last-place finish last season and another playoff miss this season. It faces uncertainty in the local television revenue, since the parent company of Bally Sports Midwest could walk away from the team.
And this season's struggle created additional challenge — notable attendance decline, plus mounting no-shows which foreshadow further decline next year. Now the Cardinals are embarking on a franchise reset that will trigger substantial change in the baseball operation.
These grades reflect the tumult of that last two seasons.
The DeWitts have had a great run in St. Louis. As Bill DeWitt Jr. reminded us Monday during the team's post-mortem news conference, the Cardinals have suffered just one losing season under his ownership group.
Empowering Chaim Bloom to revamp player development while serving as heir to John Mozeliak's president of baseball operations throne was a strong move. Bloom checks every box. His appointment should energize an operation that grew stale,
The DeWitts admitted the franchise fell behind its peers in its player development commitment, which is a damning admission from an ownership that touted draft-and-develop as its core operating principle. While trumpeting the Bloom decision, the brain trust conceded that payroll cuts are coming to the major league roster.
This was the point in the team's history where the ownership had to open the vault and invest significantly in the product, both at the major league level and in the player development system. Lord knows the franchise has reaped large profits over time while gaining exponential appreciation in franchise value.
Instead, the ownership will use the shift toward youth to lower major league operating costs and shift some of that money to the player development side. While that is more cost-effective spending, it could doom the Cardinals to further on-field disappointment in 2025.
When asked about declining attendance, Bill DeWitt III suggested that creating a better game day experience for fans would address this.
Do you know what creates a better game day experience? A better baseball team.
St. Louis and surrounding region has supported this franchise to extreme levels. A team in this market size shouldn't draw 3.4 million fans. It took a special connection with the fan base to sustain such support. Once that connection erodes, rebuilding the connection will be difficult.
This is the risk the DeWitts would take by taking a step back in the National League Central race.
Grade:
Front Office
The Cardinals did try to win this year. Mozeliak got largely what he needed from free agent pitchers Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson. The front office made several value additions to the bullpen as well.
Mozeliak was active ahead of the deadline, adding starting pitcher Erick Fedde, outfielder Tommy Pham and reliever Shawn Armstrong to fill needs. Alas, the team failed to respond to those additions and Mozeliak gave away Pham and Armstrong as the Cardinals faded from the playoff race.
Ultimately the Cardinals fell short this season because their highest-paid players regressed or, in the case of Willson Contreras, missed much time due to injury.
So the franchise is changing direction as the promised transition unfolds. Mozeliak reminded us that seldom-seen Michael Girsch still worked for the franchise. He did so by announcing that Girsch would exit his general manager's chair to become "vice president of special projects" — which sounds like the title you get when the company tells you to look for something else.
Another fall guy was farm director Gary LaRocque, who was eased into retirement. Meanwhile Mozeliak remains in control of the day-to-day operation while Bloom focuses on revitalizing the player development operation.
More change is coming. This is what happens when a front office allows a ballclub to fall off the pace.
Grade:
Field Staff
The Cardinals were one of baseball's most improved teams this season, if that makes you feel better. They climbed out of the NL Central cellar by winning 83 games, 12 more than the year before. That they did that with a minus-47 run difference is impressive.
That suggests the Cardinals overachieved. By comparison, the Chicago Cubs also finished 83-79 — and they had a plus-67 run differential.
That the Cardinals avoided a second straight losing season is a credit to manager Oliver Marmol, who will continue into next season. His team suffered some vexing slumps, but it never packed it in. Marmol and pitching coach Dusty Blake were especially good at maximizing the performance of their bullpen. They put the top relievers into defined roles. They got mileage from converted starter Matthew Liberatore, fringe prospect Kyle Leahy, depth reliever John King, Rule 5 steal Ryan Fernandez and independent ball refugee Chris Roycroft.
But hitting coach Turner Ward had a rough year. Cornerstone veterans Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado regressed, although Goldschmidt did recover some of his former form during the second half. Young sluggers Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker followed solid offensive showings in 2023 by falling apart this season. Dylan Carlson found his left-side stroke in the spring, then got hurt, then didn't get back on track until his trade to Tampa Bay.
These issues and others caused the Cardinals to plunge into the bottom third of the majors in team offense.
Naturally some fans called for Marmol to be fired, but his extensive background in player development at the minor league level should make him a good fit to manage the Cardinals as they transition to a younger group.
Grade: C-minus
Online sports
