Cardinals’ hot start creates a no-win scenario for Chaim Bloom

The St. Louis Cardinals own one of the best records in all of baseball, have multiple young stars emerging in their lineup, and seem to be rejuvenating what had become a fanbase that had become disillusioned in recent years.

But it's year one of the "build," and if they continue their winning ways, their success will put new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom in an impossible spot that could hurt their future or hinder his goodwill with those who passionately follow the team, especially as comparisons begin flying about how other rebuilds kicked the can when given the opportunity to push toward contention.

If you scroll on social media, you'll already see a growing number of fans who are advocating for the Cardinals to not only punt on selling at this year's trade deadline, but go out and add to this team as well. While I do think there's a way to do both that fans could get around (I'll address that over the next few days), it's becoming clear that there is a portion of the fanbase that may actually be growing that doesn't see or agree with the idea that the Cardinals need to "stay the course."

Chaim Bloom recently came on the Dealin' the Cards podcast and addressed that, despite their early-season success, the plan has not changed, nor should it.

It's worth checking out the full hour-long conversation if you haven't already, or even if you already listened to it, refamiliarizing yourself with the vision that Bloom has laid out for the foreseeable future. Bloom does not sound like a guy who is going to change course, with this specific quote really sticking out to me:

"When I was introduced in the fall, I wanted to be very blunt about that, very explicit, that this is something that we need to have front and center, really for multiple years," Bloom said when asked on Dealin' the Cards about whether building the talent base for the long term was still top priority. "That is how we need to think about this. And the more we are able to stick with that, the quicker it will turn around. The game does not like when you yo-yo from one approach to another; it doesn't like when you try to cheat it, and so we need to stick with that."

Here's the thing about rebuilds, or "builds," as I think it may be more apt to start calling the state of the Cardinals currently — the beginning hurts. It just does. You have to make hard decisions for the future. And Bloom just so happens to already be leading an organization that is finding great success on the field early on, but that cannot change their plans. If Bloom stays the course, it is likely to help accelerate the turnaround we are already seeing on the field right now. But if they begin to pivot and think too much about instant gratification, they'll get in their own way.

So it's puts Bloom in a lose-lose situation. Stay the course, and upset fans who want to go for it. Push some chips in, and hurt the really bright future they are building.

Year 1 of the Cardinals "build" cannot be compared to advanced stages of other rebuilds.

I've been seeing the Cardinals compared to the Baltimore Orioles recently, specifically how in 2022, the Orioles were a fun, young team that seemed to be ahead of schedule, and yet they decided to trade away one of their best bats and closer to keep the big picture in mind, and they fell out of the playoff race in the second half after having a real argument for contention prior to those moves.

Personally, I don't see how that is a fair comparison to place upon this Cardinals team, and I think it is pretty clear why these are completely different situations.

First, Mike Elias, the lead baseball operations decision maker in Baltimore, was in his fourth season in charge of the Orioles and had just taken that fan base through 108- and 110-loss seasons, with the shortened COVID season sandwiched in between. Elias had three years to acquire and develop young talent in Baltimore, while Bloom has only had one year in charge.

Now, Bloom has had his fingerprints on the organization since 2024, which is part of what is giving him a leg up in year one of this build, but it is certainly not the same thing as running the show.

One of the major reasons things did not go well in Boston for Bloom was due to the whiplash that ownership had in terms of where the Red Sox were heading. The Red Sox yo-yoed just like Bloom warned against on Dealin' the Cards, and it muddied their plan that had been building up quite the young talent base for years. Now the Red Sox find themselves in quite the mess.

It's early May, so there is plenty of time for things to go south and this not even be a conversation anymore, but right now the Cardinals look like a really competitive team, one who can stay in the race through the summer and make for some really interesting conversations at the trade deadline.

But if things stay the course, I personally don't see why Bloom should get flak for keeping the big picture front and center this season. Could it change some of how they handle those hard decisions? Sure, but asking them to change course in 2026 doesn't seem to line up with what fans had been clamoring for at the end of the John Mozeliak era. There will come a day when they have to give far more weight to the here and now, but if they stay the course this time, those exciting days will be here sooner than they would have otherwise.

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