ST. LOUIS – An accomplished executive with World Series highs early in his reign but an inability to return the club to greatness over the past three years, John Mozeliak left his job as the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations on Monday with an open schedule and a clear conscience.
“In terms of regrets, I don’t have any,” Mozeliak said Monday after wrapping up his 30th and final season with the Cardinals, the last 18 of them in charge of the club’s baseball operations department.
Mozeliak was a part of two World Series champions (2006 and ‘11), four National League champions (also '04 and ‘13), 17 playoff appearances and a run of 15 straight winning seasons from '08-22. That work set a very high standard, one that St. Louis was unable to meet in recent years.
With Mozeliak eschewing a full rebuild and instead trying to patch up problems with short-term free-agent fixes, the Cardinals missed the playoffs each of the past three years. They haven't won a playoff series since '19.
Mozeliak, 56, heads off into something resembling retirement fully aware that the Cardinals were in need of a new voice and a new direction – but also confident that the finish didn't undo the greatness from early in his reign.
“The drumbeat was getting louder – candidly, real loud – for a new voice, and I heard it,” said Mozeliak, whose final Cardinals club finished 78-84 and five games back of a final NL Wild Card spot. “I do believe [change] can be a good thing. Having a fresh voice, a different perspective and new ideas will be healthy for the St. Louis Cardinals.”
Those new ideas will stem from Chaim Bloom, who will be introduced by the Cardinals as their president of baseball operations on Tuesday.
Bloom, who has worked in an advisory role the past two seasons, has been working for months to build relationships with players and reshape the club’s Minor League feeder system. With revenues down and attendance at a 30-year low in 2025, Bloom is likely to commit the Cardinals fully to a rebuild.
Bloom's first order of business could be finding new homes for Nolan Arenado and Sonny Gray. The veterans have been outspoken about wanting to play for a championship contender in 2026.
Once thought to have established the model front office, Mozeliak said on Monday that the massive changes with how franchises evaluate players and performances had made the job more difficult. He repeatedly pointed to baseball’s widening gap between large-market teams and smaller ones such as the Cardinals in St. Louis.
“How you build rosters looks completely different based on your market size,” Mozeliak said. “The ability for a small-market team to be successful will require the following traits: innovation, never losing sight of your core principals, and remaining nimble and flexible in the ever-fluid environment.”
The prime example of that, Mozeliak said, is the Brewers. Had the Cardinals been more open to rebuilding following a 71-91 season in 2023, the current club might more closely resemble one of Mozeliak’s early outfits than the ones that repeatedly missed the playoffs.
“I don’t regret anything that we did this year in the sense of, we knew that it was going to be difficult ... trying to thread this needle,” Mozeliak said of retooling while also pushing for the playoffs. “We wanted to give our fan base some level of hope; we wanted to try to see if a couple of our guys could click and get hot. Unfortunately, we did come up short.
“The unique thing about the role that I had with the Cardinals is that we never tried to rebuild. The words you might hear [on Tuesday from Bloom] might be different, but that’s for them to speak. But in terms of regrets, I don’t have any.”