Chaim Bloom has already upset Cardinals fans with first major decision

With the St. Louis Cardinals' season over following their failure to make the playoffs, Chaim Bloom is now officially the chief of command in the front office.

John Mozeliak had a long, successful run as the President of Baseball Operations, though the plan has been for Bloom to take over for the better part of a year. With resounding support from ownership as he takes the reins, Bloom is now in a position to start making decisions on the fates of key figures within the franchise.

One of the burning questions in the fanbase has been whether or not Bloom would seek his own manager or hold onto Oli Marmol. He made his feelings clear on the topic, telling The Athletic that Marmol would return for the 2026 season.

Chaim Bloom announces Oli Marmol's return, suggesting a full-scale teardown may not be in the cards

Marmol has been the Cardinals' manager for the last four seasons, racking up a 325-323 record in that time. The team has never won a playoff game under his stewardship, and St. Louis hasn't even been to the postseason since his first year at the helm (2022).

With a franchise-altering rebuild expected to take place this offseason, there were questions about whether Marmol was the right guy to lead what will be a new, young bunch in 2026. The team has only regressed under his leadership from the bench, after all.

And, seeing as the team's only successful year under him came during that magical (and slightly ridiculous) 2022 season, when the leaders were long-in-the-tooth veterans Albert Pujols, Paul Goldschmidt, and Adam Wainwright, fans who are expecting a youth movement are right to be upset by this. Given how some of the team's recent top prospects have performed upon reaching the majors -- think Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, and others -- there's no proof that Marmol is capable of developing the next wave of great Cardinals talent.

Nevertheless, Bloom is keeping the status quo in place. With such a large roster upheaval expected, it makes sense to have some sense of stability in the dugout, even if Marmol isn't going to be the long-term manager under Bloom.

Expect the rest of Marmol's coaching staff to be announced in the coming weeks; nothing will be finalized just yet as the organization performs a post-mortem on a disappointing 2025 campaign, but with a number of coaches around the league becoming available, the Cardinals could opt to put another experienced coach on Marmol's staff.