6 pros and cons if Chaim Bloom does take over for Cardinals' John Mozeliak

Pro: Chaim Bloom has been on the cutting edge of player development for a long-time

At the time of his hiring in Boston, Bloom was called a home run hire by many in the industry, like ESPN's Jeff Passan, as he was viewed as one of the most well-regarded baseball executives who had not yet been given the chance to run an organization.

Bloom's calling card when coming up with the Rays' organization was player development. It is a major reason that Tampa Bay has been able to be so successful for so many years with one of the smallest payrolls in all of baseball. For context, even as the Rays have begun to spend more money in recent years, they still rank 28th in all of baseball according to FanGraphs with a projected payroll of about $89 million for 2024, while the Cardinals are 12th in spending at $182 million.

Bloom wrote the team's development manual titled "The Rays Way" back in 2008, and it quickly became famous among baseball circles and the gold standard for how organizations should be developing players moving forward. Think back to how successful the Cardinals were at bumping out young talent in the early 2010s which led to their success from 2011-2015. Bloom is the poster child for that kind of success among today's executives. Getting an edge is the name of the game in this business, and Bloom cracked the code.

When Andrew Friedman left the Rays to run the Los Angeles Dodgers, Bloom was elevated within the Rays' organization as one of their voices trusted with replacing his presence, and it's what ultimately led to the Red Sox choosing him to run their historic franchise.

Player development is something the Cardinals have been criticized for time and time again over the last few years, and if they can flip that into a strength, it would do wonders for their club moving forward. Player development also goes beyond just making prospects better - Bloom has been known for his ability to identify talent that is being undervalued and maximize those players with his organization. Bloom helped the Cardinals target names like Ryan Fernandez, Andrew Kittredge, Riley O'Brien, and Nick Robertson this offseason, and it has paid off in a major way.

Should the Cardinals give the reigns over to Bloom, he'd fill the exact need that Mozeliak has been stating for some time now - fresh eyes who can help the organization see where it has fallen behind the times.