John Mozeliak's reply to question on job security is a giant red flag for Cardinals

The general manager of the Cardinals knows he could get fired and he's not all that bothered.
Aug 1, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA;  St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John
Aug 1, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John / Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
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The St. Louis Cardinals are having their best run of the season with five wins in six games going into Sunday's series finale with the Boston Red Sox.

Despite the upswing, they're still far closer to last in the NL Central than first. So, job security for manager Oli Marmol and general manager John Mozeliak is still a hot topic of discussion.

Frank Cusumano of KSDK interviewed Mozeliak recently and asked him if he worries about his job security.

"Not in the sense that most people think about," Mozeliak replied.

“I certainly understand I’m responsible for this, and if it doesn’t go right I should be held accountable for it. If I were to never work another day again in baseball, I'll be okay. I'll figure out something to do. It's not where I was 15-20 years ago. If I would have been fired, it would have been much more devastating. I take a lot of pride in what I do and what try to do here as an organization. I hope it doesn't end that way but I certainly understand it's plausible."

Mozeliak being so zen about the "plausible" outcome of losing his job isn't exactly what Cardinals fans should want to hear.

Ever read the poem "Do not go gently into that good night" by Dylan Thomas?

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light," Thomas begs his subject.

That's what Mozeliak should be doing. He should be desperate to keep his job. Desperate to make it work. Desperate to prove he's still worthy of guiding one of the most successful ships in baseball.

Instead, he's responding with a shrug, even saying he's not that bothered about working another day in baseball.

Does John Mozeliak even want to be the Cardinals GM anymore?

You've got to wonder, if the query shouldn't have been about whether he worries about losing his job. The better question might have been, does he even want to keep his job?

There's a sense of resigned air to everything Mozeliak says these days. In another clip from that interview he even told Cusumano that he gets "the sense that the city is tiring of me."

"The vocal minority is getting louder and louder," Mozeliak said. "The only thing that can change that course is we start playing better."

He's not wrong about that, but there's a difference between getting the lineup to play better and actually building a team that's capable of competing at the level the Cardinals should always be aiming for. That takes hard work and going the extra mile. Listening to those clips, it's fair to wonder if Mozeliak's heart is in it.

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