One World Series-winning outfielder to replace another on the Cardinals’ bench

The St. Louis Cardinals are replacing one World Series-winning centerfielder on their coaching staff with another, continuing to reshape their support staff ahead of what’s certain to be a turbulent winter of player movement.

The club has agreed to terms with Jon Jay, most recently of the Miami Marlins, as a major league coach. Team Hall of Famer Willie McGee will transition from the dugout to an advisory role in the final year of his contract.

In addition, the team announced the hiring of Brant Brown as hitting coach and Rob Cerfolio as assistant general manager, player development and performance.

Cerfolio, 32, was most recently the director of player development for the Cleveland Guardians, and has worked in some capacity in the Cleveland organization since 2015. The Cardinals said in a press release that he will oversee a search for a farm director and director of performance, part of the overarching reconstruction of the team’s player development apparatus that was advertised at their end of season press conference.

“[Cerfolio’s] beliefs on player development and performance are aligned with where we want to go, and he’s been a key leader in an organization whose methods and systems have stayed at the forefront of the industry while still putting people first,” outgoing president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said in a press release.

Brown, 53, started last season as the bench coach and offensive coordinator for the Seattle Mariners before being fired on May 31, less than six months after accepting the position. He was the Miami Marlins hitting coach in 2023 under Skip Schumaker and working with Jay, and previously held roles with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas Rangers.

He played five seasons as an outfielder in the majors, primarily with the Chicago Cubs.

Jay, who turns 40 in March, joins friend and business partner Daniel Descalso on the St. Louis staff as the Cardinals continue to value coaches with recent big league experience as an important part of instructing young players. He most recently played in the big leagues for the Los Angeles Angels in the 2021 season.

In Miami, he was the first base coach as well as the outfield coach. The Cardinals are returning both first base coach Stubby Clapp and third base coach Pop Warner next season, and so it appears Jay’s duties will include those which were previously part of McGee’s profile. McGee acted as the team’s primary outfield instructor and assisted with other coaching obligations as needed.

Jay was a second round draft pick from the University of Miami in 2006 and advanced rapidly to high levels of the minor league system and was therefore never a teammate of manager Oli Marmol, though the two were players in the organization at the same time. He was traded to the San Diego Padres in the winter ahead of the 2016 season in exchange for Jedd Gyorko and would go on to play for six teams in the final five years of his career.

When Schumaker and the Marlins mutually agreed to part ways at the conclusion of the season, reports out of Miami said that Jay had been asked to consider remaining as part of that team’s staff. The Cardinals, though, offer familiarity and a relative degree of stability, and Jay’s many connections in St. Louis made his move back to the organization which drafted him a seeming inevitability.

Brown, too, was formerly on Schumaker’s staff, acting as the Marlins hitting coach in 2023.

The Marlins and Chicago White Sox hold the only two managerial vacancies in the big leagues, and they could be filled as soon as this week. Major League Baseball strongly discourages teams from making major announcements during the World Series, which begins on Friday in Los Angeles between the Dodgers and New York Yankees.

While the big league coaching staff may be more visible to fans on a daily basis, it is Cerfolio’s development position which is arguably the most consequential hire of the team’s winter. The Cardinals have advertised a renewed investment in their languishing player development system and are prepared to take a step back in their major league payroll – and competitiveness – as they chart a course that they steadfastly have resisted labeling as a rebuild.

The first major roster decisions of the winter are due in the coming weeks, as decisions on team options for starters Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn must be made within five days of the end of the World Series. Lynn’s option is not expected to be picked up, and after struggling with an injured right knee for most of 2024, it’s unclear whether he plans to pitch in 2025.

Gibson, however, will represent an important indicator of the team’s thinking. His team option is for a relatively modest $12 million, and should the Cardinals decline it, it would be a strong indication that they intend to slash payroll as deeply as possible. While 2024 was Gibson’s first season in St. Louis, the Mizzou alum quickly became a stalwart presence among the team’s veterans and offered invaluable leadership along with steady, predictable innings.

Should the Cardinals fall out of contention in 2025, a healthy Gibson would be an attractive trade piece for any contender at next season’s trade deadline; the Cardinals, then, could see his 2025 salary as simply a down payment on acquiring prospect talent from a trade chip. Should they opt not to go that route, it is a strong indication that any and all veterans making significant salaries are likely to be on the outs.

Jay’s presence is in part designed to help mitigate that loss. The Cardinals have advertised a commitment to playing time for younger players, but do not wish to set them adrift without proper day-to-day guidance. Among the coaching staff, Jay and Descalso (as well as Brown and assistant hitting coach Brandon Allen) have recent enough major league playing experience that the Cardinals are hopeful they can maintain strong, relevant dugout leadership that is able to relate well to the struggles of life in the big leagues.