The Cardinals announced they were hiring Brant Brown as their new hitting coach. They also announced the discontinuation of JonJay and a new role for Willie McGeeboth were reported yesterday. Additionally, they announced that Robert Cerfolio has been hired as assistant general manager of player development and performance. Cerfolio previously served as head of player development for the Guardians. The Athletic’s Katie Woo reported Cerfolio’s hiring today, while MLB.com’s John Denton reported Brown on

It has been known for some time that 2025 will be a transition year for the cards. John Mozeliak, president of baseball operations, will hand his job to Chaim Bloom after next season, although the handoff will be slower than usual over the next year or so. The franchise is probably hoping this transition goes more smoothly than the traditional path of an abrupt firing and/or resignation followed by a hasty search for a replacement.

The club plans to have a lower payroll and a greater focus on the player development pipeline, so there are sure to be plenty of changes across the various areas of the club. One of these changes will be the addition of Cerfolio. As Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat noted on X, Cerfolio is a Yalie, like Bloom, Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and President Bill DeWitt III.

But his attitude certainly extends beyond his alma mater. As Woo noted, Cerfolio was hired by the Guardians in 2015, an organization known for its strong player development pipeline that has allowed it to thrive despite persistently low payrolls. This is what the Cardinals were known for at the start of this century, although that reputation has faded recently. A clearly stated goal of this current turnaround for the Cardinals is to become that type of organization again.

With Mozeliak taking care of the Cards’ day-to-day operations for the next year and Bloom focusing on the player development apparatus, he has brought Cerfolio on board to help modernize the club. Woo says Bloom is expected to make dozens of hires as part of this process, so Cerfolio is just one piece of the puzzle.

As for the coaching staff, it was reported earlier this month that coach Turner Ward’s contract would not be renewed through 2025, leaving a vacancy that Brown is now filling. Brown, now 53, played in the majors from 1996 to 2000. He then turned to coaching and began making appearances in the minors. He was hired by the Dodgers in early 2018 and was on that club’s staff until 2022, first as an assistant coach and then as a hitting strategist.

He spent 2023 as the Marlins’ hitting coach and then moved to the Mariners before the 2024 season, where he received the offensive coordinator title in Seattle. However, at the end of May 2024, the M’s parted ways with Brown, even though he had only been hired in December. Offensive struggles have been a big part of the story for the Mariners in 2024, and head of hitting strategy Jarret DeHart, who took on a larger role following Brown’s firing, was also fired in August.

It is always difficult to separate a player’s performance from a coach’s contribution. While the Mariners struggled under Brown’s short tenure, they also struggled significantly the year before, making one wonder if any coach could have made a meaningful difference in the roster’s construction. The Dodgers performed well during Brown’s time there, while his lone season in Miami was their only full-season playoff berth in the last 20 years. The club had a below-average 92 wRC+ in 2023, but that was still an increase from its 83 in 2022 and 86 in 2024.

Time will tell what kind of club the Cardinals will field in 2025, but it’s widely expected that their planned retooling period could result in some veteran moves that likely won’t be part of the next competitive window. If successful, Brown could be tasked with leading a relatively young roster made up of players who want to progress in the major leagues.