Maybe it isn't Boston's “Curse of the Babe,” or the Cubs' infamous Billy Goat that has cursed the St. Louis Cardinals front office, but since the Redbirds let general manager Walt Jocketty go to the Reds, GM John Mozeliak has had as much luck as Bill Buckner or Steve Bartman.

Heading into unquestionably the most important 30 days of his career and with the entire Major League Baseball community with its eyes on St. Louis, Mozeliak is in charge of extending the contract of the best player in baseball: Albert Pujols. The three-time MVP's contract ends after 2011 and Pujols has told the Cardinals he wants an extension by the beginning of Spring Training or he will test the open market at the end of the season. The Doomsday Scenario. And, playing President of the United States is the same guy who traded for Khalil Greene.

Not only did Mozeliak trade for Greene, he also paid him $6.5 million to hit .200/.302/.347/.619. Greene's failure wasn't an aberration either, the underachieving infielder was worse the season before he was dealt to St. Louis. Here's a look at moves during Mozeliak's tenure that have, for whatever reason, not worked out:

Kyle Lohse – Over the past two years, Lohse has made more than $20 million to go 10-18. He was given an enormous contract after going 15-6 with a 3.78 ERA. It may be the old 20/20, but Lohse never had an ERA below four before his 2008 season and has a 4.79 career ERA. He will make around $11 million in 2011 and 2012.

Brad Penny – The right-hander earned a $7 million contract from Mozeliak after pitching well in six starts for the Giants in 2009 with a 2.59 ERA. In the other 24 starts in '09 for Boston, Penny had a 5.61 ERA. In 2010, he started nine games, earning nearly $1 million per game started and more than $2 million per win.

Felipe Lopez – The infielder was outstanding in 43 games for St. Louis in 2009 putting up a .964 OPS in 169 trips to the plate. Common sense might insist that Lopez's career .731 OPS might be a better indicator of his performance. While Mozeliak didn't spend much on Lopez, he didn't get anything for the price. Playing in 109 games, he managed a .651 OPS in 425 plate appearances.

Mark DeRosa – St. Louis sent young relievers Chris Perez and Jess Todd to the Indians in late June 2009 to score a power-hitting utility player. Unfortunately, they got Mark DeRosa instead. A power hitter with a 96 career OPS+ and an average of 14 home runs per 162 games. The 34-year-old played through injury, hitting .228/.291/.405/.696 in 68 games for the Cardinals.

Ryan Ludwick – This more isn't about what Ludwick did after he was traded to the Padres, but what the Cardinals' replacements did after Ludwick left. Rookie Jon Jay had an OPS of .989 in his first 34 games, in his next 71, he managed a mere .715. Another rookie Allen Craig had an OPS of .711 in 124 at-bats, many after Ludwick left. To Mozeliak's credit, Ludwick struggled in San Diego with a .631 OPS after having a .827 OPS in 77 games for St. Louis.

Joel Piniero – A  Dave Duncan project, Piniero went 15-12 with a 3.49 ERA in 2009 with a 117 ERA+, but the Cards could not retain the starter, who went 10-7 with a 3.84 ERA for the Angels in 2010.

Several of this off-season's decisions have had fans scratching heads. The team signed Lance Berkman, who hasn't played more than half a season in the outfield since 2004, to play right field. Mozeliak also traded the league's best defensive shortstop Brendan Ryan for a single-A pitcher and replaced him with the soft-hitting, no-range Ryan Theriot.

There's certainly a lot there to begrudge Mozeliak's performance for, but none of the gaffes will matter if the Cardinals keep King Albert.

Some have said Pujols,31, may take a home town discount as Joe Mauer did to stay with the Minnesota Twins. Pujols has been taking a discount, constantly outperforming other players getting nearly twice his salary. He has the No. 1 WAR in the National League for six straight seasons, but was paid around $9 million less than Manny Ramirez in 2009 and near $5 million less than pitcher Johan Santana in 2010.

What will St. Louis have to pay to retain the superstar first baseman? Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard signed a deal this season that will pay him $20 million between 2011-13 and $25 million from 2014-2016 with a $23 million team option for 2017. Howard's massive contract should act as a starting point for the Cardinals/Pujols negotiations. Pujols stands well above Howard performance wise, with a career 172 OPS+ to Howard's 140, not to mention defensively the Cardinals' star is second all-time in total zone runs.

CEO William O. DeWitt Jr. told FOX Sports that the team is confident Pujols will be signed by opening day: “Spring training is a long period of time — six weeks. Whether it’s reporting date, or a week after, I don’t view it as, ‘If it’s not done by this day, then . . .’ I don’t see a specific day. DeWitt said. But, SI's Jon Heyman Tweeted that the Cardinals have not yet offered “A-Rod money” to Pujols, yet.

