The Cardinals held a press conference today featuring chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., club president Bill DeWitt III, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and advisor Chaim Bloom. DeWitt Jr. announced at the press conference that Bloom would be taking over the Mozeliak’s POBO role after 2025 and has signed a five-year contract. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat was among those to relay the details (X links). That contract starts in 2026, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (X link). Mozeliak adds that he will make day-to-day decisions through 2025 but but long-term decisions will involve Bloom and ownership, per Jones (X link). Also, Michael Girsch is no longer the general manager, with his title now changed to vice president of special projects. Mozeliak says he expect player payroll to go down, per Goold (X link).
There had been a lot of smoke in recent days that significant changes were coming to the front office. A week ago, Jones reported that some notable developments would be announced at today’s press conference. Around that same time, Bob Nightengale of USA Today had reported that Bloom was likely ticketed for a larger role. A few days later, Katie Woo of The Athletic provided some more details, noting that Bloom would be overhauling the club’s player development. As part of that overhaul, the club planned to redirect resources away from the major league roster and towards improving their minor league pipeline. On the weekend, Nightengale reported further on the club, noting that the payroll reduction could lead to right-hander Sonny Gray winding up on the trading block. Meanwhile, a report from Goold aligned with Woo’s info, noting that the club planned to take a long-term focus on their player development. Woo herself added another report which noted that the club planned to move on from long-time first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.
Today’s announcements all line up with that reporting, though also take it a step further. Though no one is using words like “rebuild” or “retool” or anything along those lines, it seems there is a general understanding that the club will be placing less of a focus on results in the immediate present with more of an eye on long-term and/or sustainable roster construction.
For most of this century, the Cardinals have had a strong track record in terms of finding and developing young talent. That allowed them to generally post strong on-field results despite never being one of the top spenders in the league. From the year 2000 to the present, they have only missed the playoffs nine times and only finished with a losing record twice.
That cutting edge has seemingly gone a bit dull in most recent years, however. From 2000 to 2015, they only once missed the playoffs twice in a row, which was in 2007 and 2008. But that was sandwiched in between two World Series titles in 2006 and 2011. From 2016 to 2024, the club has missed the playoffs five times. Of their four postseason appearances from 2019 to 2022, three of them ended with losses in the Wild Card round. While the club rebounded somewhat from a losing season in 2023, getting over .500 in 2024, they did so with a good chunk of the roster consisting of pricey veterans in their mid-30s. That includes Goldschmidt, Gray, Nolan Arenado, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson and Miles Mikolas.
Per the recent reporting leading up to today’s conference, it seems the decision makers have come to the conclusion that they have been hampered by redirecting their focus to the major league roster, which has hurt the club’s player development pipeline. Recent years have seen players like Randy Arozarena, Adolis García, Zac Gallen and others thriving after departing the organization. Meanwhile, some of the club’s young prospects like Dylan Carlson, Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman and others have struggled to live up to expectations.
Every organization will have some of those misses, but it seems the club realizes that they need to change their hit rate in order to find success. As a mid-market club that doesn’t generally sign top free agents, good player development is fairly essential for running out winning ball clubs.
Bloom will be entrusted with making those changes, though he won’t be given carte blanche right away. As detailed by Mozeliak up top, it seems he will handle the basic running of the club for the next year as Bloom focuses on things under the hood. That presumably will involve tackling things away from the majors, from the minor league facilities, coaches, scouting departments and things of that nature. After a year of making changes in those capacities, he will eventually take over the baseball decisions in a more complete capacity.
During his tenure as the chief baseball officer for the Red Sox, Bloom had some hits and misses but the are good reasons why the Cardinals have picked him for this role. Bloom made some odds choices in Boston, such as selling at the 2022 deadline but staying narrowly above the competitive balance tax. The signings of Trevor Story and Masataka Yoshida haven’t really worked out so far.
But a lot of Boston’s future is made up of players acquired during Bloom’s time, either through the draft, international free agency or trades. Though the 2022 deadline was odd at the time, getting Enmanuel Valdéz and Wilyer Abreu for a few months of Christian Vázquez now looks like a big win. Plucking Garrett Whitlock from the Yankees in the in the 2020 Rule 5 draft was a nice pull. Kyle Teel, Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, Miguel Bleis and Kristian Campbell are all on top 100 prospect lists and were acquired during Bloom’s time.
As he ramps up to take over, Mozeliak will be preparing to wind things down. Though the recent results have stirred up the anger of many fans in the St. Louis area, Mozeliak is connected to much of the clubs’ aforementioned success earlier this century. He joined the club’s scouting department in 1995, just a few years before they kicked off that strong run of success. He worked his way up to eventually take over the general manager role going into the 2008 season.
