Cardinals Writer Calls Out John Mozeliak For Poor Bullpen Construction

John Mozeliak sat on his hands all offseason long.

Mar 27, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak looks on during opening day ceremonies before the game between the Cardinals and the Minnesota Twins at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

The St. Louis Cardinals return home on Friday after a dreadful 1-6 road trip that saw them get swept in four games by the New York Mets and lose two of three to the Atlanta Braves.

The starting rotation is performing quite well, and even the offense has been able to pick up timely hits after a rough 2024 season. However, the bullpen is what is hurting this team.

Several of St. Louis' top relievers from last season are struggling, and it has led to them falling to 10-15 on the season. On the "Dealin' the Cards" podcast, Sandy McMillan of Redbird Rants called out president of baseball operations John Mozeliak for his poor bullpen construction.

"I'm normally a Mo apologist, but this is unacceptable," McMillan said. "Mozeliak had all offseason to figure out how to revamp this bullpen. You knew Ryan Fernandez had trouble at the end of last season. You know JoJo Romero had trouble at the end of last season. You knew you weren't getting [Andrew] Kittredge back. All these things you knew. It was reckless endangerment of this roster to not go out and add another reliever."

There were plenty of relievers available this past offseason that St. Louis could have chosen from. They added Phil Maton, who has performed well, but that hasn't been nearly enough to stop the bleeding.

While Mozeliak was forced to work with payroll constraints set by ownership, relievers typically aren't terribly expensive in free agency, and the Cardinals had more than enough resources to go sign at least one more reliever.

David Robertson is shockingly still available, so the Cardinals could potentially look to sign him to fix their bullpen.

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