John Mozeliak's comments seem to suggest Chaim Bloom as the Cardinals' heir-apparent

The breadcrumbs have been there since Peter Gammons tweeted that the St. Louis Cardinals were going to bring in Chaim Bloom as an advisor this past offseason.

The smoke began to rise when both John Mozeliak and Bill DeWitt Jr. addressed Chaim Bloom's role with the club during Cardinals Winter Warm-Up. Mozeliak seemed excited to have Bloom in the fold to give the Cardinals fresh eyes on how they've been operated, and DeWitt was forthcoming with the fact that he was really interested in bringing in Bloom as well.

Breadcrumbs are one thing, smoke is another. But at least to my ears, John Mozeliak's comments to Jim Hayes of Bally Sports Midwest on Saturday all but lit the fire of speculation regarding Chaim Bloom as his heir apparent in St. Louis.

Let me provide some more context, break down these comments from Mozeliak, and then give you another reporter's perspective on the Chaim Bloom situation.

Back at Cardinals' Blogger and Podcaster Day in June, Mozeliak highlighted once again the unique resume that Bloom had as to why they pursued his influence this offseason. He called Bloom very valuable and insightful, and that he was working on some very specific things for Mozeliak as they start to think about the future, and by the end of the summer, he'll have some deliverables on things they can do.

On Saturday when talking to Hayes, he referenced that project he was working on, and "ultimately he's going to present to myself and ownership on what types of changes he might do" while once again acknowledging that change was coming in the front office and his time would likely be over by the end of 2025.

Chaim Bloom has had his fingerprints all over the Cardinals' organization since being hired

While the Cardinals have been pretty low-key publicly regarding Bloom's involvement until these recent comments from Mozeliak, those around the team and within the industry have been noticing Bloom's influence

We had Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat on my podcast "Dealin' the Cards" back in the middle of June, and Jones was bullish on Chaim Bloom being the guy the Cardinals want as their next President of Baseball Operations.

This is just a short snippet of the interview we did with Jones, you can find his full thoughts on the Bloom situation at the 26:35 mark of our podcast episode. Jones talked about how Bloom has been studying every part of the Cardinals' organization, visiting all of their minor league affiliates, and even at Busch Stadium and in the Cardinals' clubhouse. Jones is around the team about as much as any reporter, and in his eyes, it's clear that Bloom is the guy they want to see step into Mozeliak's role.

Even more surprising to me from my conversation with Jones was his belief that the Cardinals' will make their future front office plans known by Halloween and that he even expects the changes to occur then. Not that John Mozeliak would be fired or resign early, but that he would step back from his role as President of Baseball Operation, Bloom would presumably step into his role, and Mozeliak would oversee the Spring Training facility building project in the final year of his deal.

Now, that was speculation from Jones but obviously came from a place of him reading the tea leaves and conversations he's had with people in and around the organization. Having that context in my head also informs my perspective of Mozeliak's comments on Saturday, making it seem as obvious as it can be without the front office confirming it that Bloom is the guy they want to take over.

Now, as Jones pointed out as well, and as is the case with everything in life, there are two sides to this. Just because the Cardinals want Bloom and he's doing work for them does not mean he will accept the job. I believe strongly he would, but he's studying the organization not just to get the job, but also to figure out if this is where he wants to take his career next. There is also the personal side of things, where we have no clue if Bloom wants to relocate to St. Louis or not.

Even if Bloom is not the next guy for St. Louis, his influence will be invaluable to an organization that tends to hire from within and do things its own way. Mozeliak has been very open the last few years about believing that not only did the organization need some outside influence, but that his time should also be closing soon in order to bring in fresh leadership. We can all acknowledge that the latter half of Mozeliak's tenure has not resulted in the postseason success any of us would've hoped for, and I think that is a sign of the organization losing its "edge".

While a lot of people do not want to give Mozeliak credit for the early years of his tenure after taking over for Walt Jocketty, he did lead the Cardinals to a World Series title in 2011 that began a run of four-straight NLCS appearances, including another trip to the World Series in 2013. Not only were they

The organization was the face of baseball when it came to pitching development back then and maximizing their offensive talent. They pumped out pitching prospects like Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez, Lance Lynn, Trevor Rosenthal, Joe Kelly, and Kevin Siegrist. They developed bats internally like Oscar Taveras, Matt Carpenter, Allen Craig, Kolten Wong, and Jon Jay.

They struck gold with free-agent signings like Carlos Beltran, Lance Berkman, and Jhonny Peralta. They made really impactful trades like acquiring Matt Holliday, David Freese, Rafael Furcal, John Lackey, and Jake Westbrook, and even flipping a top young talent in Colby Rasmus for key pieces to their World Series team.

It's not fair to say the Cardinals haven't done stuff like this since then. They acquired Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado in huge trades. They tried to make big swings for guys like Jason Heyward and Marcell Ozuna in trades and tried to sign Heyward and David Price in free agency. They were actually able to sign guys like Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras. They've made shrewd trades for guys like Jordan Montgomery, JoJo Romero, Andrew Kittredge, and Jose Quintana. They have young pitching talent on the way and plenty of young bats producing now. But it's clear the success has not been the same.

Will Chaim Bloom be able to usher in a new era of Cardinals baseball that looks more like the success of the early 2010s? Who knows? But that is surely the hope. His experience with the Tampa Bay Rays surely gives you hope. His tenure in charge of the Boston Red Sox can either be a learning experience or a sign of bad habits. But until Bloom is in control of the operations, we can only speculate.

Nothing is official until it's official, but it sure does seem like new leadership is about to "bloom" in St. Louis.

Sorry, I had to.