10 potential replacements for Cardinals' John Mozeliak if he steps down this season

The St. Louis Cardinals are reaching the end of an era when it comes to the leadership of John Mozeliak. If things continue to trend in the wrong direction in 2024, that timeline could be here in a matter of weeks or months. If not, Mozeliak has been pretty clear that he is preparing to be done running baseball operations for the Cardinals when his contract is up after the 2025 season.

I do not believe that ownership would fire Mozeliak, but his recent comments reconfirm my belief that Mozeliak will step down from his role sooner rather than later if the Cardinals become sellers again.

Let's take a look at ten different candidates the Cardinals could explore to succeed Mozeliak if his time as President of Baseball Operations comes to an end soon.

Chaim Bloom

The most obvious fit to take over as the club's next President of Baseball Operations (or however they decide to structure the front office post-Mozeliak), Chaim Bloom was brought in as an advisor to Mozeliak this offseason, and it feels like the worst kept secret that they'd love to have him take over when Mozeliak is done.

Bloom rose to prominence throughout the game of baseball due to his heavy influence in shaping the Rays' player development system. He was then hired to oversee baseball operations in Boston but was let go at the end of the 2023 season after a string of tough years.

Bloom was dealt a rough hand at the beginning of his Red Sox tenure, being tasked with trading Mookie Betts and attaching David Price's horrible deal to it. Bloom get the Red Sox to the ALCS during his tenure, and he created a lot of stability in the organization. Their pitching this year has been stellar thanks to many arms brought in and developed during Bloom's run, and they also boast one of the best farm systems in baseball.

I would be shocked if Bloom was not the heir to Mozeliak unless Bloom decided the role wasn't for him.

Randy Flores

Before Bloom was brought in, Randy Flores was the flashy name for fans to point to, and for good reason.

Flores is a former pitcher for the Cardinals who joined their front office in 2015 as the Director of Scouting. The Cardinals' drafts have been stellar under Flores' leadership, and it's led many to believe he should get a crack at overseeing the entire operation once Mozeliak is done.

Flores has gained responsibility since joining the front office, as he was promoted to Assistant General Manager in 2018. It is unclear to me how the rest of baseball views Flores as an up-and-coming executive, but it is clear to me that the Cardinals really like him and would love to have him around for a long time.

I do think Flores would be one of the leading candidates outside of Bloom, but there are a few things that could work against him. First, he does not have any prior experience running an organization, and that may be something the Cardinals want from the person who will replace Mozeliak. Second, Flores has spent his entire front-office career in the Cardinals' organization, so he lacks the outside voice that someone like Bloom would have.

The DeWitt family may end up wanting to go internal though, promoting someone from within like they've done time and time again in recent years. All of that remains to be seen, but Flores will certainly be a candidate when the time comes.

Michael Girsch

Strictly looking at the organization chart for the Cardinals, Michael Girsch would be the "next man up" when Mozeliak steps down.

Girsch was hired in 2006 as the Cardinals' Coordinator of Amauter Scouting and was promoted in 2008 to the Director of Baseball Development. Girsch was a pioneer for the Cardinals in that role, using analytical models and online data to enhance their baseball operations. In 2011, Girsch was promoted to the role of Assistant General Manager, a role that he served to Mozeliak for seven seasons.

In 2017 when Mozeliak was promoted to President of Baseball Operations, Girsch was promoted to Vice President and General Manager of the Cardinals. Mozeliak's promotion was in part to allow him to oversee a growing front office that had many different functions, and to allow Girsch to take over many of the day-to-day operations that Mozeliak did as the General Manager.

Girsch's role includes leading the baseball development group, player transactions and evaluations, as well as contract negotiations. Obviously, Mozeliak plays a big role in those as well, but Girsch takes the lead on many of those things.

I do wonder if the recent failures of the organization are going to cost Girsch his shot at running the team, even if he's deserving of it. They really do need a fresh voice, so hiring Mozeliak's right-hand man since 2011 probably isn't the way to sell anyone on the idea that you are doing that. Other clubs have had interest in Girsch to oversee baseball operations for their organizations, so there's a chance that's the route Girsch must go down in order to get a promotion.

Matt Slater

This is the last of the "internal" names that I wanted to touch on. There may be others within the organization who could be on this list as well, but I do wonder if the Cardinals would want to interview Matt Slater for Mozeliak's job.

Slater was named as a Special Assistant to the General Manager, Player Procurement back in 2017 and has filled a number of roles within and outside the Cardinals' organization during his 31 years in the game. Slater joined the club in 2007 as the Director of Player Personnel, but recently made waves in Cardinal Nation due to his consulting role with the Orix Buffaloes, the club that Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched for in the NPB. Slater has played a major role in increasing the Cardinals' presence in Asia.

Slater has filled multiple front-office roles within the Dodgers, Orioles, and Brewers organizations as well, making him a well-rounded candidate who has had experiences outside of St. Louis but is still very much engrained in the way they do business.

Slater probably suffers from the same issues that would prevent Flores, Girsch, or Rodriguez from being promoted by the Cardinals as Mozeliak's replacement, but I do think his wide-ranging experience and status within the game make him an interesting candidate nonetheless.

