Which has been the REAL problem?

[Cranny]

Did DeWitt tie the front office's hands with payroll demands that were unrealistic in building a winner?
Or did Mozeliak just suck at building legitimate roster?

Was it DeWitt being cheap? Was it Mozeliak being a putz?

I'm asking a serious question. Who was the REAL problem?

The REAL problem is that John Mozeliak whizzed away close to $ 450,000,000 of DeWitt’s money on failed FA contracts and stupid extensions to players on the downswing.

Despite people like Cranny who continue to tell us that overall Mozeliak was great, the fact is the damage Mozeliak caused to the Cardinals cannot be overstated.

Dewitt bears the responsibility for not firing Mozeliak much sooner than he did, but I’ll always believe HackGate resulted in Mozeliak being untouchable. What other sane reason would cause an employer to hang on to someone who blew that kind of Company money?

Bomber - If you're going to attempt to represent what I've said, at least make some attempt to represent it in the proper way. I've said that Mo made some good moves, and some not so good moves. And that he indeed has fallen off in the past several years. Goldy and Arenado didn't hit in the playoffs. He should have anticipated that. And also anticipated that Goldy and Arenado were going to go backwards sooner than later. Gallen and Alcantara were rated #24 and #6 in our system when traded. He should have known that someday they would go on to win the Cy Young Award. No excuses. And he sure should have anticipated that Walker and Gorman would flop. What was he thinking? But he did have both some wins and some loses over the nearly 30 years he was with the Cardinals, at various levels within the organization. And a balanced look is probably fairer than looking at just the last 10 years. Agreed?

[AZ_Cardsfan]

Which is the real problem?

Well for one it is HARD to get it all right. Mo is hardly the worst manager and DeWitt and team hardly the worst owners. Not the best either. They made mistakes and IMO over the last 10 or so years have taken the path of "safest let's be competitive every year". Bottom line they never got over the hump to be really competitive in the playoffs.

People don't recognize the massive advantage the big money clubs have. And yet where are the Yankees? Yeah Dodgers have oodles of money but they also spend it well and develop talent. it is a formidable combination.

STL took too ling to recognize the paradigm shift and became irrelevant. IMO they NOW recognize the only path available to a mid-market team and are on it. If done right we should start to see results in 2027. It will still be hard to get to the series. They will still be unable to land the Ohtanis and Tuckers of the world. They will have to get there developing core talent through the draft and complementing it with second tier free agents.

[Cranny]

Which is the real problem?

Well for one it is HARD to get it all right. Mo is hardly the worst manager and DeWitt and team hardly the worst owners. Not the best either. They made mistakes and IMO over the last 10 or so years have taken the path of "safest let's be competitive every year". Bottom line they never got over the hump to be really competitive in the playoffs.

People don't recognize the massive advantage the big money clubs have. And yet where are the Yankees? Yeah Dodgers have oodles of money but they also spend it well and develop talent. it is a formidable combination.

STL took too ling to recognize the paradigm shift and became irrelevant. IMO they NOW recognize the only path available to a mid-market team and are on it. If done right we should start to see results in 2027. It will still be hard to get to the series. They will still be unable to land the Ohtanis and Tuckers of the world. They will have to get there developing core talent through the draft and complementing it with second tier free agents.

Bingo.