RetroSimba

In a conference call with bloggers, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said the 2020 major-league baseball season has been about adjusting, adapting and learning every day because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking from Target Field in Minneapolis before the Cardinals played the Twins on July 29, 2020, Mozeliak met for 45 minutes with about a dozen bloggers via Zoom video conferencing to update them on “these unprecedented times” in baseball.

Mozeliak usually meets yearly with bloggers in St. Louis. Because of the pandemic, he opted to continue the tradition using technology. It was a classy, much appreciated effort by Mozeliak, who answered every question asked of him.

Mozeliak described himself as a person who usually isn’t anxious, but he said playing a baseball season during a pandemic has created “a weird stress” for him.

Regarding the Cardinals’ first road trip in 2020, Mozeliak said it has been both “very normal and very odd.”

Trying to find balance with those conflicting feelings “is the art of all this,” he said.

While emphasizing he wasn’t complaining and was grateful baseball was being played, Mozeliak admitted, “Doing this is far different than normal.”

Usually, Mozeliak said, his biggest stresses during a baseball season are winning and losing games. In the 2020 season, he said, the main stress is “just getting through the day.”

Like a batter facing curveball after curveball, Mozeliak said playing baseball games while trying to protect the health of everyone involved with the team has been “extremely demanding to keep it together.”

Mozeliak said the coronavirus infecting multiple members of the Marlins team was a wakeup call to all big-league players “to understand the severity of how fast this can spread.”

Regarding cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands, automatically putting a runner on second base in extra innings and other oddities, Mozeliak said the 2020 baseball season “is a unique opportunity to do weird stuff. This is a year to be as open-minded as possible.”

In answering questions from bloggers, Mozeliak addressed several topics, including:

_ Whether the Cardinals’ complex in Jupiter, Fla., was open and whether he was concerned about sharing the facility with the co-tenants, the Marlins: Only one player and two staff members are in Jupiter, so he isn’t overly concerned.

_ Whether he would be in favor of expanding the active roster to 30 players for every big-league team: Yes.

_ Whether the Cardinals would conduct a Florida Instructional League camp in the fall: I don’t know.

_ On the status of the Cardinals’ Dominican Republic academy: The only players there are from Venezuela because those players cannot get back into Venezuela.

_ On the status of scouting by the Cardinals: At the big-league level, all scouting is being done by video. All other scouting is via day trips within a scout’s area.

_ On whether the Cardinals will use cardboard cutouts of spectators in the seats at big-league games: “I think we’ll see those on the next homestand.”

_ On Cardinals such as Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright quickly adapting to using masks: “Having veterans on the team who follow the rules is a huge help” in influencing teammates.

_ On the Cardinals’ organization supporting the Black Lives Matter movement: “My email in-box was not very nice. Kind of crazy, really. Shows you where our country is and how polarizing it has become. I’m not naive. I wasn’t that surprised.”

_ On whether spectators will be allowed to attend Cardinals games in 2020: “Having fans in the stadium is going to be a challenge, but I’m not ruling it out yet.”