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3 undeserving St. Louis Cardinals who will be back thanks to John Mozeliak

As John Mozeliak enters his final season in his current role, he has the power to continue to make questionable decisions for the St. Louis Cardinals.

By Zach Pressnell

Oct 1, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operation John Mozeliak speaks at a retirement ceremony for starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (50) before a game against the Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Oct 1, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operation John Mozeliak speaks at a retirement ceremony for starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (50) before a game against the Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images / Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
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The St. Louis Cardinals are in a weird spot as an organization. They have a veteran core of pitchers with almost all of their innings coming from pitchers over the age of 33. A core of pitchers like this is not sustainable whatsoever, especially as the team looks towards the future.

Speaking of the future, it's been reported that Cardinals GM John Mozeliak will remain in his current role for the 2025 season before Chaim Bloom takes over in 2026. With Mozeliak remaining as the General Manager and President of Baseball Operations, it gives him the opportunity to continue to push the team to the place that he believes they should go.

Mozeliak has the power to build the roster for 2025. There's a good chance that he brings back a few undeserving players in 2025, including these three pitchers.

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3. RHP Lance Lynn

I'm starting this list off with Lance Lynn. Lynn is the first of three starting pitchers on this list, but among the three, he's by far the most deserving to be back in 2025. We will get into the reasons for why he should or shouldn't be back, but I think it's almost a certainty that he is brought back by Mozeliak with the team option on his contract for next season.

Lynn, 37, had a pretty okay season last year. He was worth just over 0 WAR, sitting slightly in the positives. He tossed 117.1 innings across 23 starts, posting a 3.84 ERA, 4.31 FIP and a 1.34 WHIP. His ERA+ was 109, good for an above average ERA in the league, but his FIP and WHIP numbers indicate that he was getting a bit lucky.

Lynn is set to play a majority of the 2025 season at the age of 38. It's almost a guarantee that when pitchers begin nearing the age of 40 that they fall off drastically. Given his age and his FIP being so much higher than his ERA, regression should be expected for Lynn. The Cardinals would be better off making room in the rotation for a free agent or a young pitching prospect like Tink Hence.

2. LHP Steven Matz

The next two players on this list are under very similar circumstances for the Cardinals. They're both aging pitchers that are under contract next season, but they haven't played well enough to be contributing pitchers for a postseason team. The Cardinals would be better off finding trade partners or cutting the two pitchers rather than letting them continue to be net-negatives for the big league club.

The first player is lefty Steven Matz, and he's signed for $12.5 million next season. Last year, Matz posted a 5.08 ERA in 44.1 innings for the Cardinals. He had a negative WAR, and he just wasn't a competitive arm for the most part.

There's a chance that the Cardinals could find a trade partner for the 33 year old southpaw if there's another team that thinks they can turn his career back around. But Matz almost certainly won't be a piece of Chaim Bloom's future when Bloom takes over in 2026. St. Louis has Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, Kyle Gibson, Andre Pallante and a few top prospects that could fill out their rotation. Matz won't be a piece of the rotation if St. Louis is serious about winning, so they would be better off not letting him take up a roster spot.

But, Mozeliak will likely not want to budge off of his free agent signing from a few seasons ago. He brought Matz back this year and he will likely bring him back next year, though he doesn't deserve it.

1. RHP Miles Mikolas

As stated above, the Cardinals have Gray, Pallante, Fedde, Gibson and a few top prospects to fill out their rotation. They even have Lynn, who would be better than this undeserving player that claims the top spot of the list.

The final player on this list is Miles Mikolas, the 36 year old righty that is owed $18.5 million next season. Mikolas was a net negative pitcher, posting a 5.35 ERA, -0.2 WAR and a K/9 rate well below 9.0. He's a glorified innings eater at this point in his career and the Cardinals need pitchers that can win them games rather than just eat innings.

Should the Cardinals bring him back? No, they should try to trade him. They might have to eat a chunk, if not all of his remaining contract, but they need to clear room on their staff for a top free agent pitcher or a top prospect like Tink Hence, who's set to be ready for the big leagues in 2025.

At the end of the day, no other team is going to be willing to pay nearly $20 million for Mikolas' production. Mozeliak will bring him back to eat up innings as the team's fifth starter and it will be a mistake. The Cardinals GM won't be willing to admit his mistake of giving Mikolas this contract, but he would rather bring him back and hurt the 2025 roster a bit.

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