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The #stlcards have announced the retirement of Director of Player Development Gary LaRocque after 12 years leading the farm system. The 71-year-old will remain as an advisor in 2025. pic.twitter.com/t6a7nn8rBt
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) September 6, 2024
Glad to hear it. Something definitely wasn’t working on the player development side. At 71 though I am unsure of it was actually the org and not just him actually wanting to retire.
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When are they going to announce that Mozeliak will “remain as an advisor in 2025”?Hopefully at the end of 2025. I mean got forbid you find something else to bellyache about for another year.
Hopefully at the end of 2025. I mean got forbid you find something else to bellyache about for another year.
Sorry, you’ve got the wrong guy. But by all means, pls feel free to document what I allegedly have been “bellyaching” about.
At 71 though I am unsure of it was actually the org and not just him actually wanting to retire.
That seems unlikely. I think it was Brian mentioned that the adviser role next year suggests there was one more year left on his contract. So basically, they are paying him to bow out a year early.
Agree with Brian’s take. It is tome to make changes and it has to start at the top. Will be interesting to see how events unfold and who the organization will get to fill these roles.
This is just some random guy posting on the r/Cardinals subreddit thread about LaRoacque retiring. It is an interesting take which I thought worth throwing out there, but I have no idea about the accuracy of the specifics.
“I tried looking up the folks with identical titles for other clubs. The Yankees have Kevin Reese, who is 46. The Orioles have Anthony Villa, who best I can tell is 29. The Cubs have another young guy named Jason Kanzler. That we have a 71 year old heading into retirement feels embarassing. The Cards org is basically that table of old farts in that one scene from Moneyball.”
STLCards director player of development Gary LaRocque is retiring.
byu/johnjaymjr inCardinalsbling shared an anonymous comment from someone on Reddit so we take notice of it:
“The Cards org is basically that table of old farts in that one scene from Moneyball.”
It is very simple to check out this claim.
PBO Mozeliak is 55.
GM Girsch is 47.
The team has three AGMs.
Moises Rodriguez is 47.
Randy Flores is 49.
LaRocque is 71.If one wants to question accomplishments and results, that is more than reasonable. Questioning how long they have been in their jobs and wondering if they have gone stale seems fair game.
However, attacking someone simply because of his age is really sad, and frankly, is surprising to see here on a board whose major participants are more mature in age than most forums, I suspect. I bet $1000 that anonymous poster has never met LaRocque, has no idea how he conducts his duties and is simply slapping a label on him because he knows nothing else. And I bet the cool kids are eating it up.
By reposting it here, it suggests you are in agreement with it. This is very strange coming from a poster who constantly ridicules baseball’s new wave thinkers, longs for the old days of the “cigar chompers” and is in favor of the Cardinals hiring a manager like Bruce Bochy, who turns 70 next spring.
Do you value your own experience or are you over the hill? 😉
Actually my thought was whether that commenter expresses the perception among the younger crowd, which is a matter of importance whether factually accurate or not. I take reddit to be a young people forum. Whether LaRocque is significantly older than his counterparts is an interesting question though..
Of course, he is older that most of his peers. Again, so what? Is age/experience bad by default?
I am a member of several discussion group with younger posters because I like to know what people are thinking. These folks tend to want to trade struggling guys at the drop of a hat and fire everyone. Get rid of prospects for established major leaguers without budgetary responsibility. Heavy group-think with little divergence of opinion. That is what comes from impatience and limited perspective.
Discuss the issues but don’t make snap calls on limited pieces of data, like someone’s age or a month of stats.
The vast majority of turnstile clicks from now on are young nachos munchers, Brian. The selfie stick crowd that probably populates reddit. What you and the rest of us here know isn’t the point. Hopefully BDW is less arrogant or his stadium will continue to empty out.
Putting it another way, does the younger crowd perceive the Cardinals to be run by an 82 year old guy and a table of old farts?
I have no way of knowing the ticket sales demographic, but my gut tells me that those who can afford season tickets are generally not users of selfie sticks. And I do know, per BDWIII, that 70%-80% of sales come from season tickets, not casual attendees. So catering to the young crowd may help fill seats on theme nights, but they aren’t the team’s bread and butter.
And the age of the owner isn’t all that unusual. Jerry Reinsdorf is 88. Bob Castellini is 82. Mark Lerner is 71. John Henry is 74. Peter Angelos was 94 when he died this spring, etc… As an aside, BDWIII is 56.
Of course, none of this has anything to do with the age of the farm director or why that matters. Farm directors don’t affect the sale of MLB tickets. Nice try at deflecting, though.
You deftly replaced turnstile clicks with ticket sales, but even there I think you are out of touch with who are buying season tickets. I know that the owners/senior management here where I work buy season tickets and they are in their 40s as are my oldest sons. My sons have no memories of baseball as the national pastime. It is moving toward a younger generation. The people through the turnstiles are younger still. What they perceive matters.
I wish Larocque well in retirement. Experiencing it full on for the first time this summer, it is great! Best job I have ever had. 🙂
Says they have already been looking for replacements.
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