Cardinals' Chaim Bloom is exhibiting a skill that John Mozeliak could only dream of

What happens when Chaim Bloom meets an immovable object? If his brief tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals and his earlier stint with the Boston Red Sox have told us anything, he tends to move that object regardless.

As the Cardinals begin an arduous rebuild and Bloom carries out moves that hurt Cardinals fans' hearts but are necessary for the long-term outlook of the team, the team's new president of baseball operations has displayed an adept ability to coax players out the door. In the "Foul Territory" podcast following the Cardinals' unloading of third baseman Nolan Arenado, host A.J. Pierzynski mentioned Bloom's aptitude in dealing players who were difficult to move because of their no-trade clauses. For St. Louis in the 2025-2026 offseason, that includes Arenado, Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray.

Bloom has done an excellent job at moving tough players with rough contracts.

The first of these three deals with the Cardinals was the jettisoning of Gray to the Red Sox, where the Cardinals also ate $20 million of Gray's $35 million salary for 2026. Throughout his time in St. Louis, Gray was honest and frank, and while he originally had doubts about waiving his no-trade clause, he later admitted that he was considering approving a trade to a contending team.

Contreras was the next domino to topple, and he had been the most adamant about remaining in St. Louis, meeting with former president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and spelling out his desire to keep wearing the birds on the bat. Nevertheless, Bloom swung another deal with Boston after Contreras waived the no-trade clause after the Red Sox sweetened the deal, essentially sending him $1 million to approve the trade.

Arenado was the most upfront about his willing to go to another team, but the Arenado trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks was probably the toughest for Bloom to carry out given Arenado's cratering value, and it illustrated a stark contrast between Bloom and Mozeliak. The Cardinals had a deal in place during the 2024-2025 offseason to send Arenado to the Houston Astros, but after Arenado spurned the trade, Mozeliak and the Cardinals were up a creek without a paddle as they tried and failed to find another suitor prior to the season.

At the 2025 trade deadline, Mozeliak again shopped the third baseman but was reportedly unwilling to allow the Cardinals to take on the majority of Arenado's contract in the event of a trade. This likely scared away several teams, including the New York Yankees, who refused to cave in to the Cardinals' exorbitant demands.

Finally, under Bloom, the Cardinals managed to execute a trade to send Arenado to the desert along with $31 million of the $42 million remaining on his contract. Thus, not only was Bloom able to persuade Contreras and Gray to leave the team in exchange for prospects, he also managed to succeed where Mozeliak had failed, sending Arenado packing by any means necessary.

The next question is whether Bloom can use his persuasiveness to bring stars into St. Louis when the time is right with the same skill he has shown in encouraging others to leave. If he can convince free agents that the Cardinals are on the upswing and the team eventually displays improvement on the field, there will be much brighter days ahead for the team.