John Mozeliak discusses his potential exit strategy at Cardinals' Winter Warm-Up

John Mozeliak, the longest-tenured head of baseball operations in MLB, received a contract extension in February of 2023 that would keep him in that position until the end of the 2025 season. Since his promotion to General Manager in 2008, the Cardinals have made it to the playoffs ten times, they've won the National League Pennant twice, and they won a World Series in 2011.

On Saturday at the Winter Warm-Up, John Mozeliak fielded plenty of questions about the team, the 2023 season, his hopes for 2024, and his exit strategy before his contract expires. Perhaps one of the most important discussions for the future of the franchise revolved around his eventual retirement. Mozeliak stated that it is his intention to retire at the culmination of his contract.

Given Chaim Bloom's recent hiring as a special advisor, many people have been assuming that someone with as long and successful of a career he's had as a baseball executive would take the helm once Mozeliak retires. However, John Mozeliak made it sound as though that's not necessarily the case.

"I would say that it strengthens our bench, at the very least, and where it leads to, we will see. We have a lot of capable people in our front office."

- John Mozeliak

Mozeliak made it clear that Bloom's hiring is not an automatic signal that he will become the team's next President of Baseball Operations. Mo also mentioned Randy Flores and Michael Girsch by name when discussing those "capable people" in the front office.

Regardless of who takes over as the head of baseball operations for the Cardinals after 2025, the organization appears to have plenty of talented people. Michael Girsch has been in the organization since 2006, and he has risen steadily from a position in amateur scouting to the Director of Baseball Development to the Assistant General Manager and most recently as the team's General Manager.

Randy Flores has been the Director of Scouting since 2015, and he was a player when the team won the World Series in 2006. He was promoted to Assistant General Manager in 2018 once Michael Girsch was promoted to General Manager.

Any one of Michael Girsch, Randy Flores, or Chaim Bloom would make for a great head of baseball operations. Having those three plus John Mozeliak working together for the next two years should transform the organization for the better.