Following the 2007 season, Walt Jocketty was stunningly fired and Mo was hired. It was stated at the time, the aim was an analytic based approach to player development. The franchise would no longer rely on trading prospects for higher priced veterans. That the goal was a mostly home grown team. While some veterans like Edmonds and Rolen were both past their primes and moved on from (as well as Edgar Renteria), the 2008 team still had Pujols, Molina, Wainwright, and Carpenter to build around. Plus, they still had TLR and Duncan, though fissures were beginning to develop as Duncan was not happy with the organization’s pitching development process.
That plan lasted until mid-2009 when the Cardinals traded for Mark DeRosa and Matt Holliday and re-signed Holliday that offseason. Prior to 2011, they signed Lance Berkmann and then swung the big deal for veteran pitching (in addition to getting Furcal).
This lasted through roughly 2016 when guys like Beltran, Fowler, Cecil and Miller. The last gasps were the Arenado and Goldy deals. When Mo was promoted to POBO and Girsch was made GM, it was for the stated purpose to free Mo to oversee the overhaul of the analytics department
We’ve Seen This Before
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