Chaim Bloom Joins Cardinals Front Office in Advisory Role
The St. Louis Cardinals are leaving no stone unturned as they look to rebound from a nightmare 2023 campaign, with the front office’s latest off-season addition joining their baseball operations department.
Seeking an experienced baseball mind, the club has hired former Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, who’ll serve as an advisor to president of baseball operations John Mozeliak for the 2024 season.
Bloom began his tenure with the Red Sox toward the conclusion of the 2019 campaign before being relieved of his duties last September. He remained in contact with Mozeliak – who first reached out shortly after Bloom’s firing – over the winter while weighing his potential options.
“I’m excited to join the Cardinals and to be a part of this great organization,” Bloom said in a press release Monday afternoon, per The Athletic. “Mo and his team have given me such a warm welcome, and I’m eager to build relationships here and to learn, contribute, and help us win.”
The 40-year-old baseball executive is believed to have accepted a part-time role with the Cardinals organization, which won’t require him to relocate from his current residence in Boston, Mass. He’s expected to travel to spring training and will appear in St. Louis sporadically in 2024.
Bloom’s responsibilities remain a bit of a mystery. However, the belief is he’ll allocate most of his time to player development, an integral piece of his background, particularly the 15 years spent inside the Tampa Bay Rays baseball operations.
For an organization with a deep history of promoting internal candidates, Mozeliak felt it was vital for the Cardinals to procure an external executive who could provide a fresh outlook to the front office, which is coming off its first 90-plus loss season since 1990.
“I have known Chaim for a long time, and feel that this is a great opportunity for the St. Louis Cardinals,” Mozeliak said. “It will be good to get an outside perspective of our organization from someone who is as well-respected as Chaim. Having a fresh set of eyes on all aspects of our baseball operations should be helpful.”
Bloom brings two decades’ worth of experience to the Cardinals, having guided the Red Sox to the 2021 ALCS while battling financial hurdles in his stint and, with the help of analytics, establishing one of the sport’s strongest player development divisions with the Rays.
Prior to those roles, he also worked for Major League Baseball, the San Diego Padres and as a writer at Baseball Prospectus.
“His expertise and what he’s seen will be very helpful to us moving forward,” Mozeliak said.
“When you think about the length of time Bill DeWitt and myself have been together, and really a lot of the senior leadership in the front office, it’s just going to be nice to have somebody give us a fresh perspective,” he added “When you look at really our steady state over arguably the last 25 years, we just haven’t had a lot of outside voices to come in. Chaim has had an accomplished career. Allowing him to come in and really take a look behind the curtain, give us some insight and topics that we’re curious about, I think is exciting.”
It’s become fairly common for high-ranking executives to transition into advisory positions after being let go from their previous role – a trend Bloom is now adding to. But he’ll likely receive consideration the next time a GM or president of baseball operations job becomes available.
In the meantime, Bloom will provide his expertise to a Cardinals staff that’s been among the most active this winter, signing three starting pitchers (Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn) in free agency and acquiring a pair of relievers (Andrew Kittredge, Nick Robertson) via trade.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
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