Cardinals fans won't be happy with latest John Mozeliak, Oli Marmol updates

It was another bitterly disappointing season for the St. Louis Cardinals, who missed the playoffs for a second straight year — just the third time this millennium that the franchise has fallen short of October in consecutive seasons.

No matter where you look, mediocrity abounded: St. Louis ranked 16th in team ERA and tied for 15th in team OPS. Stars like Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado disappointed, while young players like Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman failed to develop as anticipated. This certainly wasn't a bad team, but it also didn't do anything particularly well, and it's hard to figure out just where it stands — and what its identity is — moving forward.

The good news? Leadership is pledging big changes starting this offseason. The not-so-good news, at least for a certain segment of Cardinals Nation? Those changes will not include a new lead decision-maker or a new manager.

John Mozeliak, Oli Marmol set to lead the Cardinals again in 2025

St. Louis announced after the close of the regular season on Sunday that both president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and manager Oli Marmol will return to the team in 2025. While that may sound like simply more of the same to Cardinals fans, Mozeliak insists that the team is committed to revamping the way it acquires and develops talent.

Earlier in Mozeliak's tenure, the Cards were a development machine, taking young, under-the-radar players and turning them into quality homegrown starters with astonishing regularity. (Think of names like Matt Carpenter, Jon Jay, David Freese, Allen Craig, Skip Schumaker and countless others who played meaningful roles on the team's playoff runs of the 2000s and early 2010s.) But somewhere along the way, that machine broke down; the pipeline cheap talent to Busch Stadium stopped flowing, and Mozeliak's attempts to paper over those cracks via free agency and trades were largely a disaster.

Mozeliak knows it's a problem, and says the organization is committed to fixing it.

“We’re shifting to a heavy emphasis that puts it back on scouting and player development,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ($). “I would say that over the past 10 years or so we’ve run a lean operation, and part of that was to allow us to maximize success at the Major League level. But over time you learn that machine can wear down. It’s just not producing at the level it once did. That’s not to say our Minor Leagues are in disarray. But an emphasis on infrastructure is something we have been taking a very serious look at."

Which is all well and good, but it does beg a question: If Mozeliak allowed the machine to wear down under his watch, why should he be the one entrusted with repairing it? The team has brought in former Red Sox GM Chaim Bloom on a full-time basis to help shape the new player-development process, and it does seem like they're taking more seriously what used to be this organization's bread and butter. The recent track record for Mozeliak and Marmol, however, leaves a lot to be desired.

Gorman regressed so badly at the plate that he had to be sent back to Triple-A, while Walker still doesn't seem to have a handle on how to play right field. These are basic, building-block things, and if the Cardinals' process has broken down to the point that they're not being addressed before the Major League level — or if Marmol isn't doing enough to hold them accountable once they get there — it's tough to argue they deserve a vote of confidence. The two will have at least one more chance to prove the doubters wrong, but it's more than fair to be skeptical at this point.