Mozeliak: We've got to find the 'right mix'

Less than four weeks ago, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak met with reporters on Zoom to discuss the state of the pitching staff, shortly after staff ace Jack Flaherty went down with what’s become a months-long injury.

At the time, Mozeliak said he and his front-office staff were prepared to entertain any and all opportunities and offers to enhance St Louis' pitching staff. Some have matriculated, mostly moves to bolster Triple-A Memphis' staff and more fringe spots on the Major League roster. In terms of trades, Mozeliak said “it's a seller's market” for teams to leverage ones like the Cardinals.

So for now, the Cardinals will do what they can to organize their arsenal to try and plug the leak of what’s been a disastrous month of June that has seen the team go 7-17 in 24 games with a -52 run differential.

“We really feel like we've got to just keep this perpetual churn on the roster to try and find that right mix,” Mozeliak said. “ … We're just trying to find that right formula or recipe that gets us through to another day.”

Things took on a new look Monday when St. Louis called up left-hander Brandon Waddell, selected the contract of right-handed long-relief arm Roel Ramírez and optioned bullpen hands Jake Woodford and Seth Elledge to Triple-A, as well as announcing the promotions of several top-tier prospects in tandem.

All of these moves were designed with the goal of getting things back on track as the July 30 Trade Deadline approaches. Before the club has a better idea of which exact direction it will go then -- when pitchers like Flaherty, Miles Mikolas and Jordan Hicks will be closer to returning -- it needs to see its current crop paper over the next stretch of play.

The pitching staff will remain open to creativity, and the offense, nearing full health with outfielder Harrison Bader likely to return this week, will look to try and find some sort of rhythm to show the front office it can get back into the playoff race.

“We definitely have a win-now mentality, but we're not going to do so at the cost of our future,” Mozeliak said. “Any type of deal we do is going to be very tricky, and it's almost like trying to thread the needle for that perfect deal. It can be challenging.”

The clear direction has changed, with Mozeliak saying his focus has grown away from the free-agent market as June comes to a close.

“As the last four weeks have sort of unfolded, I don't think you can go back and change time, but expectations were a little higher in what we would see,” Mozeliak said. “And unfortunately, rather than taking a step forward, we really have taken a step backward [with] the rotation. Unfortunately, we are where we are right now, and trying to help this club is going to be very challenging. But you know we're working very hard to see if we can make incremental moves in the short term, and if there's anything else that makes sense for us down the road.”

Here’s a sampling of what else Mozeliak spoke about on Monday:

On the coaching staff
On Thursday, Tommy Edman gave a candid assessment of how the Cardinals’ offense is struggling, with lack of focus on preparation and missing consistency in routine one of the bigger issues.

St. Louis sits last in the Majors with just 69 runs scored in June (every other team has at least 85).

That called into question the status of several coaches on the Major League roster, to which Mozeliak responded:

“Obviously, we've had some offensive struggles. And for some reason, [hitting coach] Jeff Albert has had a target on his back,” Mozeliak said. “ … We understand that things aren’t getting done. … We're looking at that all the time on trying to internally address that, but you have to understand that these coaching staffs are large, there are multiple voices, and you're hoping those multiple voices can reach different players. … Ultimately, we're trying to make sure that the right voices are reaching the right players or the right players are getting spoken to in the right way.

“We're trying to get this right, but I think when things are going bad, these things tend to have a lot more volume to it than when things are going well.”

On Minor League promotions
The shuffling of the Cardinals’ roster on Monday extended down to the farm. Nolan Gorman, the club’s No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline, will move to Triple-A after slugging his way to a part-historic, part-blazing start to his first games at Double-A Springfield.

Also moving up is No. 6 prospect and 2020 first-round Draft pick Jordan Walker, who, at 19, will be one of the youngest players at his level with High-A Peoria. It helps that he hit .374 with six homers and a 1.162 OPS in 27 games at Low-A Palm Beach, much of that coming in a pitcher-friendly ballpark.

“You think of players at that age that have put up those kind of numbers since I've been here, you probably would say Albert Pujols, and the other one would be Oscar Taveras,” Mozeliak said.

Gorman will continue to play second base with Memphis, as the club prioritizes his flexibility with Nolan Arenado signed to the hot corner through 2027. No. 13 prospect Malcom Nunez was also transferred from High-A Peoria to Springfield.