How Can Chaim Bloom Grow From His Time with Boston Red Sox For New Role with Cardinals?

I’ve been in the media for 12 years now, and while 12 years isn’t an eternity, it’s a long enough time to have picked up some things along the way.

One of the things I’ve picked up most notably? To not be impressed by intro press conferences or time that people spend at podiums. I’ve just burned too many times. I’ve fallen for the buzz words, only to see them unravel as a season – or a franchise – fall into disrepair.

It’s why I’ve adopted the saying of “it’s a game of show, not tell.” I no longer want to hear things that are good, I want to see things that are good. I want those words to be proven.

That said, it’s hard not to be impressed when you hear St. Louis Cardinals’ front office leader Chaim Bloom talk. He talks a very good game: He’s smart, he comes off as likable, and he believes in his approach. I know this because I covered Bloom for four years in Boston. I’ve heard him talk many times, and he’s always impressive.

And he was impressive once again when he joined Foul Territory TV on Tuesday night from the winter meetings in Orlando, Fla. He said all the right things, as he usually does: He talked about trying to build a sustainable winner in St. Louis, and he openly discussed the valleys that are coming in 2026, he didn’t run from them.

And then he said that he hoped those valleys will provide opportunities for players we haven’t been expecting to contribute to do so. He talked about a relentless work ethic in the organization and a commitment to the process, and he spoke about not compromising the standard of a great organization.

And I’ll be honest, I believe that Chaim Bloom can do this. I think a lot of what the Red Sox have become now, are because of what Bloom did there. He drafted Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell, and he drafted Kyle Teel, who was used to get Garrett Crochet. He brought in Garrett Whitlock from the Rule-5 Draft. I think Bloom knows what he’s doing on how to build a baseball team.

So, in my mind, he shows a great proficiency on two fronts: He says the right things, and I think he can build an organization, so what else is there for him to show?

In Boston, there were two things that really worked against Bloom, and he needs to improve those things in St. Louis.

1) He needs to be more collaborative. He’s the ultimate decision-maker, so you do have to have a degree of ownership, confidence and assertiveness. There are times where you are going to have to overrule the room, but you can’t do that every time. By the end, Bloom seemed to only trust himself and operated as too much of a “lone wolf.” He needs to be better at that the second time around.

2) When the time comes, he can’t be risk-averse. The other knock on Bloom in Boston was that he felt he had to not only “win,” every deal, he had to win in a landslide. And that thought process made him not want to pull the trigger on deals. When the Cardinals are ready to compete again, he needs to be ready to take some chances. And he also needs to take some chances at the trade deadline, something he was repeatedly panned for not doing. And when it comes to trading away players this winter, he can’t hold out for the “perfect” deal all the time.

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How Can Chaim Bloom Grow From His Time with Boston Red Sox For New Role with Cardinals?

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