I hope all of you had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving Weekend – and have recovered from your food coma and other holiday-related indulgences. I’m back to work after a four-day break. And I actually love what I do for a living, so I have no complaints. Thanks for your continued support of my career.
Now, let’s get to Monday’s topic:
Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. A progress report.
A new era is underway. The Cardinals and their fans haven’t gone through anything on this scale for a very long long time. To say the least, this is a comprehensive and far-reaching endeavor.
As the baseball executive brought to St. Louis to modernize the Cardinals at every level, Bloom has been a very busy man. His work didn’t start when he officially took over for John Mozeliak as the head of the baseball department.
Bloom’s first assignment – a massive one – was to renovate and restore the once-flourishing Cardinals player-development system and minor-league structure that had fallen into neglect and decline. And after succeeding Mozeliak, more of Bloom’s attention has shifted to the major-league club.
Bloom’s first hires – made nearly a year ago, on Dec. 4 of 2024 – installed a leadership team that could focus on the crucial areas of player development, physical performance, advanced coaching, updated technology, and more evolved emphasis on sports medicine.
Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and Mozeliak officially hired Bloom as a special adviser on Jan. 8, 2024. This gave him an extensive window of time to study everything about the St. Louis baseball operation from the lowest rung of the minors, to international scouting, to traditional scouting, to the way things were being done at the major-league level.
Bloom’s first year was all about what was taking place down below, on the farm, and inside the player-development network.
Bloom then spent most of 2025 on learning and assessing the big club. In other words, Bloom has taken the right approach by hiring many intelligent people to form a team inside the team – instead of overreaching and trying to do everything himself like some power-hungry and insecure maniac. Bloom has the authority but he is not consumed by power.
One who knows him best told me this about Bloom and I granted anonymity so this person could speak freely.
“Chaim has never been consumed by ego, or, for that matter, a compulsion to cover his own ass and shift blame to others if something goes wrong. He’s an honorable man, and very smart.
“The experience he had running the Red Sox baseball operation was a valuable experience for him. He saw all of the ‘knives’ that were out and being waved around with different factions constantly battling each other. And in his first job at running the entire baseball operation, he was an easy target for Red Sox people who had worked for previous regimes.
“Before he got his next opportunity, Bloom was determined to put together an entire team of people in his next stop that would work hard, work together, and not care who got the credit. People that generally shared the same philosophies … but he also covets dissenting opinions. He doesn’t want anyone to agree with him just because he brought them in.
“But he didn’t want to go through another donnybrook that he had to deal with in Boston. It was important for Chaim to have a unified ‘team’ inside the organization. And it was important for him to bring in people who wouldn’t be shy about exchanging ideas and pushing for solutions. He loves open communication. That’s how things get done. And his goal is the exact opposite of putting together a cookie-cutter team of “Yes” men and women.
“And for all of the ‘Moneyball’ stuff that people tag him with, Bloom is a baseball fan who cherishes the game’s history and tradition. The Cardinals had a special appeal to him for just that reason. He thinks this an ideal job. The idea of him helping this prestigious franchise come out of some tough times really motivates him. The Cardinals hired Chaim at the perfect time in his career.”
Now back to me. This is what has impressed me the most about the early Bloom administration. The first item will be extensive … because his work has been extensive.
1. The wide scope of his hirings and changes. He hasn’t wasted any time in reinventing the Cardinals’ baseball-management philosophies and procedures. Welcome to the modern baseball world, Redbirds. It’s a whole new world out there.
By my informal count, Bloom has hired at least 36 new people over the last year. And he has promoted others – who already worked for the Cardinals – to higher positions.
Bloom’s first wave of hirings was the installation of his leadership team, led by Rob Cerfolio assistant GM overseeing player development and (physical) performance.
The rest of the new group of baseball minds featured the new player-development director Larry Day, director of pitching Matt Pierpont, and director of performance Carl Kochan. And more recently, Dalton Hurd was named the director of hitting.
All five men have winning backgrounds and are experienced in the challenging quest of improving young pitchers and position players … but especially the young players, the prospects, to give these dudes the best possible prep for the majors. And that will be a huge part in the first phase of the St. Louis rebuild.
Bloom recently hired two significant additions to the front-office roster: Joe Douglas as the director of pro acquisition – and Jacob Buffa as the senior director of international scouting. Bloom has loaded up to formulate a new baseball world … a modern world … with everything that has to do with Cardinals baseball and what really matters.
And that would be long-term success after the heavy lifting of rebuilding is through. But if the project goes as expected, the model Bloom is building will be sustainable. And it will be constantly updated to avoid turning stale.
Here are the areas that Bloom and his leadership team have addressed in their new hires to enhance the Cards system. In no order of importance…
Minor-league strength coordinator.
Assistant minor-league medical coordinator.
Injury-rehab coordinator.
Minor-league head trainer.
Sports-medicine specialist.
Sports therapist.
Minor-league field coordinator.
At least four new assistant coaches in the minors. And there might be more than that.
An additional assistant in the player-development operation.