The club has largely been a mainstay of the postseason in that time, including winning the World Series in 2011. There has been an apparent tapering off of the club’s momentum in recent years, though even before that, it seemed like Mozeliak was leaning towards transitioning away from his current role. Back in February of 2023, before the club’s disappointing results in the two most recent campaigns, Mozeliak gave some hints that he was heading out the door eventually.
“I know there is going to be some change coming over the next few years,” he said at that time. “We certainly want to give individuals within the organization opportunities to grow and expand some of their roles, and over the course of the next year or so we’ll work through that.”
At that point, it seemed fair to conclude that he was talking about Girsch, who had been in the organization since 2006. He had been promoted to general manager in 2017, working as Mozeliak’s top lieutenant since then. Girsch had been signed to a multi-year extension in October 2022, just a few months prior to Mozeliak’s comments.
But Bloom was fired by the Red Sox in September of 2023 and then landed an advisory role with the Cards in January of 2024. It seems that Bloom has surpassed Girsch at some point, either based on his track record with Boston or something he has shown them since taking on that advisory role.
Girsch has now been given a new title, which is perhaps a favor to him in a sense. With Bloom now blocking his path to a promotion with the Cards, this sends a signal to other clubs. If any front office positions open up elsewhere and another team is interested in Girsch, he will now seem more available than he did a few weeks ago. Clubs generally allow their personnel to interview with other clubs if a promotion is involved, so the Cards could be open to Girsch pursuing a role somewhere else if the opportunity arises. Per Woo on X, the club doesn’t plan to hire another GM in the short term, likely waiting until Bloom takes over next year. Woo also relays in a column at The Athletic that Girsch is under contract for one more year.
As the weeks and months roll along, more specifics should emerge about the organization and their plans. But from the news today and in recent weeks, it’s clear that the main idea is change, a new direction that should have significant ramifications for years to come.
swagsuperawesomeepiccoolman123
we all knew this was going to happen
Jabronie23
This is good. Bloom was key to building the Rays player development system
letitbelowenstein
Leading to zero championships. Cards fans are smart. They’ll be cursing his name by summer.
Badfinger
Ask Red Sox fans how they feel about Bloom.
johnsilver
–Ask Red Sox fans how they feel about Bloom–
The ones who read hack sites and nothing else of course can’t stand him. A lot of fans thought the same way regarding Cherrington, same years ago towards Dan Duquette. i didn’t have a real issue with any of the, except for maybe some with Cherington who pretty much only hoarded prospects, who later on Dombrowski freely traded away towards players for the ’18 WS crown.
Whether true or not.. Bloom, for some reason didn’t take ANY pitchers rds 1-2 during his time in Boston in the rule4 draft and no decent upside pitchers at all during his time. He drafted NOTHING but middle infielders up hi, excepting Roman Anthony as hi bonus kids with primo picks, taking out of course ’21, when Fabian didn’t sign from rd2. It was a glut of SS/2b and nothing else. ST Looie might hope he learned his lesson to spread things out position wise.
DonOsbourne
I would prefer they draft the best player available regardless of position. I actually prefer athletic middle infielders who can potentially cover other positions over 1B only, or DH types.
Pitching is obviously very important, but smart teams develop pitchers. I want the Cardinals to return to being a smart team. Getting rid of Mo is a great first step. I’m fine with the way this is playing out. I knew Mo was going to be allowed to engineer his own departure. Letting him play the villain so that Bloom gets take over as the savior makes sense. It’s probably the only way Bloom would accept the job. He walked into a bad situation in Boston and ultimately paid the price for decisions that were made for him. I don’t blame him for not wanting to go through that again.
tff17
Bloom is pretty good at drafting and developing talent. While the 2020 season was a mess, he got Mayer, Anthony, Teel, and Campbell from the next three drafts. Some interesting IFA as well, even if most of those are still in the low minors.
Also traded for Pivetta, Winckowski and Abreu, giving up little in the process.
He gets tagged with the awful trade of Betts, but that was forced by ownership. Wish he could have gotten a better return, but that is tough when ownership is publicly announcing that the guy WILL be traded.
He made some big mistakes as the GM, including a bad deal for Story and a huge overpay for Yoshida (turned out he couldn’t play defense worth beans), so I was happy to see him go. Breslow seems to have a clearer view of the large picture. But perhaps Bloom has learned?
Bart Harley Jarvis
@tff17,
I believe you’ve provided a perfect example of damning with faint praise.
ClevelandSteelEngines
Story’s deal turned sour because of health. In hindsight, obviously Bloom shouldn’t have; however, the team had money to spend now that Betts wasn’t earmarked, and not many good options. A number of the guys signed that offseason have been dreadful (only one with a decent contract was Seager’s 10 years). And a very similar situation happened with Yoshida as well (both free agent pool sucked, and his health has been souring his play).
