ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - It was a rather frigid weekend in St. Louis, but that didn't stop Cardinals Nation from gathering at Busch Stadium and Ballpark Village.
The 2024 Cardinals Winter Warm Up was underway last weekend, with plenty of new and old faces attending the event, along with notable Cardinals alums and fan favorites.
To catch up with interviews with players and Cardinals figures that KMOX Sports Director Tom Ackerman, along with Sports Open Line Host Matt Pauley and 'The Chris and Amy Show' host Chris Rongey, you can head to our website and check Cardinals Conversations to find every interview our on air talent at KMOX had during the Winter Warm up.
There were a lot of news and notes from Cardinals Winter Warm Up this weekend, some notes that fans might've missed but here's the more notable news and notes from the warmup.
CARDINALS PRESIDENT JOHN MOZELIAK REITERATES LIKELY INTENTIONS TO STEP BACK AFTER 2025.
Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak has made it no secret that he looked to likely step back a bit from the day to day operations of running a MLB baseball team after his contract ends after the 2025 season. He reiterated that again during the Winter Warm Up, standing by previous comments he made last years Winter Warm Up regarding his future.
"I don’t want to sit up here on January 13 and retire, but I think having a succession plan and uncoupling some of the things I’ve been involved in at such a high level…it’s probably reasonable to think that having a different voice at some point would make a lot of sense," Mozeliak told reporters Saturday.
There will be no shortage of potential candidates to be as seen as the successor to Mozeliak as the man in charge of the whole baseball department. Cardinals GM Michael Girsch, who had previous interests from teams across the league, along with Assistant GM Moises Rodriguez and Scouting Director/Assistant GM Randy Flores would all certainly be under consideration for the job, and of course, recently hired advisor and former Boston Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom would also garnish serious consideration for the job too.
Bloom potentially might be one of the leading candidates right now, especially with how the offseason has unfolded for the Cardinals. According to Mozeliak, while Bloom was only announced as an advisor just eight days ago, he's actually been a part of the club for months, with a few of the clubs acquisitions so far have "been bounced off" of Bloom.
Five of the nine pitchers the Cardinals have acquired this off-season have had a connection to Bloom. Andrew Kittredge and Riley O'Brien were both part of the Tampa Bay Rays organization when Bloom was still with the Rays while Ryan Fernandez and Nick Robertson, along with Victor Santos, were all with the Red Sox organization when Bloom was in charge of the operations.
"Some of them he remembered better than others," Mozeliak told reporters, including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. "But certainly if you have a resource, you should tap into it, and that’s what we did."
CARDINALS STILL LIKELY TO ADD ANOTHER RELIEVER, WITH SOME PAYROLL FLEXIBILITY STILL POTENTIALLY
The Cardinals 2024 payroll has been a subject of controversy for Cardinals Nation. As St. Louis Post Dispatch reporter Derrick Goold has reported repeatedly all offseason, the Cardinals 40-man payroll would be right near the $200 million mark.
Currently according to Cot's Baseball Contracts, the Cardinals total 40-man payroll is projected to be $172 million at the moment, but the club's competitive balance tax 40-man payroll is currently projected to be slightly above $200 million right now.
Theoretically, the Cardinals still have some money to spend and Mozeliak reiterated it when asked about the payroll.
"The budget question always comes up. Payroll question. It’s probably not as black and white as people would like to think it is." said Mozeliak, transcribed by St. Louis Post Dispatch writer Ben Fredrickson. "Depending on what the type of investment might look like, it’s something we can always take to ownership if we feel like it’s important or a good value. But do I think there is some room in the payroll if we needed to? Yes."
Mozeliak reiterated it when he talked to KMOX during the Winter Warm Up with a return to the free agency market likely.
"Our focus right now is more on the free agency market, not seeing a whole lot of things that line up for us in the trade market at this point." Mozeliak told KMOX's Matt Pauley.
As to where the Cardinals could pursue using that money in free agency the answer is a bit obvious: bullpen. While the Cardinals have acquired nine pitchers so far this offseason, with five of them being bullpen pitchers, only Kittredge and Robertson among the five have major league experience out of the bullpen. Both will have some question marks, especially with Kittredge coming off Tommy John surgery.
While there have been a few relievers already to have taken themselves out the market, including former Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks, who signed a four-year, $44 million deal with the San Francisco Giants, but some names like former Astros relievers Hector Neris, Phil Maton, Ryne Stanek, former Angels lefty Matt Moore, and Phillies reliever David Robertson are still available.
It probably out the realm of possibility the Cardinals are in on superstar closer Josh Hader, who is seeking $100 million or even pay up for Neris, who could get $11-13 million a year, but Maton, Moore, and even former Cardinals farmhand Adam Ottavino could likely be in the Cardinals price range.
CARDINALS EXPECT TO FULL RIGHTS PAYMENTS IN 2024, WORK TO POTENTIALLY CREATE OWN NETWORK IN 2025
Of course, the story that has continued to ravaged every major pro sports league not named the NFL or MLS is the future of TV rights for NHL, NBA, and MLB teams under the Bally Sports banner.
The NHL and NBA have their rights issued sorted out with both leagues agreeing to deals with Bally Sports owners Diamond Sports that will see the rights stay on the channels until the end of the season then revert back to the leagues.
MLB appears to be heading on a similar path, but for 2024, it appears all but three MLB teams will receive full rights payments and have their games broadcast on Bally Sports for one more year.
Cardinals President Bill Dewitt III and principal owner Bill Dewitt Jr. reiterated that they expected to receive their right payments in 2024 during a press conference on Monday, the final day of Cardinals Winter Warm Up, but its future in 2025 and later remains murky.
Dewitt III says the Cardinals are looking at the possibility of having their rights back revert back to them in 2025 and could look to create their own team network, similar to the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees with the Marquee Sports Network and the YES Network, respectively, or own and operate a tv network with the St. Louis Blues, similar to what the Houston Astros and Rockets are doing with Space City Home Network.
CARDINALS UTILITY PLAYER TOMMY EDMAN NOT CLEARED TO HIT UNTIL AFTER START OF SPRING TRAINING.
Cardinals utility player Tommy Edman is currently slated to be the starting center fielder for the club on Opening Day in Los Angeles in 2024. How he will fare will being full time in the role is to be determined, but the path to Opening Day for Edman will face a few slight bumps in the road for him.
Probably sometime closer to the start of Spring Training in mid-February, the Cardinals and Edman will likely have arbitration hearing unless both parties could agree to a multi-year deal. There's about a $400K difference between figures submitted by Edman's camp and the Cardinals. Edman's camp filed at $6.95 million while the Cardinals filed at $6.5 million.
Along with that hearing, Edman is still working his way back from wrist surgery that he underwent this off-season. Edman told the media Monday the surgery was needed to help alleviate pain that Edman has routinely faced for the past couple seasons.
The surgery has led to Edman being not not able to swing the bat, making him limited to only dry swings.
"I have a progression I’m going to follow. I think it’s 11 steps." said Edman Monday. "The first step will be 50% off a tee for 20 swings, and then 50% off the tee for 30, 40 swings and then get to 70% to 80%, and then soft toss. There is a step program, and if I respond well to a certain step, then we’ll move on to the next one the next time I hit."
Thankfully, the injury is only limited to Edman's bat, with Edman having been able to still do glove work and other aspects of his game. Edman was confident that the he should still be ready to go by Opening Day, but the injury could affect him to where he could miss a few Spring Training game when it begins in late February.