Chaim Bloom's first decision needs to be to stop acquiring former Red Sox

Chaim Bloom is at the helm of the St. Louis Cardinals. As the 2025 MLB playoffs are underway, Bloom is in the beginning stages of saving a once-prominent franchise within the game. The Cardinals are now on year three of not making the postseason, and a rebuild is imminent. As many fans are excited for change, do not expect the entire organization to start fresh. During Bloom's introductory press conference, he stated Oliver Marmol will be back for the 2026 season, as most of the front office personnel. Bloom will be operating in his style, which is moneyball. St. Louis might not be as high pressure as Boston, but it is not far off. With major renovations needing to take place to get the Cardinals back on track, Bloom will have to change himself as well if he wants to be successful in his second attempt as a Major League Baseball GM. This entails making uncomfortable trades and splash signings in free agency and avoiding acquiring his former players from Boston.

Bloom has been in the shadows of John Mozeliak over the past couple seasons to study and apply himself to the Cardinals Way. But his influence was not unnoticed during this time. When the Cardinals added any players to its organization during this time, several had ties to the Red Sox, and it became very ironic very quickly. in 2023, the Cardinals traded Tyler O'Neill to Boston for Nick Robertson and Victor Santos. O'Neill was as good as gone, and the Cardinals were ready to find any trade partner to move on from this saga. The Cardinals acquired two players who were within Bloom's farm system in Boston which gives him some closer insight to the players acquired. Overall this trade has not panned out for either side, and that should be taken note of going forward.

More recently the Cardinals traded veteran lefty Steven Matz at the 2025 trade deadline for once-heralded prospect Blaze Jordan. Matz got to pitch in relief in the 2025 Wild Card round for Boston but the team fell short to their rivals New York Yankees. Blaze Jordan finished the year out in AAA Memphis where he struggled with a .198/.242/..366/.608 slash line in 41 games. Much time will tell if the Cardinals will recoup any value from this trade, but so far, it's off to a bad start. The question becomes whether this was another crunch time decision to ditch another bad contract. Were there no other suitors to trade Matz too? Or is Bloom relying on his former farm system to continue his work left in Boston?

The future looks to be bright with Chaim Bloom in St. Louis. The organization as a whole recognized change needed to take place, and we are at the very beginning of this process. It will be long, painful, and extremely frustrating to get things turned around. It will take tough decisions, precise execution, and gambles to achieve greatness once again. The first step in this process is for Chaim Bloom to not look in the rearview for his decision-making. He is in the next chapter of his career and needs to approach it as much so.