I think Bloom loses points in my book for not positioning himself for the best free agents (Turner or Judge or Ohtani). That would be my biggest disappointment, and I am suspect the contract given to Devers will hold up in the long run.
As for Breslow, in his first year, he’s done very similarly to Bloom in action; however, he’s told us a definitively what large picture we wanted to hear. I find that insulting but it clearly calms down the fans who as johnsilver said “read the hack sites and nothing else”. The Sale trade was very bad, especially in respects to this season. Other deals like O’Neill wasn’t bad. Don’t love the Jansen deal. Every deal is very easy to see why, where Bloom’s deals were long-term multi-faceted and required squinting to understand the logic. Like the Hamilton-Binelas-Renfroe swap.
Joemo
Sox fan here.
Glad he’s not ruining the Sox anymore. He did do well at developing the position player side of the farm, but that should be expected when you invest nearly all of your high draft picks in that side of the house.
All of his big FA signings have been huge failures, and they were not necessary. Why sign Story instead of extending Xander?
Be prepared for 0 trades to be completed which improve the big league team at the deadline.
thecrocusesareinbloom
As a lifelong Red Sox fan, you guys can have him.
bigjonliljon
But Boston tenure wasn’t near as successful
mlb fan
The St. Louis Cardinal’s perpetual “reunion tour” has now reached it’s final stop.
solaris602
Nostalgia is fine for pregame ceremonies, but there’s no real world payoff when you use your roster for it, and that’s part of the reason Mozeliak is a short timer. If everyone knows Mo is gone after 2025, why not cut him loose now?
swagsuperawesomeepiccoolman123
Because they still owe Mo money and it would cost more if they hired another manager for the 2025 season.
NickTheDev
Manager? And they already have his replacement.
Slider_withcheese
It’s not about money. They’ve wasted way more on worse It’s respect. It’s transition. It’s about buying time to get these changes implemented.
swagsuperawesomeepiccoolman123
my bad i read the comment wrong i got Mo mixed up with Oli oops
jbigz12
I’m guessing it’s a respect move for the last 17 years. Not how really the way an other org would do it but the Cards have maintained continuity for a long time. Either that or they didn’t want to pay Mo for nothing since he was signed.
mike q.
because he is effectively going to act as Bloom’s assistant for 2025, and they probably gave him the choice of staying for that or leaving now. If he had chosen to leave, they would have hired someone else to do what Mozeliak will be doing,
cah011381
Vice President of Special Projects?
pohle
aka ‘dont leave for more money elsewhere!’ him and bloom probably got close this year
Ol’ Uncle Charlie
AKA…thanks for being a stand-in for what a GM would do, Girsch…you’ve been a loyal “yes man” and the GM job we said you were going to get is now being given to your replacement…thank you for your service…here’s another token job for you, buddy.
layventsky
He actually was the GM. He just got little attention because they had a PBO calling the shots (i.e. Mozeliak).
Ol’ Uncle Charlie
Yes, GM-in-name-only is the point…and now he’s not even that. Doesn’t sound like great way to be leaders of men. Maybe that’s why Schildt got axed; speaking truth to power and mis-applied power isn’t a recipe for success.
Fred
Fire sale in St. Louis. Short timer is going to burn it down.
c3180
Mo and Oli have spent the last few years burning it down already.
SupremeZeus
MoTie basking in the failed lame duck season. Poor guy can’t even read the room and take the “spend more time with his family” exit ramp. What needs to be done eventually, must be done now. DeWitt must be tighter than a snare drum, pay the price and cut all the deadwood now.
gbs42
Someone suggested letting Mo make the big cuts so Bloom doesn’t come in looking like the hatchet man. Seems reasonable.
Ol’ Uncle Charlie
Sounds like that’s exactly what’s happening.
highflyballintorightfield
[insert “What would you say you do here?” gif with Girsch on the other side of the table]
thebirds
Can’t wait for the farewell John Mozeliak refrigerator magnet give-away night… this organization is unreal
BigV
It’s good to know Bloom is taking it over in 2026. Mo should’ve walked away today, but no that huge Fing ego won’t allow it.
baseballpun
Unless they’re going to go out and sign Soto, which we all know they won’t do, they basically have to drop payroll next year even if they’re trying to stay competitive.
Replace Lynn with McGreevy. That’s an $11m drop in payroll and probably makes the team better. Even moreso if they find a way to dump Mikolas and Matz.
Let Goldy walk and even if you account for the fact that some of his salary is being allocated to Gray you’re saving another $15m or something. You can stick Burleson at 1B and improve on the 98 OPS+.
I don’t see any point in taking that $25m and trying to sign another 30 year old to a longterm deal with it.
YankeesBleacherCreature
Signing Soto alone won’t move the needle much and they won’t like you’ve noted.
baseballpun
Yeah but he’s the only big-ticket FA that would be worth going after. He’s 26. Are there really Cardinals fans out there who want to give Corbin Burnes a 7 year $210 million contract?
