Cardinals Fans May Not Be Giving John Mozeliak Enough Credit

The St. Louis Cardinals were in desperate need of change at the end of the 2025 season. John Mozeliak was finally handing the reins over to Chaim Bloom for the future, signaling the beginning of a new era in St. Louis.

Bloom's influence has played a big role in the Cardinals' early success this season, which was unexpected after the team made four big trades in the offseason to clear the way for younger players.

The young players now have a full runway to succeed in 2026, and Bloom deserves a lot of credit for making the moves that Mozeliak did not. However, Brandon Kiley of 101 ESPN St. Louis explained why fans may not be giving the former executive enough credit for the rebuild.

John Mozeliak might deserve more credit

Aug 1, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak talks with the media after the Cardinals traded shortstop Paul DeJong (11) and starting pitcher Jack Flaherty (22) before a game against the Minnesota Twins at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

"Chaim Bloom is experiencing a lot of success with almost exclusively Mo's guys," Kiley said. "These guys were drafted and primarily developed under Mo's watch. And for a while, man did it look shaky, including for Jordan Walker, who now looks like a potential superstar in the making. He was in charge still technically when JJ Wetherholt was drafted here in St. Louis as well.

"These are primarily his guys that are having success right now, and by the way, the manager that people seem to be falling for again, maybe for the first time, that's a Mo guy too."

It's more than fair for fans to be frustrated with Mozeliak over what took place from 2023-25. There were a lot of mistakes under his watch, and that can't just be swept under the rug.

However, these players were drafted and developed under him. While he made mistakes, he still made some good picks in the draft and added some top talent to the organization. His problem was not making the necessary trades to clear the way for them on the major league roster, and that is where Bloom deserves credit.

But what Mozeliak did to bring these players into the organization still matters, and that also cannot be ignored. Without those picks, the Cardinals wouldn't be in this position now with a strong core of young players.

While Bloom deserves most of the credit for initiating the rebuild, Mozeliak still put the pieces in place that would still be around after some of the veterans were traded away, so in the end, it isn't fair to not give Mozeliak any credit at all, even though there were some mistakes made under his watch.

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