The Cardinals' star deserves to make more money than any player in baseball; the team will argue that if they pay him $35 million they won't be able to keep upcoming free agents such as ace Chris Carpenter. Final answer may end up being somewhere in between. Prediction: St. Louis will pony up to the tune of $27 million per year over seven years with a team option for an eighth and buyout. Keep in mind Alex Rodriguez has career achievement bonuses where he makes an extra $30 million in marketing bonuses for hitting between 660-763 home runs, Pujols could get the same treatment for hitting his 500^th home run, winning the MVP etc.

At the end of the day, the fact is the Cardinals can not let Albert Pujols test the open market. There's no way to spin Pujols as greedy since he's been underpaid for so long, there's no way to make up for the attendance they will lose and -as Mets faithful still remember the trade of Tom Seaver- no way to make up for the long-lasting slap in the face the best fans in baseball.

Matthew Coller is a senior staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter

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Comments (10)

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written by PujolsRiches, January 19, 2011

Way overrating the role of the GM here. You're comparing apples to oranges. Mo may have made those deals, but they aren't as bad as you make them out to be. The essential deal of Ludwick for Westbrook will prove to be a steal, plus he acquired and resigned Matt Holliday. Give Mo credit where he deserves it. Plus, getting Pujols re-upped is more on ownership than on the GM. Fail.

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Why do you leave out Holliday?
written by dn3524, January 19, 2011

1) Matt Holliday? anyone? Bueller? that contract..so panned in 2010....looks brilliant now

2) "could not retain Pineiro"....they had no intention of doing so. didn't even try. seriously....you put that in the "he's messed up" column?

Troy Glaus for Scott Rolen? awesome move for 2008

Signing Wainwright through arb years?

Signing Molina through arb years?

The key figure in signing Ludwick as minor league FA?

re-signing Westbrook at more than likely less than market value?

MO ain't the one to get this deal done...it's Bill DeWitt

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Way to overstate your case
written by Cardfan, January 19, 2011

Not one mention of Holliday. Forgot to mention that he signed Lohse for 4M and got an outstanding year out of him. So Lohse got injured. Bad luck not bad GM. Trading Ludwick and not counting his horrendous play in SD. Well, aren't you fair.

Sure we all want to see him sign AP. But, it might just end up being another thing some bozo wants to hang on Mo's epitaph once Al begins his inevitable decline.

You need to get in all of your say before the season begins on Berkman. I'm sure the memory will be short if his resurgent knees and new regimen result in a very nice season.

Lohse should be healthy in 2011. Let's see if we get the 2008 and the first few games of 2009 Lohse back. This rotation could be very strong in 2011.

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Fair points
written by M Coller, January 19, 2011

I appreciate the comments from the most knowledgeable fans in baseball.

First, I'm not saying Mozeliak is a bad GM. I think in my lead I said he had more bad luck than Steve Bartman. Some moves are head scratching, some are bad luck. That goes for a lot of GMs.

I'm not trying to ignore Holliday. I think it's too early to anoint signing him as the move of the century. He's one year deep in a long-term, big money deal.

Ludwick for Westbrook worked out pretty well because Westbrook pitched pretty well, but Ludwick's replacements in the outfield didn't perform and cost the team in the end.

How much did they pay Glaus for one year of baseball? Rolen was an All-Star this year and won a gold glove while St. Louis was empty at 3B...again, don't think it was a terrible move, but let's not go crazy.

I put Joel Pinero in there because they didn't try to retain him after he pitched very well in Stl, then he went on to pitch well with the Angels.

And, I agree with you guys saying it is up to the owner, but it's the job of the GM to get deals like this done. He may be restricted by his owner's budget, but if the owner could negotiate these things himself, he wouldn't have a GM.

Hey, enjoy the conversation, keep up the comments and thanks for reading!

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Wrong a*sesment
written by card fan, January 19, 2011

Your a*sesments are a stretch.

First, you bash the Lohse signing. Pretty much back luck because of the freak injury, but I notice how you failed to give credit to that 1 year deal before the big contract. Its also tough to criticize that contract while saying they should have signed pinerio. They were pretty similar player. The differnce is the Lohse broke his arm.

Brad Penny and Lopez? They are one year deals for a utility player and #4 starter. Were they really that terrible?

Ludwick managed a .631 ops after the trade, which was lower than jay and received $6 million to avoid arbitration. So not sure why you said it was a bad trade. If it worked out better for the cards, should that not be a positive instead of a negative?

Also, the cards got a first round pick for DeRossa. So actually they traded Todd and Perez for a DeRossa rental and a first round draft pick.

