John Mozeliak opens the door to be fired alongside Oli Marmol

There are few MLB fan bases currently as miserable as the St. Louis Cardinals. And to be fair, it's entirely understandable. This is one of the proudest groups in baseball rooting for a storied franchise that expects consistent success. Instead, President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak and manager Oli Marmol have led the team to a combined 87-115 record since Opening Day of the 2023 season.

Even worse, the future doesn't appear to be all that bright right now. Stars like Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina are already gone while Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado remain but are fading. And let's not forget the 2023-24 offseason plan to rebuild the roster that has proved unfruitful early in the 2024 campaign.

The pressure is mounting in St. Louis for the Cardinals to deliver results and it's not happening. Marmol is firmly on the hot seat, even after signing a surprising extension this offseason. But what about Mozeliak? After all, it's his decision-making in the front office that ultimately led the Redbirds to this point.

If he wasn't on the hot seat, though, he might've put himself there with his comments during a media appearance on Sunday.

John Mozeliak sets himself up to be fired by Cardinals alongside Oli Marmol

Speaking with KMOX on Sunday morning, Mozeliak attempted to take some accountability when talking about Marmol and the Cardinals' underperformance. But in doing so, he might've made himself more vulnerable than he probably intended.

"These are times that are difficult," Mozeliak said (h/t John Denton of MLB.com). "I still think he understands the job, I think he knows how to manage, and I think he is trying to put the right combination of player in, but at some level you've got to have some performance. Yeah, I understand fans are not happy with myself, and they're not happy with Oli. I don't think anything I say here today is going to change that. We have to keep trying to go back and get this to work, and we understand if it doesn't, people are going to be held accountable and ultimately that starts with me."

There is certainly quite a lot to unpack there. But the two biggest things to consider are this: First, Mozeliak is aware that the Cardinals being 20 games under .500 last season, trying to rebuild the roster this past offseason, and only coming up to being eight games under .500 through the first 40 games of the 2024 campaign is not something the fans or ownership will accept. Secondly, by saying "that starts with me", he certainly opens himself up to getting a pink slip with Marmol.

While Mozeliak was at the helm of the front office during the club's 2011 World Series title, that's a far cry from where the Cardinals are now. This is a team and organization that has severely lacked foresight and that is now paying the piper for that, not to mention making a seemingly miscalculated hire with Marmol and then extending Marmol after a 71-91 season in 2023.

Marmol deserves much of the heat he gets from Cardinals fans, but Mozeliak undeniably deserves his share too. And if things don't turn around in St. Louis, the de-facto GM is right, people need to be held accountable. He's also right in that he's one of the people who should be first to face the music when the time comes.