Chaim Bloom's first rebuild with Red Sox offers an outline for Cardinals fans to follow

Chaim Bloom has already completed his first offseason with the St. Louis Cardinals, finally taking the franchise in a purposeful direction after a few years of wandering around the mud. Not every move he made was a winner, but the trades and short-term signings should accelerate this rebuild that's only just begun.

Luckily, this isn't Bloom's first time piloting through a storm. Once the lead man for the Boston Red Sox, he was responsible for trading Mookie Betts and taking the 2018 World Series champions into the next era. He didn't have to do anything that drastic with the Redbirds, but he did offload fan favorites Willson Contreras, Sonny Gray, Nolan Arenado, and Brendan Donovan.

Now, the team will be entering its first regular season under his watch. What can we take away from his rebuild in Boston as a blueprint for what could take place this year?

What to expect in Cardinals rebuild, Year 1: Trades, drafting, and a lot of losses

For one thing, it should be noted that Bloom's first year with the Red Sox was the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. They went 24-36 in that season, but a lot of shenanigans took place around the league that year. It's impossible to draw completely firm conclusions from that data.

However, one thing all Cardinals fans can expect is that Bloom's wheeling and dealing won't end just because the season has started. The Red Sox sold off quite a bit of talent at the 2020 trade deadline, receiving big prospect returns for a pair of valuable relievers and first baseman Mitch Moreland. They also traded away rental players Josh Osich and Kevin Pillar, both of whom were signed the previous offseason.

That template should be easy enough to replicate in 2026. Short-term additions like Dustin May, Ryne Stanek, and Ramón Urías will all be on the trade block in July if they're healthy, while JoJo Romero (free agent after 2026) and Lars Nootbar (2027) will be dangled as prizes for other teams to throw prospects at.

The draft is another place we predict the Cardinals' direction; like his first offseason in St. Louis, Bloom added a lot of pitching prospects in Boston via trades. He then used the draft to select high-upside position players like Nick Yorke and Blaze Jordan. Serious restrictions were in place in 2020 because of the shortened five-round structure and the Red Sox's limited bonus pool (due to the 2018 sign-stealing scandal), but a similar approach would make sense if the front office wants to complement top pitching prospects Liam Doyle, Brandon Clarke, and Jurrangelo Cijntje.

Of course, this focus on the future of the organization will lead to a painful present. The Cardinals will likely be one of the worst teams in the league this year as they trade away useful players and jockey for draft position in 2027.

Though he didn't stick around long enough to witness the fruits of his labor, the Red Sox are now benefiting from the foundation Bloom laid. If Cardinals fans can remain patient through a few lean seasons, the same should be true for them.