St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak doesn’t operate in a vacuum. His abilities are directly influenced by other important members of the front office.
This offseason, for instance, Mozeliak is handcuffed by a farm system that lacks a depth of Major League-ready talent. In so many trades these days, that’s what payroll-shedding teams usually want. And, soon, the St. Louis Cardinals will probably be losing at least one moderately tradable asset, 25-year-old infielder Jacob Wilson, in the Rule-5 draft. MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo thinks hard-throwing right-hander Luis Perdomo will probably be taken, too.
So that leaves Mozeliak with the dangerous free agency market, where pitfalls are everywhere.