Live at the Cardinals' Winter Warm-Up: Here's what John Mozeliak told us

Day one of St. Louis Cardinals Winter Warm-Up is here and I will be bringing coverage from the media availability each day.

Winter Warm-Up is an annual event put on by the organization for fans to interact with current Cardinals and alumni, and each day presents media availability

John Mozeliak

On the budget...

One of the most pressing questions among Cardinals fans has been what additional moves can the team make this offseason. Recent comments from ownership have caused many to believe the club is done adding, but according to John Mozeliak, that's not the case.

When asked about if those additions would be limited to just more bullpen help, Mozeliak stated the club is opening to any part of the roster.

On Chaim Bloom...

I asked Mozeliak about if Bloom played any role in the Cardinals' acquisitions of relievers Andrew Kittredge, Riley O'Brien, Ryan Fernandez, and Nick Robertson, all of whom had a connection to Bloom in some way, and what he expected Bloom's impact to be on the club moving forward. His response:

"I would say that I would bounce these acquisitions off of him, just because he had that dotted line connection...if you have a resource, you should tap into it. As far as how I would seem him being used moving foward, obviously his title, he will be used in an advisory role, but as you can imagine, trying to think about how do we want this organization to look in the next few years, having him help us soft of better understand "How do we look relative to the industry?". You think about his experience with Tampa and he oversaw baseball operations for Boston, it's a pretty unique resume. So to be able to have someone like that join us, it could be a huge asset for us as we try to understand where are we."'

Jeff Jones asked a follow-up about Bloom and how he could play a role in the future of the Cardinals front office with the plan seeming to be that Mozeliak will move on from his role when his contract ends following the 2025 season.

Mozeliak confirmed that the plan would stay true and that identifying a succession plan would be needed. While people are jumping to conclusions with the Bloom hire, Mozeliak said at "the very least it strengthens our bench" and that there are a lot of highly capable people in the front office, name-dropping Michael Girsch and Randy Flores as other names to watch.

On Yadier Molina...

Jones also asked Mozeliak about the optics of Yadier Molina's role with the club and having Oli Marmol in the final year of his contract, and whether or not that could create issues during the season. While Mozeliak said it wasn't really a concern, he did say "It could become real, we'll find out".


On a potential Paul Goldschmidt extension...

When asked if an extension for Goldschmidt was a priority this offseason, "I think everybody just wants to see how the season starts". It doesn't sound like either side is pressing to get a deal done, which means this is something we'll need to monitor throughout the year.

There is a ton more left to cover from Mozeliak's comments today as well as player availability. I'll continue to bring coverage of Winter Warm-Up each day of the event, both here on Redbird Rants and on the Noot News Podcast.