John Mozeliak, the president of baseball operations for the St. Louis Cardinals, did something early on Monday night that he hadn’t done in an interview room at Busch Stadium: he spoke to the media from the podium.
Mozeliak seated Sonny Grey next to his newest Cardinal, introducing him for the first time as a Cardinal. He gave Grey the matching Cardinal red ballcap and a brand-new white No. 54 jersey. He then reclined, gave Grey a quick glance, and smiled.
The Cardinals did not wait for the starting pitching market to emerge because they were anxious and impatient to rebuild their rotation. Rather, they determined who their top targets were, went after them, and accelerated the signing process. Mozeliak and the front office picked up three starting pitchers in one week, including their first pick, Grey.
“Our sole objective going into the season was to pitch, pitch, pitch,” Mozeliak stated on Monday. “And so far, so good,” I would add.
It was not easy for Mozeliak to achieve his ambitious target of adding three starters during the winter. That he was able to achieve that goal before December 1st, though, by using the free-agent market by himself to sign Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and Grey, was encouraging. The fact that the Cardinals believe there is still work to be done, despite adding three starters, was even more encouraging for the fan base.
Being done or finished isn’t the point of this, according to Mozeliak. This has to do with taking care of our needs and carrying out a decision we made. We felt it was vital to add three guys to our rotation. We still know that spring training will have competition. However, the offseason still has two months left, and we recognise that there is still work to be done.
Grey, a 34-year-old three-time All-Star who drove the Minnesota Twins into the postseason last season, is the top arm that St. Louis has locked down. Grey finished second in the American League in Cy Young Award voting, with a 2.79 ERA, behind only Gerrit Cole of the Yankees. Additionally, the Cardinals added two seasoned veterans to the rotation—Lynn and Gibson—pluckers the team considered to be reliable innings-eaters. In contrast to 2023, when the team frequently had to scramble to cover innings, the Cardinals believe that these three signings, along with a possible rebound season from Miles Mikolas and a healthy season from Steven Matz, could bring much more steadiness to the rotation.
You reflect on the previous year and attempt to analyse what went well and poorly, according to Mozeliak. However, we felt that one of the things we were lacking as pitchers was those guys who had gone through and experienced it.
