John Mozeliak feels 'insulted' by Cardinals fans who question his job performance

It would be a fair assessment to say that St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak is not a favorite among the best fans in baseball. Anyone who has a Cardinals fan in their life could've ascertained as much, but the fan base also made that abundantly clear on Thursday afternoon for the home opener at Busch Stadium when they nearly booed Mozeliak out of the building.

And based on his latest quotes, Mozeliak has no idea why he's so unpopular for what he's done in his job with the Cardinals as the top decision-maker in the front office.

Speaking with 101 ESPN St. Louis, Mozeliak said he was "insulted" by fan backlash and critcism of putting a winning product onto the field in a rant-adjacent monologue addressing the current ire he's drawn from the St. Louis faithful.

"Our goal is to play deep into October," Mozeliak said. "You want to put a team out there that can compete and give you a chance to win. That's what we're here to do. When I hear people say we're not willing to spend... There's always ways to do things better, but to say we're not trying to put a winning product out there is rather insulting to someone like myself because we certainly are. We want to put a product out there that not only are we proud of, but our fans are proud of, as well."

Cardinals' John Mozeliak 'insulted' by fans criticizing his decisions

The Cardinals are infamous for not spending big when it comes to free agency, a trademark they somewhat deviated from this past offseason as they inked right-hander Sonny Gray to a three-year, $75 million deal. But it's what happened around the Gray contract that has drawn much criticism.

Beyond signing Gray, Mozeliak and the Cardinals replenished a barren rotation with stopgap veterans Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson. And when Gray was injured in spring training and sure to start the regular season on the IL, Jordan Montgomery remained on the market as a clear upgrade. There was, however, no action that we saw on St. Louis' part to make a reunion with Monty happen, and he ultimately signed with the Diamondbacks.

If that weren't enough, on the heels of one of the worst Cardinals seasons in recent memory in 2023, Mozeliak handed out a two-year contract extension to manager Oli Marmol, a figure that most fans expected to be on the hot seat in the 2024 season, not locked up to a new contract.

That also plays into Mozeliak's notion of putting a winning product on the field. Sure, prior to the 71-91 debacle of a year ago, the Cardinals had four straight playoff berths -- but they won one of baseball's most winnable divisions just twice in that span, capped out at 93 regular-season wins, and won just one of the five playoff series they were in. Not exactly a stellar track record of a winning product unless the goal of the season is to get bounced quickly in the postseason.

Mozeliak himself said that it was not the goal before saying he was insulted by fans' criticism of his work. So that truly doesn't align; either the team isn't putting the best possible product on the field which is why they haven't gone deep into October or just doing enough to get into the playoffs is the goal. But Mozeliak being insulted simply isn't justifiable given his and the front office's actions.