House of Cards
The St. Louis Cardinals are the MLN FAB50 Farm of the Year 2008 for putting their house back in order, and producing the best crop of farm talent in MiLB in 2008.

Jim MANDELARO
SZ Senior Writer

A house divided against itself cannot stand, especially a house of Cards.

So after years of trading away prospects for veteran, quick-fixers, and signing minor-league free agents who were rustier than The Tin Man, the St. Louis Cardinals ended a simmering battle between opposing forces in their front office and went back to their roots: building from within.

It was former Cardinals executive Branch Rickey who invented the farm system, after all.

In 2008, Rickey’s old team is making him proud. The Cardinals, under new leadership at the top have embraced the farm system with an aggressive, successful approach that lead our annual MLN Fab 50 with five selections and makes them MLN’s 2008 Minor League Farm System of the Year.

Last fall, the Cardinals fired general manager Walt Jocketty after recording their first losing season in eight years. Jocketty’s resume included seven playoff berths, two World Series appearances (and one title) over 13 years, but no devotion to the farm system.

The last impact player to reach the Cardinals via the farm system? Albert Pujols, in 2001.

Last season, a battle developed between Jocketty and chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., and when Jocketty lost his job, the Cardinals signaled that they were headed back to the future with an emphasis on developing talent through their farm system.

New GM John Mozeliak, Jocketty’s assistant for five seasons, worked his way up the ladder as a scouting guru and has begun quietly laying in place the Cardinals of the future.

Continued...

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