This wouldn’t be the first time a former St. Louis Cardinals top prospect succeeded elsewhere. While not every phenom will turn into Randy Arozarena or Adolis Garcia, St. Louis has a long history of giving up on prospects a little too soon.

At one point in the not-so-distant past, the Cardinals featured what they hoped would be a talented young outfield featuring Dylan Carlson, Tyler O’Neill and Lars Nootbaar. Now, only Nootbaar remains, while O’Neill has impressed in a brief stop at Fenway Park. O’Neill has two gold gloves to his name and once finished eighth in NL MVP voting. That wasn’t good enough for the Cardinals and Mozeliak, who sent him packing.

Carlson, meanwhile, had a more complicated tenure in St. Louis. Carlson is best used as a platoon hitter at this point in his career. He has a .285 career batting average against left-handed pitching and is still developing. Carlson is also a solid defender by most advanced metrics. This is why the Baltimore Orioles signed him without a second thought. Mike Elias knows what Carlson is, and while it’s nothing all that impressive, he does have a role to play in the 162-game season to come.

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Baltimore Orioles could take advantage of another John Mozeliak mistake

Mozeliak has offered little plans for the future. He’ll give way to Chaim Bloom next winter while remaining with the Cardinals in a different role. Mozeliak’s most recent years have been spent disappointing fans at every turn, and this winter is no exception. The Cards watched Paul Goldschmidt walk and want to trade Nolan Arenado. Once upon a time, those two sluggers were untouchable and centerpieces of the next great Cardinals core. What happened?

If St. Louis had some semblance of a plan, or were willing to act upon their impulses this winter, I wouldn’t be so negative about the current state of things. Yet, outside of Masyn Winn and a few other young players – Jordan Walker not included, because that’s its own mess – St. Louis doesn’t have much to look forward to in 2025. Hopefully, some key contributors emerge, as Cards fans deserve better and are some of the more intelligent baseball supporters in MLB.

For now, they’re being taken advantage of, and there’s little they can do about it. If Carlson and O’Neill play well in Baltimore, they’ll take with them all that is left of Mozeliak’s reputation in the Lou.