Tampa Bay Rays’ Randy Arozarena was undeniably the biggest sensation in the 2020 MLB postseason. The 25-year-old rookie outfielder was on a tear throughout the Rays’ playoff run, breaking records for most postseason home runs with 10 and most postseason hits with 29.
Arozarena’s output obviously caught many people by surprise, and St. Louis Cardinals’ president of baseball operations John Mozeliak is on the top of this list. Mozeliak was the key man behind the Cardinals’ decision to trade away Arozarena to Tampa back in January.
Speaking with St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mozeliak said that he regrets the move now and that this miss will cause the organization to revise the way they evaluate talent.
“I will own that. That’s on me,” said Mozeliak. “You need to know your own players. We will revisit how we rank our own players and make sure that we don’t have something like this happen again.”
The trade that landed Randy Arozarena in Tampa Bay included Rays also receiving first baseman Jose Martinez. Cardinals, on the other hand, got pitcher prospect Matthew Liberatore and catcher Edgardo Rodriguez.
At the time, most people viewed Arozarena as almost a make-weight in the deal. He was considered to have talent but didn’t have the track record to be highly regarded as a prospect. Rays obviously saw more than that, and now they get to reap the benefits.
