Questions and Answered from John Mozeliak

Every off-season, Cardinal GM takes a little time out of his busy schedule to answer questions from Cardinal Bloggers. We were able to get a few questions to him for it.

Now that we are 2 seasons past the death of Oscar Taveras, does the organization feel this has set back the team more than they expected?
I knew it was going to be a big impact at the time. As I recall sharing with my close friends at that time when Oscar passed, I stated that as tragic and painful as this is today, from a baseball standpoint it would be much more difficult two or three years down the road because at that point we envisioned him being our number three hitter.

With everyone talking about Andrew Miller‘s usage in the Indians bullpen, do you envision the Cardinals looking at using a closer type pitcher in earlier, high leverage situations?
Mike [Matheny] did a good job last season in not using our closer in save situations only. From what you saw in the 2016 postseason, you will continue to see more creativity. Moving forward, it will be important for teams that have more flexibility and creativity in their bullpens.

What is the plan for Alex Reyes? Starter in St. Louis? More seasoning at Memphis?
I would say he’s going to be a difficult player to not put on the Big League team given his performance and his electric stuff, but it comes down to how he shows up in camp and his level of preparation. But my understanding is he’s having a very good offseason and working diligently.

Give us the name of one under the radar prospect we should pay attention to in 2017.
Pitcher Jordan Hicks (2015 draft pick). He has an exciting arm and it looks like he’s beginning to put it together.

I also asked about a disconnect between the front office and the dugout with the expectations it wouldn’t be answered; as expected, it wasn’t.

Other Cardinal bloggers also submitted questions, so be sure to check other sites to see what they found out.