Arenado's change of heart allowed Bloom to do what Mozeliak was unable to complete

Chaim Bloom had plenty of checklist items to complete during his first offseason as the St. Louis Cardinals' President of Baseball Operations and has slowly been working his way through the list. The number one priority on my list for Bloom was to deal Nolan Arenado to clear up spots elsewhere on the roster, and he was able to successfully complete that task in a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Nolan Arenado's understanding of the Cardinals' path allowed more opportunities for a deal.

Last offseason, former POBO John Mozeliak attempted to kickstart the necessary transition for the Cardinals but was unsuccessful during the winter. He understood the need for change and even went so far as saying that dealing the expensive and underperforming Nolan Arenado was priority one, two, and three of the offseason. Obviously, that did not happen, but not due to Mozeliak's incompetence as the storyline around that saga tends to paint it as.

Due to the terms of Arenado's contract, the potential Hall of Famer was handed a no-trade clause as the Cardinals' commitment to winning during his time in St. Louis and the faith the Cardinals had in his abilities to continue performing at a near-MVP level. The fact that Arenado was unable to keep that performance up through the life of his Cardinals deal played a hand in making this transition period necessary, but that also made it difficult to market his services to rival GMs. Arenado's limited list of preferred destinations, along with his contract and downturn in counting stats, handcuffed Mozeliak to only search for a couple of different teams before finding a deal worth taking from the Astros, but their own transition made it a tough sell for Arenado to accept the trade to Houston.

Now, though, Chaim Bloom was able to get a trade past the finish line when he sent Arenado to the desert to play for the Diamondbacks, a team that was not on the list of preferred destinations from last year. Bloom has deservedly received positive reviews for his ability to get the deal done, but that also led to Mozeliak catching strays from Cardinal Nation wondering why Mo was unable to finish it off.

After the Arenado saga finally came to a close, Bloom was on KMOX with The Gashouse Gang, and he was asked why this iteration of the Nolan Arenado trade discussions was different than last. To Bloom's credit, he did not throw the old management setup under the bus, admitting that he was only in St. Louis for a short time and did not have a major hand in those discussions that took place with the Astros or Arenado last season. What Bloom did say is that the conversations with Arenado were productive and realistic from both sides, with Bloom explaining the current trajectory of the Cardinals to the third baseman, and Arenado being understanding and open to new opportunities.

Personally, I hope that Arenado is able to find a late career resurgence while helping the Diamondbacks get over the hump in the postseason. He figures to be in the mix for everyday starts at the hot corner, and hopefully the change of scenery will help bring his production back on track.