St. Louis Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak has rightfully been the center of a lot of criticism from fans and media members in the city.
Certain trades haven't gone his way, and he has also made some very questionable signings.
Sometimes though, it tends to be what Mozeliak doesn't do that upsets Cardinals fans. Either way, he's not a popular man in the city of St. Louis.
Fans have hoped time and again that he learns from his mistakes. However, it's clear that the Cardinals executive remains complacent despite mediocrity from the team.
Here are three mistakes that could ultimately cost Mozeliak has job if the Cardinals have another losing season.
3. Extending Cardinals manager Oli Marmol was an odd choice
The Cardinals came into the 2024 season with a lame-duck manager in Oli Marmol, who the team endured a 91-loss campaign under in 2023.
It appeared as though the Cardinals were going to let Marmol prove himself and wait until the end of the season to determine if he would be back for 2025.
However, without even a second thought, Mozeliak gave the Cardinals skipper a two-year contract extension, and his reason for doing so was not a logical one.
"We just don't want something where if we stumbled or got off to a slow start, all of a sudden everybody is looking over their shoulders," Mozeliak said. "It's just not fair to everybody involved. The time of this as we started thinking more and more about it, had to be dealt with now, not something mid-season or at the end of the year."
Essentially, this means that if the Cardinals get off to another bad start, Marmol's job is safe regardless of performance. But Mozeliak certainly won't look good if that happens, and Owner Bill DeWitt Jr. may decide he's seen enough of him by the end of the season.
2. Adding two aging starters to Cardinals rotation
When the Cardinals came into the offseason, they set a clear goal to add three starters from outside the organization. They did that, but two of the three they added are 36 years old and coming off of bad seasons.
On Nov. 20, the team gave Lance Lynn a one-year, $10 million contract to return to where his career started. He won 13 games in 2023, but posted a 5.73 ERA and gave up 44 home runs, the most of any pitcher in baseball.
The following day, Mozeliak signed Kyle Gibson to a one-year, $12 million contract. And while Gibson won 15 games, his ERA wasn't too much better than Lynn's, as he posted a 4.73 mark in 2023 and allowed the most hits of any American League pitcher.
Even Sonny Gray, their new ace, is 34 years old.
The Cardinals would have been better served choosing between Lynn or Gibson if they were going to add just three starting pitchers to their rotation. And when Gray injured his hamstring, the band-aid was ripped off, exposing just how weak the rotation was without their ace at the top.
The Cardinals rotation is one of the oldest in all of baseball, and it's fair for fans to be concerned about how everything plays out in 2024.
1. Not adding more frontline starting pitchers
Perhaps the biggest mistake Mozeliak made was not adding more than one frontline starter.
The way the market has moved has actually played into the Cardinals favor, as Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery are both still free agents. But they don't seem terribly interested in adding either one.
They also had the prospect capital to make a trade for Dylan Cease. But the right-hander is now headed to the San Diego Padres after a blockbuster deal late last week.
In order to be World Series contenders, the Cardinals need another frontline starter. But as things currently stand, they are far from that.
Instead of going above and beyond like he should have, Mozeliak chose to do the bare minimum. While ownership makes the final call on how much money is spent, Mozeliak could have at least made a trade to pick up a frontline ace as opposed to doing everything in free agency.
With Gray already being ruled out for Opening Day, the Cardinals rotation is once again in a perilous position as they prepare to face the Los Angeles Dodgers, even if the right-hander avoids a stint on the injured list.