Lynn Worthy | Post-Dispatch
Sports columnist
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In Chaim Bloom, the Cardinals found their needed change agent capable of setting the franchise on a new course. That’s not simply a roster thing. It’s changing the way the organization thinks.
That change will flow from the inside out, the way ripples in a pond emanate from the pebble dropped into the water.
Bloom rightfully leaned into history and paid respect to the Cardinals’ tradition in his first news conference as president of baseball operations Tuesday at Busch Stadium, but he also infused the need for a transformation into his remarks.
“That standard is always changing,” Bloom said. “It means something different in 2025 than it meant in 1925 or 1965 or in 2005, and it’s going to mean something different in 2035.
“So now we get to do it again. That takes boldness to do things our way, not to fear being different if we think different means better.”
Embrace different. Pursue different. Don’t fear different.
That’s the executive molded by the forward-thinking Tampa Bay Rays speaking, and it’s also the executive who learned from taking his lumps during his tenure with the Boston Red Sox. That combination makes him uniquely suited for the task at hand, and that’s reason for optimism in St. Louis.
The Rays were known for thinking creatively and approaching things differently in order to gain competitive advantages, maximize the resources and work around their limitations. That applied to roster moves, trades, contracts or on-field elements like infield shifts and utilizing “openers.” Bloom basically grew up in that front office and that baseball environment.
In Boston, Bloom came in as an outsider and took the lead in baseball operations for the first time in his career. He joined an incredibly entrenched senior leadership group in baseball operations that included top executives at the general manager and assistant general manager levels as well as the analytics, minor league operations and scouting departments.
Many of those holdovers not only predated Bloom but also predated his immediate predecessor, Dave Dombrowski.
Last winter, current Boston chief baseball officer Craig Breslow reorganized the front office and moved several of the longtime executives into new roles.
Coincidentally — yeah, right — a report published by Yahoo! Sports this spring accused Breslow of being “insulated,” claimed the “collaborative spirit” from previous front offices had become frayed and longtime staffers suddenly felt “shut out” of baseball operations.
That sure looks a lot like Breslow upset the apple cart, and as a result, Breslow had fingers pointed at him from within, painting him as some sort of lone wolf.
I point that out because it’s an indication of the pushback Bloom likely faced internally in Boston, even if he intended to be “bold” and different.
Well, the Cardinals get Bloom after he’s waded through that swamp. He’s no longer a first-time lead executive.
He’s also not brand new to the Cardinals organization the way he’d been when he walked through the doors at Fenway Park. Bloom had more than a year to assess the Cardinals before he took over.
While addressing the wide range of aspects the organization must innovate during his prepared remarks on Tuesday, Bloom said, “We will act with purpose and with urgency to take a fresh look at every one of those areas and work to set a new standard in each of them.”
You might hear that “purpose and urgency” as a typical new executive platitude.
I heard that as a warning shot.
Acting with purpose and urgency can be a phrase that lays the foundation for sweeping change. You could read that as Bloom having put everyone on notice and that he’s already earmarked areas, aside from player development, he wants to shake things up.
I posed that to Bloom when he sat down with local writers after the news conference.
“I don’t want it to be something where everybody is on notice except insofar as this is a competitive business and we should always act like we’re on notice,” Bloom said. “That’s just how we have to behave if we want to win and keep moving this thing forward.”
Well, that’s a bit of an iron fist in a velvet glove.
If you think I’m reading between the lines too much, then pay attention to the rest of Bloom’s response.
“There are other areas,” Bloom continued. “And it’s been a nice thing about this year — being able to get under the hood in different areas, different places. I don’t necessarily want to single any out at this point. Some of that may become apparent as we do make additions and we do change some things.
“I also don’t want to imply that there’s any area that we should just ignore and say, ‘Hey, we’re fine here.’ We just shouldn’t take that mindset to anything that we do. That’s actually really dangerous. Because when you think you are, all that you’ve guaranteed if you refuse to keep moving forward is eventually somebody will beat you. It may not be today, but it eventually going to happen if you aren’t continually challenging yourself as an organization.”
Bloom said he hopes the current senior leadership “will all go forward with us,” but he also clearly thinks the organization could benefit from fresh blood. He’s acknowledged he sees areas the organization can move forward with “some new faces and new ideas.”
Roles could shift among existing front office staff members. That also connects to the Cardinals hiring a general manager, a move that might not come this offseason.
Bloom could wait until after he’s made additions and reorganized the front office before he decides how he’d like to use that general manager role.
Bloom seems poised to shake things up throughout the organization in thoughtful and meaningful ways. Call it … urgency and purpose.
“There are some areas, more than others, that I’ve looked and said there’s some real opportunity here,” Bloom said. “But it’s really an approach I want us, over time, to take to every area of the front office.”
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Lynn Worthy | Post-Dispatch
Sports columnist
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