An internal promotion to the new position of minor-league pitch strategist.
At least two new assistant directors of player development and physical performance.
Coordinator for the international-scouting administration.
A full-time minor-league outfield coordinator. Say hello (again) to Ryan Ludwick.
A new minor-league hitting coordinator (Brock Hammit.)
New scouts to be deployed in different geographical regions of the U.S. This includes at least one (possibly two) crosschecker scouts.
And two additional amateur scouts were hired – as well as an experienced scout who will serve as an advisor.
A new assistant director for the pro-acquisition department.
A player-progress specialist.
Three promotions in the baseball technology department. And I’m told that several additional hires for the baseball technology department are pending.
And some people out there have been wondering – complaining – about Bloom.
When is he going to do something?
WHAT HAS HE DONE!
I don’t know … maybe I would point to Bloom hiring close to 40 people to transform the way the Cardinals draft and develop players, teach the players, give the players the tools and instruction that they need … and I would mention how Team Bloom has brought the Cardinals up to speed on technology and other advancements that occurred in MLB while Cards management was sleeping.
2. Bloom did not hesitate to make his first big move. Another way to say this: URGENCY! As I wrote last week, he knew what he wanted and went out and got it done before Thanksgiving. Starting pitcher Sonny Gray was shipped to Boston for two starting pitchers. One (right-hander Richard Fitts) will likely be in the STL rotation in 2026. The second, lefty Brandon Clarke, has phenomenal natural talent and gives the Cardinals a chance to hit the jackpot. This is what rebuilding means. Oh, you want a guarantee that these pitchers will pay off? There are no guarantees, especially when it comes to an inexperienced left-handed starter who throws a 100 mph fastball and has a nasty slider that MLB Pipeline grades as a “70” on the traditional 20-to-80 scale. But the kid is worth the gamble.
As my friend the esteemed baseball analyst Joe Sheehan wrote in his excellent newsletter:
“Clarke is the kind of big-skills pitcher Bloom has been trying to add to his stable, and he joins 2025 first-round pick Liam Doyle and 2023 fourth-rounder Quinn Mathews as high-velo southpaws, remaking the image of what a Cardinals pitcher can be.”
Yes. The other teams imagined what starting pitchers could be many years ago. After years of snoozing as the trends in the game changed, the Cardinals have finally gotten a wake-up call thanks to Bloom.
(Please subscribe to Joe’s newsletter at JoeSheehan.com … thank you.)
3. Bloom quickly chose a lane, picked a firm direction, and is proceeding in a straight-line manner. This represents a refreshing change from the Cardinals’ plodding way … the Cards being content to dawdle in the mediocre middle and hope that enough NL teams suck to put St. Louis in the playoffs with a meager 85 of 86 wins.
As Bloom said last week after the Gray trade: "Nobody who gets into this game has any guarantees, but I feel the more fully we commit to what we need to do, the better it will go and the quicker we will get there. I don’t view this as something that’s just about patience. I view it as something we have to attack with urgency, and we have to do that every day.”
Yes. And do it in the way that fits the plan to get the Cardinals back in the top tier of MLB teams. It will take some time … and Bloom ain’t going to waste money to sign or acquire players that don’t fit the current phase-one strategy. The money will be spent later when the Cardinals are close to a breakthrough.
4. Bloom asked chairman Bill Dewitt Jr. to do what was necessary at the front end of the rebuild. DeWitt agreed, sending $20 million to Boston to defray the remaining cost of Gray’s contract so Bloom could get a higher quality of pitchers in the exchange. And DeWitt is also willing to pick up a big part of the tab that’s likely required for Bloom to complete a trade that will move third baseman Nolan Arenado. These men are on the same page. This is good.
5. Bloom’s messaging, his voice and his transparency were sorely needed. He is direct. He does not play games. He has no interest in manipulating fans and media by clouding up the team’s intentions in some sort of hazy mix of organized deception that contains little discernible truth. Mozeliak’s messaging was an absolute disaster, and his condescending manner was such a turnoff that many fans vowed to stay away from Busch Stadium as long as “Mo” was still around. And they meant it.
As my friend Josh Jacobs wrote at Redbird Rants – and by the way you should really read him regularly:
“He invites tough questions and doesn't shy away from them. Bloom doesn't act annoyed at the media, and instead does his best to provide a helpful look into what the Cardinals are doing. He has even allowed assistant general manager Rob Cerfolio to be in front of the media frequently, and he carries himself with the same posture.”
Bloom has said the same thing, over and over again, when he talks about Cardinals’ fans and their passion. Bloom said they should raise hell if they believe that he deserves it. That isn’t an empty gesture; Bloom means it and he appreciates how much the fans care, even if they’re boycotting ticket sales as a form of protest. He wants to hear them. He’ll be more engaged with the fans than the previous administration.
That’s all I have for today, but I’m thinking Bloom will keep us busy over the next few months.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015. Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach.
Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. Bernie covered every Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He also provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues and Mizzou football and basketball. Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals baseball Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STLSportsCentral, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows. And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.