The Cardinals already have their replacement for John Mozeliak

As we enter the second half of the 2023 Major League Baseball season, the St. Louis Cardinals are far from contending for a championship. For a season full of drama and headlines, they are not stopping. Recently with The Kilcoyne Conversation, John Mozeliak sat down and answered some hard-pressed questions which hit every point of the frustrating season.

I won't go into full detail, so click on the link to give it a listen. But my takeaway is that ownership, management, the clubhouse, and fans are all on the same page. Major changes need to happen, the current roster is not sustainable moving forward, and this is not the brand we know of St. Louis Cardinals baseball.

But it seems that Bill Dewitt Jr wants Mozeliak here to fix his mistakes and has full confidence in him to do so, with a “proven track record of success”. Mozeliak is on a two-year contract that seems to be his final one in St. Louis. Many speculate that the organization is preparing for the next generation of management and these next two years are prep work for the move.

The Dewitts will not be selling, as they have astronomically increased their asset value since they purchased the Cardinals. But we start with the next man in charge: President of Baseball Operations. I can break down potential candidates that would fit to grab your attention and build excitement, but I will be real here. This position is already filled once John Mozeliak is gone. Congratulations to…………………….

Randy Flores

Randy Flores has ties back to the Cardinals starting in the 2000s. Most recognizable as a bullpen piece on the 2006 world series champions roster. He spent 2004-2008 with the organization over his 8-year playing career. He rejoined the organization back in 2015 after the Chris Correa hacking scandal and became the director of scouting. The organization lost its ground once Jeff Lunhow and his crew left for Houston. The prospect line was becoming thin and the whole model of building homegrown quality talent looked bleak. Randy Flores used his skills to evaluate future talent and has since dominated the MLB Draft. Here is a look at the team's key draft picks from 2015-2018:

2015: Harrison Bader, Jordan Hicks, Paul DeJong, Ryan Helsley

2016: Dylan Carlson, Tommy Edman, Zac Gallen

2018: Nolan Gorman, Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Luken Baker

This display of finding talent who can progress quickly to the majors and make an immediate impact has become Flores’ signature. He was promoted to Assistant GM in 2018 and continues to impress Cardinals Nation. The organization returned to the postseason in 2019 with a roster full of young talent that Flores helped establish and showed a forecast of winning baseball for the upcoming seasons. And now the moment you all have been waiting for……..the moment Randy Flores cemented himself as the heir to the POBO throne…

2020 draft

The 2020 draft was reduced to 5 rounds due to covid restrictions (labor negotiation tactics). Teams had to make the most due to players who have been stuck at home not playing baseball. The high school players were an extremely high risk given they lost their last season which is also the most crucial season for development.

Well, that factor did not matter for Randy Flores. He took three straight High School players and how did that turn out? Jordan Walker, Masyn Winn, and Tink Hence all became the top three prospects in the organization and all three are projected to be future stars in the game. The fourth pick was Alec Burleson who remains a prominent left-handed hitter who will see significant playing time in 2024 for the Cardinals or a new team. Not only is this the best draft the Cardinals have ever seen in drafted results, but it is one of the most dominant drafts any team has had in MLB history. 

The following year was followed up by getting Michael McGreevy, Joshua Baez, and Gordon Graceffo who are also in the top 30 prospects. 2022 followed up with Cooper Hjerpe, Brycen Mautz, Pete Hansen, and Victor Scott II. Randy Flores seems to be on the radar for players who are not on everyone's radar. His scouting department looks to be very tactical and it is very efficient. We will see how long this model can last before other teams start adapting and adopting it.

Passing the torch

So how does this make Randy Flores the new POBO? With Mozeliak working towards getting out, it is expected his convoy will also leave. Michael Girsch had been linked to interviews with the Mets for a POBO role and they continue to look for their own POBO years later. Most front offices start completely over after a transitional period and it doesn’t seem realistic that Girsch will want to take on that challenge. He is specifically known as Mozeliak's righthand man but no one really knows what his objectives and tasks are within his role in the front office. It is not a good look when we are seeing/hearing more about work done with positive results from an Assistant GM vs the actual GM. 

Fans are very eager to see how John Mozelaik will sell pieces at the deadline to better suit this organization moving forward. 2024 is the new vision, and Mozeliak is at the helm to get this organization back to where it needs to be. But once 2025 comes, Mozeliak is out. You will see much speculation from the media on who the Dewitts will consider for the role. Save yourself some time, the answer is already made. Randy Flores will be the St. Louis Cardinals President of Baseball Operations starting in 2025.