Mozeliak the new GM

i think this doesn't change anything. this team needs on overhaul, a whole need direction. mo is just perpetuation of the same direction, just without jocketty's pride and strife.

blech. i'm mad.

But it seems like a wast of time considering all the talk of Antonetti and what not the past few weeks.

I was kind of excited to see what an outsider could do.

Maybe Mozeliak handles the contracts, and Luhnow gets a bigger voice on the major league side of the club.

The whole who has what powers question gets a whole lot simpler if Lunhow, LaRussa, and the new GM all answer to DeWitt.

I hope I'm wrong, but this does not look good.

Am I missing something or did you jump the gun, lb?

It's kinda scary 'cause the last time somebody jumped the gun this year, they were saying that the Rockies would be playing the Indians in the world series.

So if you did make an assumption, let's hope it comes true."

Not accusing you of jinxing us or anything, but this site really needs to start knocking on wood . . .

It's official.

3 pm newser at Busch

Mozeliak is hired ...

3-year contract...

Antonetti apparently backed out; concerns over autonomy (in other words: the Luhnow factor).

Much more later.

STLtoday.com reported this first, despite what you will hear elsewhere.

Thank you."

Surprise, surprise.

...We get Jocketty Lite when the entire org needed a change of direction. 105 wins, 100 wins, 83 wins, 78 wins. $100 million already invested to a 2008 team which will be lucky to win 75 games. Yeah, lets stand pat in the front office.

Fuck.

(this post is easily going to past the most cursing post of all time.)

I'm not as upset about Mo, I wasn't as down as most on the Pineiro signing, the Izzy option, etc.

If he resigns Eckstein (other than just offering arbitration because WE HAVE TO), I'll be disgusted.

Jeez, the knee-jerk reactions about this are astonishing.  I can understand disappointment, but to assume that any of have a clue what's in Mo's mind is just ridiculous.

Madison, 32, will assist Jeff Luhnow.... Cardinals have made changes in their scouting department and Madison figures to have a prominent role in the player-development operation.

-----------------

Looks like we might be fully embracing this player development philosophy after all.

It is depressing that we can't get one of the top candidates out there.  I hope I'm proved wrong, but I think this is terrible.

When is the Taguchi press conference?

When will we trade for Niefi Perez?

Dewitt needs to check himself & ask himself why he's given one man so much power. if no one besides MO wants to work with the guy one would think Dewitt could see this as ask himself if he hasn't made a mistake & given jeff way, WAY to much power. if the guys not the GM why the hell does he have so much freaking power? it obvious to every one now whos really running the Cards.

i cant blame Antonetti for walking away. i mean come on, if he cant control the farm system, & he cant control the major league roster because thats Tony's job, and MO handles all the contracts & the other day-to-day activities, what was he going to do all day? get Dewitt coffee? pick up his dry cleaning?

this is all Dewitts doing. if & when the Cards fail miserably to reach the playoffs in the next five years we have one man & only one man to blame.

Bill Dewitt Jr.

mo seems like he's an open guy to both the new and the old, stats and scouting based on the googling i've done. and he's not going to be a cancer. he worked well with both sides in a toxic situation. it's not the end of the world.

Zoinks!

The next most ready guy besides Rasums is Jarrett Hoffpauir and most people who are considered experts rank him as a back up league average MLB player.  And they say he can only play 2B.  So he really is not better than Miles.  He would be about $830,000 cheaper and that is about it.

Minor Leagues need to be built up asap.

And what's the deal with Bernie blaming Antonetti's backdown on "the Lunhow Factor"?  I guess I saw Lunhow and Antonetti as of the same mind (both stat-headish).  Guess we know that's not true based on what Rosenthal said, but for Bernie to just throw it out there unsubstantiated is ridiculous!  Blog or column, a journalist should be held to the same standards and accountability for whatever he writes in whatever medium.  

as stated before, the problem was the fact that lunhow had dewitt's ear.  So whenever there was a question about anything within the organization that lunhow and CA didn't agree with, lunhow could also pull the dewitt card and get his way.  that was probably the sticking point for a lot of candidates.

also, it seems like whoever got the gm position was just going to be keeping it warm for lunhow for the next three years till he is ready to take the position.

i like mo and i agree that his and lunhow's skill sets will work well together but i still think we had to "settle" for him.

Excerpts:

"He knows all the people here," DeWitt said, beginning a list of Mozeliak's qualifications. "He's got a good working relationship. He works well with people. He's decisive and knows baseball. He's got a lot to offer.

"He's done a great job in the interim. Signing free agents isn't easy, particularly ones you're pretty sure you want. So the fact that he's here and has taken this interim (title) gives him a good shot. He had a good shot going in, but he's done some things since he's been here, too."

