Struggling sports team, the St. Louis Cardinals, aim to correct a chronic downward trend in performance
After a brief stint with the Boston Red Sox, Chaim Bloom is back in Major League Baseball, this time as the President of Baseball Operations for the St. Louis Cardinals. Bloom was announced as the successor to John Mozeliak in September 2024, tasked with bringing the Cardinals back to their former glory.
Bloom's tenure with the Red Sox was marked by a shift in strategy, as he was tasked with cutting back on payroll significantly. Despite winning the World Series in 2018, the Dombrowski-led Red Sox missed the playoffs in 2019, while Bloom's Rays, with the lowest Opening Day payroll in baseball that year, made the playoffs with a impressive 96-66 record.
In St. Louis, Bloom will have free range to make changes to all departments. He has already begun to inform some staff that their contracts would not be renewed as he begins to implement further changes to the organization.
Bloom's approach to baseball operations is rooted in his time with the Tampa Bay Rays, where he rose to senior vice president of baseball operations. During his tenure, he helped pioneer the "Rays Way," a strategy focused on drafting and developing young talent rather than spending large sums on free agents.
The "Rays Way" was in full effect during Bloom's time with the Rays, as the team made four straight NLCS appearances from 2011-2014. The Cardinals, too, have a strong emphasis on pitching development, as evidenced by the improvements made by JJ Wetherholt, Rainiel Rodriguez, Joshua Baez, Ixan Henderson, Braden Davis, and Brycen Mautz in the Cardinals' farm system this year. Each of these pitchers posted ERAs at or south of 3.36 over that stretch.
Bloom's hires have been mostly on the player development side so far, but he'll have the opportunity to make changes across the organization this offseason. He has been hiring top baseball minds from organizations like the Cleveland Guardians, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, and San Francisco Giants.
The Cardinals had a promising start to the season, with Kiley McDaniel of ESPN moving the Cardinals' farm system up from 19th prior to the season, all the way to ninth this past week. With Bloom at the helm, the Cardinals are looking to build on this success and return to the prominence they enjoyed in 2013, when they had the best record in baseball and the best farm system.
Bloom started his baseball career as an intern with the San Diego Padres and Major League Baseball. He went on to work for 14 years with the Tampa Bay Rays, where he created the "Rays Way" player development manual. On May 27th, 2013, Sports Illustrated published an issue titled "The Cardinal Way" featuring the St. Louis Cardinals rotation, inspired by the 1968 cover, featuring Roger Maris, Tim McCarver, Bob Gibson, Mike Shannon, and Lou Brock.
Bloom was on the ground floor during the earlier days of Tampa Bay becoming the "David" to the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox's "Goliath" in the American League East. He will now get to prove whether or not he has learned from his mistakes in Boston, and if he has, that means the Cardinals are getting an even better version of Bloom than what we have seen before.
Bloom was hired by John Henry and the Boston ownership group following the 2019 season to succeed Dave Dombrowski as Chief Baseball Officer. He will now have the chance to lead the Cardinals to their second World Series title in just three years, as they look to build on their strong emphasis on pitching development and continue to improve their farm system.
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