Mozeliak offers Insight

Feb 16, 2014; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak (left) walks in the outfield during spring training at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Walk into any local restaurant here in St. Louis and you’ll be sure to overhear people engaged in one of our favorite pastimes–being the GM of the St. Louis Cardinals. Everyone has the right answer for the trades that should be made, or how much money a player contract is worth. It’s simple, right? We could do John Mozeliak’s job better than he does. The only task we could possibly do better is write the lineup for Matheny every night.

During a March 4th interview on The Morning After show on CBS Sports 920 AM, Mo gave us a tiny hint of what it would be like to peek inside his brain. To see the wheels that have turned out one of the most, if not the most, successful organization this decade.

Celebration at Busch Stadium following the Cardinals’ World Series win (Source: Doug Pensinger/MLB.com)

While we were all in the midst of a euphoric high moments after the Cardinals won the 2011 World Series, Mo said he was barely into his second glass of wine when he began thinking about LaRussa’s retirement and the looming contract negotiations with Pujols. Never one to settle on a pinnacle, his idea of success is sustainability.

The big story to emerge out of spring training this year is–who will be the fifth starter in the rotation? I think it would be accurate to say that most of us had written Jamie Garcia off as a valid contributor, let alone a contender.

Jun 15, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jaime Garcia (54) delivers a pitch against the Washington Nationals at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

As Cardinal Nation focuses on Garcia either winning or losing the 5th slot, Mozeliak views it as a win-win

If Garcia does not start, Mo sees him being a viable veteran option if either Michael Wacha or Marco Gonzales runs into trouble having not pitched in more than 120 innings at the major league level.

Mo threw out the term “arbitrage” when explaining how he views his job–being able to leverage assets. One has to wonder if leveraging is a natural talent or based solely on analytics. He divulged that the Cardinals have their own proprietary analytics software instead of using a cookie cutter program used across the league–their “secret sauce” as he described it.

However the magic happens, Mo always seems to have our team poised to succeed in any scenario. When we panic with the news of an injury, he keeps his cool. When we have our pitchforks raised in a losing streak, he stays the course. Some might even call it being vanilla.