Cardinals may be able to shield Chaim Bloom from criticism with their transition plan

While my preference would be for the St. Louis Cardinals to go ahead and pass the reigns of the franchise over to Chaim Bloom, there is a silver lining to this awkward gap year - John Mozeliak remaining the face of baseball operations for 2025 could shield Bloom from unfair criticism that may be coming.

When Bloom took over the Boston Red Sox, he was instantly met with the no-win situation of having to reduce payroll, trade away a future Hall of Famer in Mookie Betts, revamp one of the worst farm systems in baseball, and somehow find a way to compete with the New York Yankees and the rest of the American League East as he succeeded a World Series winning executive in Dave Dombrowski.

Ouch.

No shots at Dombrowski here, he is one of the best executives in all of baseball right now. But Bloom was basically brought in to clean up the mess that ownership accelerated during Dombrowski's tenure. Bad contracts, an aging roster, and very little talent coming through the minor leagues was going to take time to rebuild, especially since Boston wanted to slash payroll and let Betts go play in Los Angeles.

But here comes Bloom, the perfect guy to implement such a plan, and after he did exactly what was asked of him and began to revamp their player development and reset their books, he was shown out the door by an impatient ownership group feeling the pressure of Boston media and fandom.

Hm. If the Cardinals plan on slashing payroll this offseason, trading away the likes of Ryan Helsley, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Arenado while also letting most of their free agents walk, I wonder what some fans will begin to say about Bloom if he is the one making those decisions?

Ever since it was even rumored that Bloom might be joining the front office back in November 2023, I was really intrigued about him being the potential successor to John Mozeliak. But ever since his name has caught more headlines in St. Louis, many fans have voiced their concerns about bringing in a guy who "failed in Boston" and traded away Betts for cents on the dollar.

Some people cannot shake that narrative from their minds, and if Bloom were the figurehead of similar moves this offseason, those same fans would likely be very critical of Bloom for doing what is needed here in St. Louis. And the casual fan who never even heard of Bloom until Monday's press conference would likely be skeptical regarding his ability to run a team.

Let's be clear here: Boston did not need to slash payroll and trade away Betts. But that is what they required of Bloom. Could he have done a better job? Yes. However, many of the issues people are quick to point out should be directed toward ownership in Boston.

But here in St. Louis, a reset is needed. While we can all debate how much payroll shrinking is necessary, it's going to happen. And if the Cardinals are looking to open up their long-term outlook as a contender, moving those high-priced veterans and getting talent in return would be a wise move.

Luckily for Bloom, he won't be the "fall guy" for those decisions this time.

With Mozeliak overseeing baseball operations this year, Bloom will be able to speak into those potential moves and help shape what they do, but fans will inevitably voice their frustration toward Mozeliak instead. Honestly, that is much better for Bloom's long-term approval rating in St. Louis.

The mess Bloom is walking into will take some time to fix. It will require some hard and unpopular decisions to be made. Again, many fans in St. Louis understand why some of these moves will happen, but frankly, a portion of the fan base won't.

While the Cardinals could be competitive in 2025 in the midst of payroll slashing and going with a youth movement, there is also a world where the team is just really bad next year. And if we are being realistic, 2026 probably won't be the year where the Cardinals are officially declared as "back". If the Cardinals really want Bloom to work his magic, they need to have patience with the process.

Bloom officially taking over basically buys him a free year of work that won't be counted against his resume in St. Louis. Actually, more like two years. Most new outside hires have to come into an organization and immediately oversee all of the baseball operations, studying the organization and planning necessary changes while also trying to run the big league club and oversee all other aspects of player development.

Instead, Bloom got a year to come in and study the ins and outs of this organization. He then gets a year to devote the majority of his time, energy, and resources to implementing new philosophies, infrastructure, technology, and staffing into the player development side of the equation before having to hand more of that off to others in the organization.

Honestly, the more I process this, the more I actually like the decision to have Bloom take over baseball operations in 2026 - assuming one major thing is actually true. During Monday's press conference, Mozeliak talked about how moves that would impact the future of the organization would be spoken into by Bloom and ownership before they happen. If that is true, and Bloom can have a say in how this teardown happens while Mozeliak takes the brunt of the criticism, then it actually works out extremely well for Bloom to have a "background role" in 2025.

Now, I don't think that means we shouldn't see or hear from Bloom this next year, but that's a topic for tomorrow's piece that I am working on.