GatewayRedbirds.com

-- Look for Luhnow to remain in charge of the scouting and to be in charge of the draft. Some will undoubtedly view this as a loss of power for Luhnow, and that's a reasonable view. Personally, I don't care as much about the ego aspect of this, or keeping score on who has the most clout in the organization. To me, this is what's important: what's best for the future of the Cardinals? That's all that matters. And a change in duties should help Luhnow do a better job in the search for players. Luhnow can devote all of his time, energy and focus on finding good amateur prospects for the Cardinals. Isn't that a plus for the franchise? (Matt Slater, currently an assistant to Mozeliak, figures to have an elevated role in assisting Luhnow.)

-- Look for John Vuch, the team's director of minor-league operations, to be promoted and put in charge of the minor leagues.Vunch, a long-time Cardinals' employee, is respected in all quarters of the organization. If Vuch is given more authority, the appointment will be warranted.

-- Look for Gary LaRocque, currently a special assistant to Mozeliak, to to have a significant role in the minor-league operation. From what I'm hearing, the Cardinals would like to re-emphasize the "George Kissell Way" of doing things. Kissell, of course, is the late, great, extraordinary minor-league instructor who schooled hundreds of baby birds on baseball fundamentals. The Cardinals apparently want to have a more consistent system in place for developing a model for teaching young players. Why? So the players will be more prepared to play the game the right way upon graduation to the major leagues. In theory, the minor-league managers, coaches and roving instructors will be more in sync with the major-league operation. And this will help get everyone on the same page. Again: this has to be considered a plus.

If all of this, as expected, transpires then Mozeliak deserves credit for trying to find a better way to do things.

Mozeliak deserves credit for reading this web-site.

fanforever wrote:

Mozeliak deserves credit for reading this web-site.

-- Look for John Vuch, the team's director of minor-league operations, to be promoted and put in charge of the minor leagues.Vunch, a long-time Cardinals' employee, is respected in all quarters of the organization. If Vuch is given more authority, the appointment will be warranted.

wart57 wrote:

fanforever wrote:

Mozeliak deserves credit for reading this web-site.

I am starting to wonder.....

themiddle54 wrote:I'm not sure "respected in all quarters of the organization" is a good thing, given the track record of the folks who have run the organization the past few years. 1 playoff appearance in four years in a fairly poor division, and in which the team is a total 28 games over .500 is no bueno. Swept out in that one playoff appearance, exposing the deficiencies of the 'stars and scrubs' approach. Only Jamie, Motte and Rasmus developed out of the farm and demonstrably valuable at the MLB level over a long enough period to mean anything. It's time to re-think, and shuffling around who's running the show, giving them new titles and shifted responsibilities might not be the best thing for the Cardinals moving forward.

themiddle54 wrote:I'm not sure "respected in all quarters of the organization" is a good thing, given the track record of the folks who have run the organization the past few years. 1 playoff appearance in four years in a fairly poor division, and in which the team is a total 28 games over .500 is no bueno. Swept out in that one playoff appearance, exposing the deficiencies of the 'stars and scrubs' approach. Only Jamie, Motte and Rasmus developed out of the farm and demonstrably valuable at the MLB level over a long enough period to mean anything. It's time to re-think, and shuffling around who's running the show, giving them new titles and shifted responsibilities might not be the best thing for the Cardinals moving forward.

JL21 wrote:

themiddle54 wrote:I'm not sure "respected in all quarters of the organization" is a good thing, given the track record of the folks who have run the organization the past few years. 1 playoff appearance in four years in a fairly poor division, and in which the team is a total 28 games over .500 is no bueno. Swept out in that one playoff appearance, exposing the deficiencies of the 'stars and scrubs' approach. Only Jamie, Motte and Rasmus developed out of the farm and demonstrably valuable at the MLB level over a long enough period to mean anything. It's time to re-think, and shuffling around who's running the show, giving them new titles and shifted responsibilities might not be the best thing for the Cardinals moving forward.

FWIW, Vuch has been part of the organization for a lot longer than just the last four years. He was there for the bulk of, if not the entirety of, the Jocketty era.

I imagine you have a pretty busy schedule, so thanks for taking the time and answering questions for us fans. First of all tell us a little bit on how long you have been with the Cardinals, and how did you became the director of minor league ops?

I was born and raised in St. Louis, and naturally was a huge Cardinals fan. I actually started working for the Cardinals in 1979 when I was in 16 years old. Mike Bertani hired me as a “runner” on game days, taking messages down to the clubhouse, running off stats, taking tickets to the ticket windows, etc. I did that all through high school and college, and then was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time when there was an opening in the Sales Department in 1985. I worked in Group/Season ticket sales for a few years, but Joe Cunningham (Director of Sales) knew that my passion was the baseball side of the game, so he mentioned my name to Lee Thomas as a possibility for an opening in the Player Development department in 1988.

Initially I started in a primarily administrative role, but Lee and Dal Maxvill were pretty quick to give me more responsibilities in all aspects of Baseball Operations including Player Development, Scouting, contract negotiations and salary arbitration. In my early years in Baseball Ops, I worked with some tremendously knowledgeable baseball people such as Ted Simmons, Mike Jorgensen, Freddy McAlister and George Kissell, and tried to learn as much as possible from all of them. Those first few years, I did a whole lot of listening and not too much talking, as I wanted to soak up as much as I could from those guys.

When we had the restructuring in Player Development a few years ago, I moved from a more general baseball role into my current role, which is more heavily geared specifically toward Player Development. Working with the minor league players is probably the most rewarding job in baseball, as there’s definitely a feeling of pride when we see one of our players reach the majors after working so hard to get there in our minor league system.