Derrick Goold
Lead baseball writer
Chaim Bloom fields questions from reporters on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, at Busch Stadium. Bloom will take over as the team鈥檚 president of baseball operations ahead of the 2026 season.
Before the Cardinals 鈥渢urn the keys鈥 of baseball operations over to a new leader they鈥檝e already signed to a five-year contract, the organization is detouring down an unfamiliar avenue for this ownership group, one that means a reduced payroll, increased youth and selling fans on a new brand after a generation of measuring success in Octobers rather than the futures market.
鈥淭he message is: We鈥檙e going young,鈥 chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said after a news conference Monday to announce changes in direction. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the message.鈥
A day after a second consecutive season ended without a playoff berth, the Cardinals detailed what DeWitt introduced as a 鈥渕ajor announcement鈥 for the direction of the club. In John Mozeliak鈥檚 final year as president of baseball operations, the Cardinals will focus inward with investments in their player development infrastructure that could limit spending on the big league club to contend in 2025.
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Former Boston and Tampa Bay executive Chaim Bloom will oversee this overhaul of the minor league programs and then, next fall, take over as president of baseball operations when Mozeliak鈥檚 contract expires.
Bloom鈥檚 five-year deal in that role begins next offseason through 2030.
DeWitt said the Cardinals are 鈥渆ntering a period of transition.鈥
Just as noteworthy was what the Cardinals did not say Monday.
They avoided that charged word that starts with 鈥淩鈥 and signals a certain slip in the standings.
They repeatedly used the little cousin of 鈥渞ebuild.鈥
鈥淵es, this is a reset,鈥 Mozeliak said after the televised news conference. 鈥淵es, this is going to be where we鈥檙e not focusing on necessarily building the best possible roster we can. We鈥檙e also excited about the roster. We do have a bunch of young players. We also have some emerging stars at the minor league level. How we could augment that over the next few months, time will tell.鈥
Mozeliak, in his third decade with the Cardinals, could actually see some of his day-to-day responsibilities increase in 2025. Michael Girsch, the team鈥檚 general manager since 2017, will remain a vice president but in charge of 鈥渟pecial projects.鈥 Mozeliak said he鈥檒l take on more of the GM duties while that position remains open for Bloom to eventually hire. Mozeliak said he did not want to create any 鈥渞oadblocks鈥 during a yearlong transition of power.
Mozeliak said Bloom will have input on major-league decisions that involve the future of the organization and the roster he'll inherit.
After Monday鈥檚 news conference, the Cardinals confirmed the Post-Dispatch鈥檚 report that Oliver Marmol would return as manager for a fourth season. In the coming days, he and Mozeliak will discuss the major league staff. Some changes are expected, especially as a few contracts expire.
The Cardinals finished the season 83-71, 12 wins better than 2023 but out of the playoffs and thus just as close to winning a National League pennant. That could explain why the response was more dramatic this year than last, especially after spending more than $200 million on major league payroll for the first time in club history. The spending tradeoffs the Cardinals made that did not result in big-league success had cost them in player development 鈥 a slow erosion over the past decade that has become a glaring gulch between them and advanced clubs.
鈥淚鈥檇 like to set us on a course to get back to consistent winning,鈥 said Mozeliak, whose rosters have won one playoff series since 2014. 鈥淔ocus on the buildup of our baseball operations, invest in new infrastructure and technologies. See the groundbreaking (of improved facilities) in Jupiter, Florida. You may ask yourself two simple questions: What is this? And what is it not? What it is a multi-year strategy, a focus on player procurement and development. It鈥檚 a long-term investment in the organization鈥檚 future.
鈥淲hat is it not?鈥 Mozeliak continued. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a Band-Aid solution. And this is not an excuse. Focus on the word 鈥榗hange.鈥 Change. We need to make change to realize our ultimate goal.鈥
What that means for players who came to the Cardinals believing contending for a championship was their current goal is to be determined in the coming weeks.
Two former All-Stars, Nolan Arenado and Sonny Gray, have no-trade clauses, but they also sought a move to the Cardinals because of their promise to be perennial contenders. Gray鈥檚 salary rockets to $30 million in 2025. Arenado escaped Colorado and agreed to a complex trade to the Cardinals when the Rockies' spending shriveled and a playoff-worthy roster came apart. Mozeliak said conversations with them are ahead and decisions must be 鈥渁 two-way street.鈥
The Post-Dispatch asked DeWitt what the shift says to those franchise players.