You call Theriot soft hitting. So what does that make Brendan Ryan, who managed a .223 average and less than a .280 OBP? Its doubtful Ryan will start for the Mariners. So why is it so bad to get a fuy who can throw 100 MPH for a weaker hitting Adam Everett?




You also forgot Wainrights extention.

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I agree
written by waltonsfoil, January 19, 2011

There's no doubt Mozeliak is over his head as a major league GM. The Khalil Greene trade embarra*sed the organization and you forgot to mention what an outstanding pitcher Luke Gregerson has become.

The Chris Perez trade will go down as one of the franchise's worst ever and for a 3 month rental too!

The Ludwick trade was pathetic in that the team was stru*gling offensively and so Mozo the Clown trades his top hitter with runners in scoring position. In this trade San Diego gave up a pitching prospect not even ranked in their top ten. Give Mo credit though, he recommended we sign Ludwick in the first place because he had seem him play in college 5 or 6 years previously. The fact is Jocketty signed Ludwick.

The Holliday deal was good because we were able to resign him, but only because no one else tried to. The career of Brett Wallace will determine who got the very best of the trade. Right now, it's the Cards.

You should have mentioned Mo's inability to come up with half-decent bench players. The steady parade of garbage has been unbarable, since it's hurt the team more then it's helped.

Let's not forget the $3 million dollar signing bonus to a Latin American player; Wagner Mateo, who is going blind. Parading him around Busch stadium months after signing him and then finally doing their due diligence and giving him a physical. Degenerative eye desease! Oops!

Trading Brendan Ryan for an A-cla*s pitcher who couldn't hit the planet throwing from an airplane with come back to haunt him too. Ozzie Smith had a few bad years with the bat too and look how he turned out.

Overall Mozeliak has weakened the team defensively. Berkman, with bad knees, can break down at any point running around right field as a 35 year old on a downhill slide.

After being spoiled with Whitey Herzog and Walt Jocketty as GMs, Cardinal fans now have to suffer through the next few years with a GM who is lost in a world he doesn't belong in.

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Just one thing
written by Nick B, January 19, 2011

In your article you said, "Pujols has told the Cardinals he wants an extension by the beginning of Spring Training or he will test the open market at the end of the season."

Granted, he did set a spring training deadline. But he never said "or else I will test the open market." His stance has always been "no negotiating during the season," and that is all he was saying. Sure, the window is really freaking small after the season before he hits the open market. But he never gave the Cards the "or else" talk.

Otherwise, I enjoyed the read

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Amen
written by Richie, January 20, 2011

You sir, are a brilliant man! I hate John Mozeliak, he is destroying this organization. All of you suck ups who love MO are idiots as well! Wonderful article Mr. Coller, with perfectly made points!

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and another thing
written by waltonsfoil, January 21, 2011

You never see Mozeliak trade minor league talent for other minor leaguers. He has guys like Bryan Anderson and Mark Hamilton that could help other teams and who we apparently have no use for so why not trade them for players where we have team weaknesses. Like get us a darn shortstop already. Won't happen because MO has no were near the forsight of an Alex Anthopoulos of the Blue Jays.

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ignorant and nieve "fans"
written by Redbirdhimself, February 14, 2011

Get your facts straight people... Collier has made GREAT points as to why this fool we call our GM should have already had his head rung.

Signing Lohse to a 1 year deal: $4M- great deal and outcome. Signing Lohse to an extension of 5 years, 45+ mil. HORRIBLE idea. In baseball espically, you look at production throughout the years, and just because he has one good season in your uniform, you through the kitchen sink out to the guy? His ERA is and has been horrible, he has shown to be a decent talent with a lack of foucs and work ethic. period. As his new tattoo says on that "great pitching arm", baseball is only half of the world, that there is more out there than baseball pretty much says it for itself when it comes down to it. You say that when your retired and moved on into your career, not when youre in your "prime" and still under contract. get real.

Ludwick trade for Westbrook? We could have gotten somebody else other than Westbrook who proved to just to be midiocre as a Cardinal, and was never special in other places in his career. The cardinals couldn't afford Ludwick after last season, so you trading him was the right move by selling high. But he didn't get much value in return.

Westbrook, Greene, Lopez, Penny, Lohse, Trevor Miller are all Mo's boys that he sought out and wanted for years and years and when each became available, he jumped to the bit to get them.

Giving up Ryan for a Single-A pitcher who can throw 101 doesn't translate to being a good GM or a good player at the major league level.

Good moves by Mo= 1.... Trading an aging Jim Edmonds for a now on the roster 3rd base David Freese. But great job Mo, right? get a grip on life and untuck your head from an @ss. Quick being biased and thinking just because it's your team, that every player and move is golden. I give Mo 2 years tops as a Cardinal GM. by 2013, hes gone.

Oh and this is coming from a diehard cardinal fan since 1978.

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