# St. Louis Cardinals Blogger Day Recap

- Link: https://www.nyrdcast.com/st-louis-cardinals-blogger-day-recap/
- Published: 2018-04-23T15:02:48-05:00
- Author: Eugene Tierney

Sunday was the 8th Annual Blogger Day at Busch Stadium. Like the previous years,
President of Baseball Operation John Mozeliak and Team President Bill DeWitt III
spoke with us. Here’s the highlights:

[[

John Mozeliak answers questions from Bloggers

Mozeliak feels good about where the team is at and that they will be competitive.
Depth is one of the most exciting parts of the team.

**On [Adam Wainwright](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wainwad01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-)‘
s Elbow: **The team isn’t worried; if it happened later in the season, they would
have had him pitch through it. They have depth to DL him and having the 10-day DL
makes it easy. He’ll only miss a start or 2.

**On the season length: **The season keeps feeling longer each year. It’s hard on
the players. He and the DeWitts would consider it; 154 would be ideal and we’d see
nothing below that. He does anticipates no changes at this time.

**On [Carson Kelly](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kellyca02.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-):**
they wanted him to play every day; he said Kelly “took a step backward last year”
after his promotion. They have depth at catcher in system and specifically mentioned
[Andrew Knizner](https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=knizne000and&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-);
they have options for down the road.

**On the coaching staff changes: **He wouldn’t talk negatives at this time. The 
narratives from last season were base running and defense; both of which have shown
improvement. He feels the coaches take too much heat for this stuff and players 
needs as much responsibility as coaches.

Coaching is part art, part science. He mentioned [Tyler Lyons](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lyonsty01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-)
and his subpar appearance on Saturday: analytically, he should have succeeded as
he faced 3 lefties in 4 at bats. If [Mike Matheny](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mathemi01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-)
doesn’t have the right tools, that falls on him and the front office.

He also mentioned there isn’t public info of what’s going on with players – pitching
availability, player attitudes, etc.

**On pace of play: **He believes there is tension between players association and
MLB; there is no line in the sand with players though. Players don’t want long games
either. Players want changes that don’t impact their day to day job – a la pitch
clock, strike zone changes, etc. He, along with the front office, are all for quicker
games.

**On his job change:** As the GM, he was in the details of running the team; he’s
trying to let Mike Girsch do more of that. He has struggled to step back; it hasn’t
been an easy transition, but that’s on him and not Girsch.

**On [Jordan Hicks](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hicksjo03.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-):**
He met with [Yadier Molina](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/molinya01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-)
and Matheny after a Hicks spring training start; Yadi said “Let me take hold of 
this wheel and see what we have”. Since Yadi can get most out of pitchers, they 
went with it. They expect great things. He also addressed K Rate; he compared Hicks
to [Aroldis Chapman](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/chapmar01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-)
and looked at BB and K rates. Hicks has a much lower BB rate than Chapman did early
on, but he needs to learn how to get swings and misses; he believes that Yadi will
help with that. Hicks chance to be special, but he doesn’t know if he’ll be starter
or reliever in long run. He knew Hicks was something special after watching in Peoria.

He also joked about promoting him was just “Mo being cheap” with the bullpen. He
knew that Hicks would make an impact; he didn’t think it would be this fast, along
he didn’t think it would be that long either.

**On [Jose Martinez](https://www.baseball-reference.com/search/search.fcgi?pid=martijo08,martijo06,martijo04,martin059jos,martin056jos,fermin002jos,martin072jos,martin073jos,martin071jos,martin018jos,martin037jos&search=Jose+Martinez&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-):**
there was a pinch hit at bat against Chapman that stuck out with Mo and Matheny;
Martinez didn’t look overwhelmed. They thought they had something special with him
then, although they didn’t want to make that opinion from 2 at bats.

**On catcher depth:** they have no thoughts of moving any of their catchers. They
have more value as catcher than any other position due to their unique skill set.
If a bat works, they’d consider it; Knizner was an example of a guy who could hit
as a first baseman. They don’t want to “devalue assets” though; it’s easy to move
a catcher to first base, but it’s too hard to take a first baseman and move him 
to catcher.

**On spin rates:** As an organization, they are trying to create a curriculum for
pitcher. Hicks strength is ground balls and they encourage him to embrace it. They
are investing in pitching lab in Jupiter for the off-season to work on improving
their pitching. There will be a brick and mortar building to replace individual “
coaches/specialists”.

**On Wainwright to bullpen:** Asked if the bullpen easier than starting? He talked
of stress of up and down, pitching back to back days vs every 5th, etc. Wainwright
sees himself as a starter. He also doesn’t know what role Wainwright would have.
He likes the current competition in the bullpen. He never thought they’d sign [Greg Holland](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hollagr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-)
back in February. They were bullish on [Bud Norris](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/norribu01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-),
but with him, Holland, and [Luke Gregerson](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gregelu01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-),
they have some really good options.

[Jack Flaherty](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/flaheja01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-)
deserves to be in the Majors, but who goes out to move Wainwright. They have good
depth in pitching.

**On [Alex Reyes](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reyesal02.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-):**
They don’t have to answer questions about him until June 1, but they are already
thinking about it. His rehab will be as a starter. His ultimate position will be
dictated by where their biggest need is when he comes back at. Adding him to 60-
day DL kept them from making a knee jerk reaction if there was an early season need.

[STL Hat Trick](http://stlhattrick.com/john-mozeliak-talks-2018-st-louis-cardinals-with-cardinals-bloggers/)
has the full video of Mozeliak.

DeWitt III kept more to the business side and there was less newsworthy material.

**On the stadium changes:** They wanted to make an area for the people that wanted
to socialize at the games, so they created the Budweiser Terrace. It features 2 
bar areas and an open flame grill featuring sausages, chicken legs, and shrimp skewers.
They’ll also have $5 Busch drafts until first pitch.

They also added the 1764 Craft Pub, where us “beer snobs” can find local craft beer
offerings. DeWitt III said the location of the Craft Pub was one of the most visually
unappealing in the stadium; the area is now lit up and looks better with this added.
They have beer from Schlafly, Urban Chestnut, 4 Hands, Charleville, and O’Fallon.

**On Ballpark Village: **Professional sports franchises come to BPV to tour it and
see what has worked. They will have part one of Phase 2 completed next July, which
will be the office building and parking garage. Part 2 will be a few months after
that, which includes more retail shops. The final part will be the housing complex
with more parking, which is expected to be completed in 2 years, due to the fact
it’s going to be a higher building than the offices.

**On pace of play: **DeWitt III is all for speeding the game up. He’s a fan of the
way the game was in the ’80s and would like to see if head back that way. It drives
him nuts to see guys adjusting batting gloves and go through little routines between
each pitch.

**On blue hats:** He’s a traditionalist with uniforms and doesn’t want to be an 
organization that has a new look every week. He’s went as far as saying he’s not
a fan of the logos with stars or camouflage for holidays. The one thing they are
considering is a special “powder blue”, ’80s style jersey with the modern logo on
it; he said they look sharp and might do a fan vote to see what the public thoughts
are.

The event wasn’t limited to the Q&A; the team features some of the new food available.
The already mentioned sausage and shrimp were a hit, as was the Coca-Cola Pulled
Pork Tacos. I’d highly recommend tracking them down. I was also a fan of the bacon
wrapped hot dog.

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