...DeWitt said interviewing candidates like Antonetti, 32, and Woodfork could provide a benefit to the Cardinals even if neither gets the job.

"I don't want to get into specific attributes of these candidates, but I think it's always helpful to get views from someone from the outside," DeWitt said. "Just in the interview process, you get an external opinion of the organization and how they view it and how maybe the industry views it. That's all good information.

"There are 30 different teams, 30 different approaches. Some are more similar than others. When you go through this process --I know how things have been done here over the years --it's good to hear other candidates talk about how they approach it, if it's similar (to the Cardinals), maybe not as good or maybe they have some views that would enhance what we've done."

http://www.bnd.com/sports/cardinals/story/159686.html

1. Putting any of the "blame" for this on Bernie, Rosenthal et al is ludicrous. What the hell do they have to do with hiring a GM?
2. More than one GM candidate has said, under anonymity, that the Cardinals front office situation is pretty much a clusterfuck;
3. Hard as it may be to accept, the Cardinals organization is no longer(and hasn't been for a while now) one of THE places to go for either players OR front office people. Up and comers like Antonetti or Kim Ng will continue to look elsewhere for GM jobs or stay where they are because they've been promised advancement, and "big name" FA will continue to sign elsewhere, because they know they can get more money, for more years. Signing for less just because it's the Cardinals ceased being the drawing card it once was years ago. You may not like it, but that's the way it is these days.
   

gammons, bernie & roesnthal have indeed hinted that luhnow has too much power & can do what ever he wants. i cant remember if any one of the three ever came right out & said if he did or not, so i'm not going to put words in their mouths. but they have strongly hinted at it & it has been a widely assumed belief that luhnow can do what ever & when ever he wants when it comes to the minors.

today (in case you didnt hear) on his afternoon show bernie asked mike lamping, dewitt & MO if the rumor was true that luhnow had the run of the house. they all flatly denied that claim & said luhnow only has control over the minor leagues. but not total power. he has to clear every thing with MO now. both lamping & dewitt said today luhnow lost some power & responsibility. and luhnow was very happy about that because he's in south america trying to get some players.

lamping & dewitt guess the rumor that luhnow had ultimate power was because of Walt's refusal to work with him. luhnow was supposed to report directly to Walt, but Walt never wanted him to, so thats how the rift in the front office started & why luhnow began to report directly to dewitt. as of right now luhnow reports directly to MO. both lamping & dewitt said that was the plan all along. luhnow was suspossed to report to Walt, but Walt refused to work with him.

my beef is not with jeff luhnow. but he is obviously in the middle of all of this. i dont know the guy & dont really have an opinion of the man. i dont think this is his fault. if he is indeed an innocent bystander in all of this i think he's taken far to much heat. if dewitt had hired some other guy to do luhnow's job & things still turned out this way he'd be getting all the heat instead of luhnow. my beef is with dewitt & the way he's handled things. i think he could have gone about hiring luhnow in a different way that didn't piss off Walt & half of the front office.

my beef is the fact this all makes the Cardinals look like a less than desirable place to work for top GM candidates. when in my opinion this should be the best GM job out there. gammons, roesenthal & others have written columns & have gone on tv trashing the Cardinals for how this has gone down. and if Walt really did leak some info to them or had one of his friends leak some info, then shame on him. this whole mess has made the Cardinals look bad. and that really pisses me off.

roesenthal reported today on FSN Midwest right after MO's press conference that the two main reasons why antonetti turned down the job was

#1 the perception that luhnow had ultimate power & would only report to dewitt & not the GM. and that MO & Tony would have most of the control of the 40 man roster. thus antonetti feared he really wouldnt have any power or control over the Cardinals.

and,,,

#2 that the indians didnt want to lose antonetti, so they made him an offer he couldn't refuse. but he would have refused & taken the Cards GM job if the perceptions & fears he had about the Cardinals GM job were false.

lamping & dewitt also said antonetti was never offered the job. but the questions remains, if he wasn't offered the job, why the hell was he looking at houses & schools in the st louis area? it's obvious some kind of offer was made or hinted at otherwise he never would have wasted his time looking at schools & houses. this is another example of the Cardinals lying to their fans & spinning the facts to make them look good.

i never said luhnow had all the power over the Big Birds. i said & others reported & believed it, that luhnow has total control over the minor leagues & only answers to dewitt. and thats the problem. no GM wants a guy working under him who he has no control over. some one, probably Walt started the rumor & it turned into a common belief that luhnow had ultimate power regarding the minor leagues. lamping & dewitt shot down that today after the press conference.

i guess it's up to each individual whether they believe the Cardinals front office, or the press. i for one dont know who to believe.