Potential front office turnover for Cardinals presents opportunity to continue innovation

One of the biggest compliments a front office can receive is interest from other teams around the league in poaching their executives. The St. Louis Cardinals are facing that now, and depending on how it goes, it could halt their momentum or be a growth opportunity.

Long-time Cardinals assistant general manager Randy Flores is a strong candidate for the general manager role with the Los Angeles Angels, who former Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak leading the hiring process. It feels like things are trending in that direction, which would be a significant change for the Cardinals' brain trust and scouting group.

Fellow assistant general manager, Rob Cerfolio, recently interviewed for the Athletics' general manager job. Cerfolio was brought in by Chaim Bloom two offseasons ago to help overhaul the Cardinals' outdated player development system, and the enormous strides they made in just two years have caught the attention of other teams.

While Flores has been a huge part of the Cardinals' front office and would be a loss, it would be a much greater mistake to allow Cerfolio to leave town so soon. He's bound to be the head decision-maker for an organization someday, but the Cardinals need to do everything they can to retain Cerfolio, and their open general manager role would be a wise internal promotion to consider.

I promise I'm not speaking out of both sides of my mouth, but while the Cardinals need to find a way to keep Cerfolio in town, assuming they will be losing Flores and likely open up a second assistant general manager role if Cerfolio is promoted, then it presents the Cardinals with an opportunity to bring in more outside perspectives, something that can be a major development for them.

Cardinals could continue to grow with more outside influenecs

Cerfolio is actually the perfect example of why bringing in new voices is not necessarily a bad thing. Without Cerfolio's influence on the Cardinals organization, who knows where their farm system would be right now? The Cardinals have a rich group of leaders in their front office right now, but continuing to supplement that group with the best minds from around the game is wise.

Internal promotions should still be considered. Larry Day has done an excellent job in his role as the Cardinals' farm director, coming over from the Cleveland Guardians with Cerfolio, so he could be a natural fit to step into Cerfolio's assistant general manager spot. Zach Mortimer, who was a long-time scout and crosschecker with the Cardinals prior to stepping into his new role as the director of amateur acquisition, could also be a strong fit for Flores' job if given the opportunity.

Joe Douglas and Jacob Buffa are two external hires from last offseason who have also drawn strong reviews for their work so far with St. Louis.

Regardless of how all of that shakes out, St. Louis should strongly consider adding a few external voices to backfill, whether that's in the assistant general manager roles or replacing those who receive promotions because of that.

What has made the Cardinals' rebuild so strong thus far has been the mix of internal promotions and stability paired with Bloom's new leadership and the voices he brought in from organizations like Cleveland, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Houston, Seattle, and more. Finding more rising voices in the game and adding them to their staff can only help widen their perspectives and create the best blend of philosophies that can strengthen this rebuild.

This is likely the business the Cardinals will find themselves in moving forward. Strong leadership that is constantly tapped by other organizations looking to fill some of their positions. As the Cardinals continue to be celebrated for how they are developing young talent on the field, the hope is that this group is able to do the same with front office and on-field staff, continuing to develop great leaders and identify ones in other organizations who can keep their train moving in St. Louis.

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