ST. LOUIS – A new era begins for the St. Louis Cardinals as Chaim Bloom assumes the team’s top front-office role, succeeding John Mozeliak as the President of Baseball Operations.
Bloom, a 42-year old Philadelphia native, has spent the last two years in an advisory role to Mozeliak, building relationships with players and gaining insight into Cardinals’ long-term roster construction plans.
Before joining the Cardinals, Bloom spent nearly two decades in Major League Baseball front office roles between the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox, developing expertise in analytics, international scouting, minor league development and cost-effective team-building strategies.
The Cardinals formally introduced Bloom as their new President of Baseball Operations during a Tuesday morning news conference. Here are five key takeaways from the event.
“Who Are The Cardinals At Our Best?”
Bloom opened his introductory news conference with a nod to Cardinals history and how it sets the bar high for the franchise’s future.
“Who are the Cardinals at our best? To me it’s simple. This organization at its best sets the standard for the rest of baseball,” said Bloom, citing examples such as Branch Rickey’s farm system, George Kissell’s teaching methods and Whitey Herzog’s all-in style of play. “That’s our legacy here.”
At the same time, Bloom addressed the current state of the Cardinals and admitted the team is not meeting expectations.
“We are not where we want to be. We are not where we need to be. We are not where our fans expect us to be. And we are not where we expect ourselves to be,” said Bloom. “Our goal is to field a team every year that can compete for this division and a World Series championship.”
Draft and Develop
Echoing a similar message to Cardinals ownership from recent years, Bloom stressed the need for the Cardinals to keep drafting and developing talent from within, also refining the processes.
“We have to be elite at acquiring and developing baseball talent in every aspect,” said Bloom.
He offered examples such as how Cardinals coaches teach the game, how players physically train and how scouts prepare for the domestic amateur draft and international draft pool.
“It means how we leverage information in every area and how we innovate,” said Bloom. “We will, with purpose and urgency, take a fresh look at every one of those areas, and set a new standard in each of them. Much of that work won’t be visible from the outside, but if we do it right, the results will be. A steady flow of championship-caliber players coming through our organization dominating details and winning ballgames. That’s how the Cardinals win.”
Bloom also indicated that big-league manager Oli Marmol would return for his fifth season, noting that while there are details to sort out, he expects more “continuity” with the coaching staff.
Maximizing Experience
Bloom credited outgoing baseball operations chief John Mozeliak for preparing him to lead and said his time as an advisor to Mozeliak allowed him to build connections with players and staff over the last two years.
“Because my phone wasn’t ringing with everything day-to-day, I had the opportunity to sit down, get to know a lot of people and see the organization through their eyes, and those relationships are very important,” said Bloom.
Bloom traveled for the team’s season-ending roadtrip in Chicago last weekend and has spoken with several players one-on-one recently to better envision the team’s long-term dymamics.
Asked about possible comparison to his Rays tenure, Bloom acknowledged that every team requires a unique model for success.
“With respect to the Rays, one of the things that made the Rays so successful over the years, they do it their way. They do it in a way that makes sense for them. You can’t ‘copy-paste’ that, or you shouldn’t try,” said Bloom. “This [Cardinals] organization has been built on and won with these tent-pole players that have been here a long time. When it’s the right type of player and person, we’re still going to look for opportunities to [retain them], and we can win this way.”
Payroll and Free Agency
The Cardinals went into last season looking to reduce payroll and were abnormally quiet on the free agency market. With the leadership change, could that be in store for this winter? Time will tell, it appears.
“I don’t think Chaim and I have even talked about payroll,” said Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. “We don’t know what our payroll is going to be [for next season]. I can’t tell you right now. But we’re going to provide the resources for Chaim to build about what he’s talking about building. So we can take it from there.”
He added, “We’re not out there trying to buy the most expensive free agent, and historically, this franchise is at its best and most success with players it developed.”
Bloom did not dismiss free agency signings for this winter, but emphasized any potential signings would need to align with long-term goals.
“I never like to take ourselves out of any opportunity, I just think you always want to be able to be opportunistic,” said Bloom. “We want to make sure those things line up with what we’re shooting for.”
The remarks come at a time when speculation has surfaced about possible trades of higher-paid veterans, including Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras to further reduce payroll, though Bloom did not specifically address the potential for any offseason trades in his news conference.
Attendance Concerns
The Cardinals weathered through their worst full-season, non-COVID-impacted attendance mark in 30 years, barely finishing above 2 million tickets sold, when the team has typically reached 3 million in previous seasons, an apparent sign of fan frustrations after three straight seasons without playoff baseball.
Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III addressed the ongoing attendance trends and challenges.
“The [attendance] numbers are down. It’s something we’re not happy about. If to the extent that that’s a message, the message has been received,” said DeWitt. He added, “We know that a winning team on the field is the most important thing relative to attendance, but also pointed to several factors on the business and operations side in need of improvement.
Some of those considerations include enhancing game-day entertainment with experiences tailored to different days, providing greater value on tickets (including though concessions and parking) and improving overall perceptions of safety at and around Busch Stadium.
Bloom, asked about whether a looming MLB collective bargaining agreement in 2027 could affect roster construction as it relates to attendance, said flexibility would be key.
“In this game, you’re always dealing with uncertainty,” said Bloom. “We do need to go into this thinking that we need to be [flexible] and think this way for multiple years, but if we just stack good decisions and moves on top of each other, it usually just makes it go quicker.”