Analyzing the Chaim Bloom hire by the Cardinals

A few weeks ago, the Cardinals added Chaim Bloom to their front office. After being dismissed by the Red Sox, Bloom will serve in an advisory role to John Mozeliak.

Bloom recently served as the Chief Baseball Officer of the Red Sox, a position he took in 2020. During his time in Boston, the Red Sox endured three last-place finishes and only reached the postseason once, making a run to the ALCS in 2021.

Despite that, Bloom still brings some valuable experience to the Cardinals front office. For all the struggles in Boston, he did help rebuild their farm system. Since then, the Red Sox have churned out a homegrown ace in Brayan Bello.

Some of Bloom's best work came during his time at the helm of the Rays. There, he helped modernize the team's pitching system, and they churned out stars such as Blake Snell, who won a Cy Young with the team in 2018 and recently won a Cy Young with the Padres.

Needless to say, Bloom isn't a fool and actually has some solid accolades to his name.

Still, that doesn't mean this move comes without risks. I've seen Cardinals fans on Twitter hoping and praying that Bloom is the heir apparent and will take over for Mozeliak when the latter's contract expires after 2025.

I'm intrigued by that possibility, as I for one am tired of the same old same old with Mozeliak. But I'm also skeptical.

In this piece, we'll analyze the hiring of Bloom, as well as the pros and cons.

Pros of the Bloom hire

I already explained some of the pros of this hire, but I think they're important to remember.

Bloom rose through the ranks of the Rays organization and played a key role in revitalizing their farm system. It's why they're able to churn out so many young stars and remain competitive without spending excessive amounts of money.

His tenure in Boston was obviously less successful, which we'll get into later, but he did help rebuild their farm system as well. Not only have the Red Sox produced Brayan Bello, but they have also been able to churn out first baseman and slugger Triston Casas, who was a Rookie of the Year candidate last season.

In addition, he brings a fresh perspective to the Cardinals front office. While I really wish they would spend more money on good players to improve the roster, I do think Bloom's insight will be valuable to the Cardinals and that it's time for a different view on certain things.

Mozeliak has been at the helm since 2008 and still hasn't changed much. His typical offseason shopping includes one big move and not much else, and the same can be said for this offseason as the Cardinals' only major move was the signing of Sonny Gray.

That's not to definitively say that Bloom will make more big moves if he ascends, but Mozeliak has essentially been doing the same thing since he took over for Walt Jocketty. One could make the argument that the hiring of Bloom might be a way for the Cardinals to start reining in Mozeliak.

Cons of the Bloom hire

As I said, while this move should help the Cardinals in some ways, it also comes with some significant risks.

It should be noted that Red Sox fans hated Bloom and rejoiced when he was fired. The reason for this is that he made several decisions that didn't end up working out in their favor.

As Ben Frederickson correctly pointed out on Twitter, Bloom's time in Boston was defined by the Mookie Betts trade. Boston didn't get much in return, and the last holdover from that package, Alex Verdugo, is now with the Yankees.

Bloom signed Trevor Story, who has proven to be a bust thus far with the Red Sox. He also managed to let Xander Bogaerts walk in free agency and didn't give him a competitive offer.

To be fair, that's not all on him. As is the case with the Cardinals, and all other teams for that matter, Ownership makes the final call on these issues. But as Frederickson mentioned in his tweet, Bloom never tried to stop it.

It is for this reason that Cardinals fans should pump the brakes on celebrating and declaring Bloom the heir apparent.