Don't freak out just yet about Cardinals' John Mozeliak returning for the 2025 season

I 100% understand why St. Louis Cardinals fans are concerned about the recent tidbit that John Mozeliak will finish out his contract with the organization next season. But, I do think we need to learn more about what that looks like before fans go into complete disarray.

First, let me start by saying that from all indications that we have gotten this year, Mozeliak was never going to be fired. That has just not been in the cards for ownership. Now, does that leave open the possibility that Mozeliak could resign from his role? Sure, but that sounds unlikely now as well. So why on earth am I suggesting fans should pause before assuming the worst here?

Well, that is because there is plenty of room for nuance in the statement Derrick Goold wrote in his chat that Mozeliak would "finish out his contract" with the organization.

Back in June, I had Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat on my podcast "Dealin' the Cards", and he gave some really interesting tidbits about his belief in how Mozeliak could remain with the organization but no longer be in charge of baseball operations. You can check out our full interview with Jones below.

Because of that, I was very interested to see how Jones would respond to the fan backlash to that report from Goold, as Jones is also one of the most "plugged-in" media voices when it comes to Cardinals' coverage and he, like Goold, has a better pulse on what is happening that most anyone else. Well, Jones seemed to agree that there was a wide range of ways Mozeliak finishing out his contract could be interpreted.

Jones is not the only one to have that take. The great Bernie Miklasz seemed to agree with the range of outcomes on his new YouTube channel Thursday morning, and so did KMOV's Brenden Schaeffer on his own podcast. I also explained my reasoning for sharing that belief further on our most recent episode of Dealin' the Cards last night.

Look, I've made it clear that I agree with Cardinals fans that leadership change needs to happen within the organization, starting with Mozeliak passing the torch to someone else. I also totally understand why fans are frustrated that ownership is so loyal to Mozeliak. Even with how great the beginning of his tenure with them was, there is no doubt that the product post-2015 has not been good enough.

Fans can clamor for more dramatic changes, and who knows, maybe it will actually lead to that. I honestly do think Bill DeWitt Jr. and Bill DeWitt III see the empty seats in Busch Stadium and understand that it won't change without showing fans they are serious about fixing this mess. But do you know who else I think understands Mozeliak's role needs to change? Mozeliak himself.

Mozeliak has said, on the record and in smaller, more intimate settings, that he knows that change is needed and coming and that he believes the organization needs a fresh voice, and that was before the jarring images we've seen in Busch Stadium as of late.

In all honesty, it feels like ownership wants Mozeliak around more than Mozeliak wants to be around. That is why I believe it is entirely possible, and I would argue probable, that Mozeliak moves out of his role overseeing baseball operations into a more background role, perhaps advising the new-look Cardinals' leadership while helping out with other, non-baseball performance-related operations within the organization.

Regardless of what I think, regardless of what you think, we'll only know the answer when the Cardinals decide to shed light on it. I doubt we get that before the end of the season, but once the final game has been played, we'll be weeks, if not days away, from finding out what changes the organization will be making.

Sit tight, Cardinals fans, as we'll have answers soon.