John Mozeliak hints at Yadier Molina's pending return: He has issues at home

The St. Louis Cardinals went 71-91 in the 2023 campaign, finishing with their worst winning percentage in decades. There were many reasons why the season went as poorly as it did, but a couple of particular excuses immediately came to mind for Cardinals fans.

The manager did not live up to expectations. After a solid first season as the team's skipper Oli Marmol quickly fell out of favor among Cardinals fans in St. Louis. This is something that Cardinals fans attributed to the absence of Yadier Molina, a team stalwart who was out of the picture after retiring at the end of the 2022 campaign.

Molina spent 19 years as a player for the Cardinals and was not only a Hall of Famer on the field, but was one of the greatest leaders that the game has ever seen. The Cardinals clubhouse wasn't the same with Molina's absence.

With that in mind, you can understand how happy Cardinals fans were when the team announced that they had hired Molina to be a special assistant to the president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. Molina wasn't the team's manager (yet), but he had what looked like a prominent role. Well, at least that was the expectation. He has not been with the team all season. Thankfully, it sounds as if Molina's return to St. Louis might be somewhat near.

John Mozeliak hints at important Yadier Molina return

"Yadi is dealing with stuff at home. Don't wanna get into the details. He's welcomed when he is ready. At this time he doesn't have time, but when he does, I am sure he will jump in with both feet. We still talk frequently."

Molina has been away from the team because he's dealing with things at home. Whenever he's ready to return the Cardinals would love to have him. Fortunately, communication has been there.

Molina won't be in the dugout helping Marmol, unfortunately, but he will be in St. Louis when he's ready giving his input on what Mozeliak has to do to field a winner. As Cardinals fans have learned, when Yadi talks, it's important to listen. That guy is the ultimate winner and leader.

Perhaps Molina being involved in the front office can help, but Cardinals fans do hope he's the heir apparent to Marmol in the dugout, or can at least be a coach in some capacity. Getting him back and acclimated with the organization is step one towards getting Molina back into the dugout.