Q & A With the PBO

For many of the past offseasons, the members of the United Cardinal Bloggers have been able to put together some questions and get them submitted to John Mozeliak for his answers and thoughts.  This year, there were some delays and that meant that Mo only got a chance to tackle them right before Winter Warmup.  Mo usually picks 2-3 from each person to answer and here were the ones I asked, along with his responses:

C70: You said when we met with you in July that Jeff Albert’s curriculum might have been too advanced to be absorbed by everyone. What steps are you and he taking to help players continue to learn his approach this offseason?

Mo: The best thing that has helped us, as far as thinking about our hitting curriculum and what type of development strategy we want with our major league hitters, has been time. When our season ended we had time to evaluate how our players felt, what they we’re really getting out of it, what they needed to get out of it, and so we’ve been able to make some adjustments to allow for that curriculum to grow and evolve. I really feel like over the last three months we’ve taken advantage of that. Overall, I’m very pleased at where we are and from our hitters standpoint they’re in a better spot today than they were a year ago with anticipation of the hitting coach changes.

C70: What is the latest on the pitching lab in Florida?

Mo: I was actually dealing with that today. Our fingers are crossed that we will be able to move into the building sometime in February, but between the Fire Marshall and [Palm Beach] County I don’t know if that will happen for sure. I am still hopeful that we’ll be able to use it [during Spring Training], but it may be delayed.

C70: Is there such a thing as too many major league ready outfielders?

Mo: I would imagine if you are one or two of the outfielders that are starting in Memphis you would argue yes. If you are a General Manager that is trying to build depth in you system, you would say no. When you’re looking at players on your 40-man roster, most everyone on that roster is hoping for an opportunity at some point to contribute to the major league team and they are very aware of what your depth looks like.

I had a fourth question that was melded with one of Eugene from Nyrdcast’s about Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina.  You can find that question and answer over at his site.

As always, we appreciate the opportunity to hear from Mozeliak on certain topics.  He didn’t tackle my question about the culture in Houston, which is unsurprising, and he wouldn’t commit to the burgeoning (in my mind) Dylan Carlson wearing #70 campaign.  We will see if his confidence in Albert and the idea that they just needed more time to adapt is well-founded as we roll into 2020 with roughly the same team.  I sincerely hope it is!

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