Chaim Bloom found major success with this strategy the Cardinals have rarely used

One of the most anti-climactic things in sports is when a team lets a really good player walk in free agency. Not only does it hurt to lose a player, but it feels like you are just giving them up "for free." Well, in Major League Baseball, that is not always the case.

Sure, it feels like a bigger win to trade a player for a package of prospects if you're going to lose them, but sometimes that's not the best solution for a club. If a club is in contention, they are not likely to sell off assets at a trade deadline, even if the player is in a walk year. And even if a club is "out of it," if the offers are not great, the potential of extending a qualifying offer to a player can bring a lot of value to a club.

Few people in the game know the value of compensatory draft picks like Chaim Bloom, and the St. Louis Cardinals themselves have found success with that model in the not-so-distant past.

Chaim Bloom landed two of the top prospects in baseball through compensatory draft picks.

Prior to the 2022 season, the Boston Red Sox lost Eduardo Rodriguez in free agency after he signed with the Detroit Tigers, and the Red Sox received the 79th overall pick since they had extended the qualifying offer. Bloom and his front office used that selection to draft outfielder Roman Anthony, who is one of the top prospects in all of baseball.

That next offseason, shortstop Xander Bogaerts signed a massive deal with the San Diego Padres, but since the Red Sox once again extended him a qualifying offer, they were awarded the 132nd overall pick in the 2023 draft. Bloom once again struck gold with that draft selection, snagging Kristian Campbell, who is also now one of the top prospects in the game.

No, I'm not saying Bloom will, or even should, let free agents worthy of qualifying offers walk in free agency. Sometimes they should be traded before that moment comes or given a new contract, but I also think Bloom has proven that the path of a qualifying offer can end up being extremely lucrative.

Bloom's reputation precedes him when it comes to drafting and developing young talent. He can obviously upgrade the system through trades and international free agency, but the draft will always remain a strong pool for doing so. In recent years, the Cardinals have been a team that has lost draft picks by signing players with qualifying offers and have not gained back picks through that same system. That has left them with fewer premium selections as well as a smaller cash pool to draw from.

Historically, the Cardinals have snagged names like Michael Wacha and Jack Flaherty because of compensatory picks, so they've experienced the fruit of it as well.

Going into the 2025 season, the Cardinals are currently holding onto two valuable impending free agents in Ryan Helsley and Erick Fedde. If either or both arms are performing well at the trade deadline, they should be worth hefty trade packages that are more valuable than one compensatory pick. But, if the offers are not up to the Cardinals' standard, they could very easily hold both arms until the offseason, extend qualifying offers, and then collect the extra draft selections for the 2026 MLB Draft.

I do think this is something to watch for the Cardinals this year and moving forward. Again, I do not believe Bloom's strategy is more diverse than just collecting draft picks, but he's clearly seen the benefit of having more draft throws in the draft, and he will keep that in mind when making decisions regarding talent on their roster.