Descalso was a key member of four straight National League championship series teams and two World Series clubs in his four-plus years with the Cardinals. For that reason, and others, it was hard for Mozeliak to make that phone call to northern California on Tuesday night, telling the arbitration-eligible Descalso that he wouldn’t be offered a contract by the club for next season.

“Difficult,” said Mozeliak. “Dan was one of those true professionals but he was also someone you would call a friend.

“Whatever you asked of him, he would always do it. He always went out of his way to say, ‘Hello.’ From a baseball player to a person, he did a lot of positive things for us. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to provide the type of playing time he was looking for. And, frankly, I think it could have become a strained relationship if we’d kept going with it.”

Descalso, who batted .242 in a reduced role last season, is a lefthanded-hitting infielder and Mozeliak said, “To try to get him playing time when your second baseman (Kolten Wong) is lefthanded and when your third baseman (Matt Carpenter) is lefthanded, it was a tough fit.