Cardsfan21
At this point, absolutely not. We aren’t an ace away from competitive. But we might (and that’s a huge uncertainty) be a few “rebuild” years away from that grabbing an ace and being in the hunt.
jdgoat
Why would you keep Mo on for another year? At the very least they should swap roles.
jmaa
Dewit jr has lost his fastball and DIII never had one. Pathetic .
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Why did they decide to do it later and not now? Now moz could be reckless with whatever he does
Ol’ Uncle Charlie
Mo is never reckless. Negligent, unimaginative, thin-skinned, overly-conservative, egotistical? Definitely. But never reckless.
RickJames 2
You are fired… one year from now. This franchise has lost its way.
At least the blues seem to be going about the retool the right way.
baseballpun
The Blues also have a new GM lined up to take over in the future.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
The Blues might be as far from a Cup as any team in the NHL.
They are doing just enough to replace the Wild as THE mushy middle franchise.
A fire sale and bottom out would have been the better path.
baseballpun
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.
Brick House Coffee Tables Inc
So Bloom is already the POBO but he just can’t have the title for a year?
jbigz12
Weird but gives Bloom cover for this year if/when they take another step back at the ML level.
gbs42
Letting Mo be the fall guy for the big cuts coming.
Four4fore
Slash the payroll and embrace the rebuild. Go all in or don’t do it.
Fernando Ringworm Jr.
“taking over the Mozeliak’s POBO role”
“but but long-term decisions”
TheStevilEmpire1
I originally said they will go full rebuild but I think I’m going to step back off that comment now for a couple reasons. But first, I want to be objective and acknowledge the facts.
The good production from the team this year came mostly from the younger core already. I think one major mistake made was not letting Jordan Walker play through his slump. It was a major missed opportunity to let him learn. The second mistake, and a common one they’ve made in recent years, is not giving their young pitchers the opportunity to play.
Outside of Sonny Gray, McGreevy and Pallante looked better than anyone they started. In hindsight it looked bad not giving them the chance from spring. This is a perfect example of the lapse in player procurement they mean. They should have known these guys were ready before they did the panic spending on Gibson and Lynn.
They had to have this meeting for one, to announce the worst kept secret in the organization with prompting Bloom and two, preparing the fan base for a departure from big salary players like Goldscmidt. It’s highly likely that Arenado, Gray, and Contreras are to follow.
As angry as the fan base has been, I have to admit it is the right thing to do. They need to commit to the young core of players on the roster and the players coming up in the future. They’ve been far too stubborn in the past and it hurt them dearly not giving chances to names like Alcantara, Gallen, Arozerena, Garcia, Lane Thomas, and several others. I’m ready for the youth to earn their strips.
Blackpink in the area
I think that’s what people who aren’t Cards fans don’t seem to understand. The team can cut payroll without going into a full rebuild. The team has been paying old guys and blocking prospects in the process for years. Simply stop doing that and let the young guys play the team will probably be better and cheaper too.
baseballpun
Absolutely. The lineup was driven by young players who were hampered by two aging guys in the middle of the lineup who took up $60m and had OPS+ of 98 (Goldschmidt) and 101 (Arenado). You’re saying replacing those guys with younger/cheaper options would make the team worse?
The rotation is something of a different story but aside from Gray and Fedde you could replace the rest of the rotation with internal options and be just as good or better. The only concern with doing that is if you don’t get 20+ starts from 5 guys again like you did this last year the bullpen could be hurt. But you can replace any or all of Matz, Mikolas, Lynn and (maybe to a lesser extent) Gibson with the next man up.
In nurse follars
Nothing wrong with the cardinals that 8 or 9 good players can’t fix.
Rsox
So he’s fired, but they are going to keep him on for a year rather than pay his salary for nothing? Interesting
hopper15
What’s the point of waiting another year.
spudchukar
Change for change sake is rarely good idea. Every knows upper management is evolving, and for the good, but the Cards still have an awesome corp. Rarely, does a team have so worthy players on a team, that misses the play-offs. The list: Donovan first! I wouldn’t trade him for Soto straight up. Why, because he is more valuable. More to come…
30 Parks
Bloom should be no higher than director of player development – he’s got the skills for same. However, he appeared completely overwhelmed beyond that role in Boston. Bad move, Cards.
wallabeechamp
I’ll admit that I only read the headline, but why keep Mo around when you’ve already hired & assigned someone else to clean up his mess?
Is this just more proof that the Cards are the cheapest org in the sport? Can’t upgrade their development system AND compete at the MLB level at the same time? Can’t give a dude who has already been replaced his two checks? Bet ticket prices go up anyway…
Ezpkns34
Cards saw what he did in Boston and were thinking they want that? Whatever works for you