鈥淥bviously, they鈥檙e veterans and they will be great assets for us on the team,鈥 he said.
The Cardinals can shed a chunk of salary swiftly in the coming weeks. They have $12 million options on pitchers Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn and a $6 million option on Keynan Middleton. It will cost $3 million to buy those out.
Andrew Kittredge and Paul Goldschmidt are free agents, and if the Cardinals want to hasten their 鈥渞eset,鈥 they could field prospect-rich offers on closer Ryan Helsley before his arbitration jackpot.
The Cardinals do not expect to chase free agents this winter who will cost them a draft pick, preferring instead to accumulate picks and young talent. As they did for Masyn Winn at shortstop, they want to clear routes for prospects Michael McGreevy, Thomas Saggese and Quinn Mathews to contribute in 2025. That too would create a cheaper, cost-controlled roster.
As part of the news conference, club President Bill DeWitt III outlined the uncertainties the club is facing for revenue. Top among them is the cratering cable model, which remains in bankruptcy court. The Cardinals do not yet know if they鈥檒l receive their full rights fee from their broadcast partner鈥檚 parent company, Diamond Sports, for 2025. Club president DeWitt said the team hopes a direct-to-consumer model where fans can buy a subscription to games and stream them through an app is on the horizon.
Another factor was the message sent by fans this past season with fewer than 3 million tickets sold for the first time in Busch Stadium III history. Historically, Cardinals have tied their payroll spending to ticket revenue, and fan support has allowed them to punch above their market size.
And then there is the planned diversion of spending from the major league product to the minor league system. Bloom said ownership 鈥済ave the green light to make real investments,鈥 some of which has already started.
Mozeliak estimated an 8%-12% increase in spending on player development to expand the staff and outfit the organization with modern technology.
鈥淭here are some fundamental things we want to do differently in the organization, and then as we have continued success at the minor league level, at the player-procurement level, then we can time it right and try to reinvest at the major-league level,鈥 Mozeliak said. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 put a dollar amount on it yet because I don鈥檛 know exactly what our revenues are going to look like. Ownership is committed to letting us take the first step to make that investment in the player development.鈥
The regression in player development was not overnight.
Mozeliak expressed concerns in 2017 and then encountered a variety of obstacles, from construction delays to coaches who ignored purchased tech, through the years. Staff cutbacks that left vital positions vacant put the Cardinals further behind their rivals. Before this past year, they were slow to respond to rapid advancements in pitching development.
鈥淚n the past few years 鈥 not a ton of years 鈥 teams have beefed-up and gotten more analytical,鈥 chairman DeWitt said. 鈥淚 think we were at the forefront a number of years ago and stayed there, went along, and kept improving. The industry saw the value of going all-in on player procurement and player development and we were doing fine. We were winning and having a good team. We didn鈥檛 quite catch up.鈥
Enter Bloom.
Hired a year ago as an adviser, Bloom spent the past season observing and auditing the Cardinals, mostly at the player-development level. He visited every affiliate and spent some time at the Cardinals鈥 academy in the Dominican Republic. At the end of his survey, he had suggested changes 鈥 and ownership empowered him to make them. He will also play a leading role in ownership鈥檚 hiring of a new assistant general manager-level farm director and other leadership positions for farm system.
Bloom joined Mozeliak and the DeWitts on the podium for the presser and delivered his first public comments on the Cardinals since joining the Cardinals.
鈥淥ur staff has the hunger to learn, to grow, to get better, to change,鈥 Bloom said of meeting Cardinals minor-league coaches and officials. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a good thing because that鈥檚 what we need. That鈥檚 what this game demands. The competition is this area of our industry has been absolutely relentless over the past decade. It takes boldness and humility to get on top and stay there. If you stand still and rest on your laurels even for a moment, you get beat.鈥
That could be why the Cardinals avoided using 鈥渞ebuild.鈥
Bloom is not tasked with a rebuild.
His job is to build a renewed, better and modern foundation for player development upon which will grow the Cardinals鈥 major league team he will run.
鈥淔ind out how we get back out in front (because) that is part of the tradition of this organization 鈥 is innovation,鈥 Bloom said. 鈥淐atching up is important. We want to be able to set the tone. We鈥檙e not just going to be looking at copying everybody else. We want to find our own way.鈥
