The Cardinals has just added another top class star to their front office group
This offseason, the Cardinals have continued to add strong leaders to their front office, shaping the organization’s present and future.
The St. Louis Cardinals have had a busy offseason, adding a variety of pitchers, shipping out some old faces, and overhauling both their coaching staff and front office.
While supporters have mixed opinions about the player acquisition process, there has been a lot of optimism surrounding the front office and coaching staff hirings. Chaim Bloom, Yadier Molina, Daniel Descalso, and the other players they’ve added (or established new positions for) should help the Cardinals grow as an organization now and in the future.
But there was another front office hire on Wednesday that I believe may go unnoticed, but according to insiders in the baseball industry, is a guy who many have regarded as a “rising star” in the business.
Anuk Karunaratne is leaving the Blue Jays to join the Cardinals as senior VP, business operations.
He and Marnie Starkman both served as executive VP, business ops with the Jays. Starkman will now oversee all of the team's business dealings.
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) January 31, 2024
According to Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, the Cardinals have hired Anuk Karunaratne, formerly of the Toronto Blue Jays, as Senior Vice President of Business Operations. He formerly served as Executive Vice President of Business Operations in Toronto.
Karunaratne, a Ph.D. graduate from Washington University in St. Louis, was praised during his tenure with the Blue Jays for assisting them in integrating analytics into many aspects of their operations, not just baseball. He had a key role in their interactions with the Canadian government during the COVID-19 restrictions. Karunaratne was also named to the Sports Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” list for 2023.
According to David Singh’s post on Sportsnet, Karunaratne, who worked for the Boston Consulting Group before joining the Blue Jays, was highly interested during his interview process with the Blue Jays in how willing they were to adapt. Singh’s post included a comment from Karunaratne that I found very noteworthy.
“It’s easy to say, but very hard to do,” Karunaratne remarked. “And it requires alignment and buy-in from the top of the organization down. It takes determination to continue the path because those improvements do not occur overnight. And so I was trying to explain, like, okay, it’s fantastic that you want to accomplish that, but do you know what it will take? And are you committed to actually carrying it out? Because if not, I’ll be taking on a role that will not be beneficial in the long run.”
This feedback was well received by the Blue Jays team president and general manager, and Karunaratne eventually jumped in with the Blue Jays front office, knowing that he could make a real impact on helping their organization move into a more successful place in the long run, with a strong emphasis on building a “learning culture” among their team members.
While a corporate hire may cause some fans to roll their eyes or remain dubious of the Cardinals’ drive to win on the field, it’s vital to remember that the business side has an impact on the club’s ability to run competitively, whether we like it or not. We might all have different perspectives on how important that is, but every time you can bring in a leader like Karunaratne and allow him to build and mold things, that’s a huge win.
The Cardinals front office’s future will be established here over the next 12-18 months, and adding strong leaders and voices to this group for life after John Mozeliak is crucial for the team to take a solid stride forward. The DeWitt family’s willingness to spend and evolve as an ownership group will always be the most crucial domino in this equation, but the fact that they have allowed Bloom and Karunaratne to be a part of that future is a good omen.
