John Mozeliak just drafted his own pink slip with latest Cardinals move
The St. Louis Cardinals have made quite a few disastrous moves over the past few seasons. Each and every time they make a questionable move, it comes right back on their general manager, John Mozeliak.
And Mozeliak has caught his fair share of slack over the last few years.
The heat is just being turned up at this point, especially with the Cardinals likely to miss the postseason again in 2024. They're consistently a step or two behind the opposition and it's left them with a roster full of aging veterans and young players that are struggling.
The Cardinals recently decided to trade young players like Tyler O'Neill, Dylan Carlson and Tommy Edman. Some of these moves, most recently the Carlson trade, have already painted a bad look on the Cardinals.
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Cardinals DFA Shawn Armstrong, the return from the Dylan Carlson trade
The Cardinals traded their 25-year-old outfielder, Dylan Carlson, who had three years of team control left on his contract, to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for 33 year old reliever, Shawn Armstrong.
Armstrong has looked solid for the Cardinals, tossing 12.2 innings with a sub-3.0 ERA and a WHIP right around 1.00. He's been good and it looks as if he should continue his success with the Cardinals.
Until the Cardinals announced they were designating Armstrong for assignment as they promoted Riley O'Brien to the big leagues.
As Katie Woo of The Athletic put it, the Cardinals traded three years of Dylan Carlson for three and a half weeks of Shawn Armstrong.
This might be the worst-case scenario for the Cardinals right now. Instead of having a few more seasons where Carlson could try to figure it out, they have absolutely nothing to show for the trade.
And to make matter worse, Carlson has looked much better in a Rays uniform. He's still not performing great, but his numbers are much better.
While in St. Louis, across 59 games in 2024, Carlson didn't homer and he was 0-for-1 on stolen base attempts with 11 RBIs. In 19 games with the Rays, he has three home runs, nine RBIs and he's 2-for-2 on stolen base attempts. Carlson needed the change of scenery more than anything.
Mozeliak looks horrible, yet again, for trading a young, controllable player and having nothing to show for it.