The Cardinals recently signed general manager Michael Girsch to a multi-year contract extension, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Assistant GM/scouting director Randy Flores also just signed a new multi-year deal, Goold reports, keeping both in the organization beyond 2022.
Both Girsch and Flores had been on expiring deals, so it’s no surprise St. Louis struck to keep each in the fold at this time. Girsch has been in the organization since 2006, working up to AGM by 2011. The Cards promoted him to general manager in 2017, a move made in conjunction with bumping Mozeliak from GM to president of baseball ops. That promotion came with a new contract that kept Girsch in St. Louis through 2020, and he subsequently signed a two-year extension before today’s multi-year pact. It isn’t clear how long the current arrangement runs, but it’ll at least keep Girsch around through 2024.
Girsch has worked as Mozeliak’s top lieutenant for some time, and that arrangement will continue next year and beyond. Mozeliak has final say in baseball operations, but Girsch was sufficiently happy with his role in St. Louis he declined an opportunity to pursue the Mets’ front office vacancy (a position that would’ve come with a chance to lead baseball operations) last offseason. The Notre Dame graduate is clearly content to continue with underneath Mozeliak in the Cardinals’ front office hierarchy. He’ll try to help St. Louis to a fifth consecutive playoff berth this offseason.
Flores, a former big league reliever, was hired as amateur scouting director in August 2015. He began overseeing the team’s drafts the following season, a role he’s now held for seven years. Dylan Carlson, Tommy Edman, Lars Nootbaar, Nolan Gorman and Brendan Donovan are among St. Louis draftees of the Flores era who played key roles on this year’s NL Central-winning club, and 2020 first-rounder Jordan Walker has blossomed into one of the top few minor league talents in the game. The 47-year-old Flores earned a bump to assistant GM (one of three individuals to hold that title within the Cards’ front office) over the 2018-19 offseason.