Ben Hansen

The rest of the names on this list will be going outside the organization to look for a completely fresh voice (outside of the last name I'll address, who is someone I've heard some fans begin to clamor for). The first name without Cardinals ties that I want to look at is Ben Hansen.

Hansen is the Mets' Director of Performance Technology, and in a story written by Eno Sarris of The Athletic on up-and-coming executives and managers, Hansen was described as someone who has been credited with changing the game of baseball, specifically in the area of pitching mechanics.

Talk about something the Cardinals desperately need.

Before his role with the Mets, Hansen was the senior biomechanical engineer for the White Sox, and before that, worked as a motion analysis engineer for the Brewers.

Described as someone who brings ideas to life and innovates with the best in the business, Hansen could be the kind of guy who would be able to bring an edge back to the Cardinals, helping them regain the competitive advantages that they has as an organization in the early 2010s.

There is nothing linking the Cardinals to Hansen or any of the names I'll be listing after him, but Hansen and the next three names are guys who are expected to be in line for general manager and president of baseball operations gigs in the near future.

Kyle Boddy

The next name on this list does not work for a Major League Baseball team, but you may have heard of the baseball company he co-founded called Driveline.

Driveline has become prominent in today's game for its work with Major Leaguers and Minor Leagues to unlock their full potential and help them become the kind of impact players they want to become. Various Cardinals players have spent time with Driveline over the last few years, so there is already familiarity there from different players in the organization.

Boddy was the Director of Pitching for the Reds prior to founding Driveline, and helped vault the Reds pitching staff from the bottom five in baseball all the way up into the top 10, and drastically improved the Stuff+ rankings of their pitchers.

Player development is an area of the organization that has come under fire in recent years, so going out and getting one of the leading names in the industry would be an interesting move. Boddy has interest in joining a Major League front office again, and my guess is that he'd jump at the chance to run the Cardinals.

Preston Mattingly

Recognize the name? Preston Mattingly is the son of former Yankee first baseman and Major League manager Don Mattingly. In that same story I referenced from Sarris, Mattingly was brought up by a rival executive as a future general manager due to being loved by players, coaches, scouting and analysts.

There is something about growing up around the game that can give people a certain edge. Yes, it gives them quicker access to opportunities that others would not get, but it also gives them an edge in the sense that they've lived and breathed professional baseball since they were a kid and they know how to handle themselves.

Mattingly is currently the Phillies Assistant General Manager, and that is one organization that has continued to impress fans and executives around the league for their aggressive team building. Mattingly has also served as a scout for the Padres and the Phillies farm director for a short period as well.

If the Cardinals went outside the organization with their hire, I would be shocked if we did not hear Mattingly's name at least thrown out there or mentioned as someone they are looking at.

Jeremy Reesor

One more name I want to throw out there from outside the organization (before getting to the last name that I teased earlier) is Toronto Blue Jays' Director of Baseball Operations, Jeremy Reesor.

Reesor began his time with the Blue Jays back in 2015 as a Baseball R&D Coordinator before being promoted to the R&D Manager in 2018. After working in that capacity for over four years, Reesor was promoted to Assistant Director of Baseball Operations before the promotion to Director of Baseball Operations in 2022.

Reeser is someone who was an early adopter PitchAI, a smartphone tool that motion captures biometric data and makes the information accessible to players, coaches, and front offices. He's another executive that people around the league have their eye on, and I think it's interesting that the Cardinals just hired another up-and-coming executive from the Blue Jays organization this past offseason.

Described as a "rising star" before his hiring by the Cardinals, Anuk Karunaratne was hired as the Cardinals' Senior Vice President of Business Operations in January. While Karunaratne was not involved in baseball operations with the Blue Jays, it is interesting that the Cardinals poached a name like that from Toronto, and it makes you wonder if they have their eye on someone like Reeser as well. Even if they don't we see all the time hirings happen where connections have existed, and maybe we see something like that here.

Jeff Luhnow

I felt like it was worth addressing the idea of Jeff Luhnow as I have received various comments in recent weeks saying the Cardinals need to bring back their former front office executive.

Before helping construct perhaps the best team of the mid-2010s to early 2020s in the Houston Astros, Luhnow was hired by Bill DeWitt Jr. in 2003 to join the Cardinals front office. Luhnow joined the Cardinals as Vice President of Player Development after having zero experience in a Major League front office, and yet, he was one of the key cogs in building the Cardinals' contenders we loved for many years. The first three drafts Luhnow ran for St. Louis produced more big-league talent than any other organization in baseball.

Following the Cardinals' World Series win in 2011, Luhnow was hired by the Astros' front office, and he began their long rebuild that resulted in a World Series Championship in 2017 and sustained that success up until this point. Unfortunately, we all know about the sign-stealing scandal that was uncovered in 2020, and Luhnow received a year-long suspension for his role in the cheating. He was then fired by the Astros' organization.

With all of that being said, I think it's a long shot that the DeWitt family would bring back Luhnow. I'm not completely ruling it out, but it sounds far more like fan theory than actual substance. Luhnow has not gotten back into baseball since 2020 and now owns two professional soccer teams. Would it be the craziest thing for Luhnow to return to St. Louis? Maybe not. But I would definitely be shocked if they went in that direction.