Chaim Bloom keeps coming back to the same baseball truth: if an organization gets comfortable, it gets passed. That idea has shaped the way he’s approached the Cardinals, and it’s why he sees more room to keep bringing in new voices as St. Louis moves through this next phase.
“I don’t have anything up my sleeve that I’m not telling you right now,” Bloom said in response to adding more staff during the press conference announcing Rob Cerfolio as the Cardinals’ next GM. “This is kind of the way I think it will go is that it creates an opportunity here and there in the organization to continue to add fresh eyes and people that we think can push us forward.”
That thinking matters now more than ever. With Cerfolio moving up, Randy Flores leaving for his own general manager job in Houston, Brant Brown being dismissed as hitting coach, and other staff changes still possible, the Cardinals have a natural opening to keep reshaping both the baseball operations side and the on-field staff as they push through the rebuild.
Bloom’s impact has already shown up in the number of new people he’s brought into the organization. When he first arrived as an advisor before the 2024 season, he gave John Mozeliak another perspective on player development and the next stage of Cardinals baseball. Once Bloom became Mozeliak’s successor, the additions kept coming.
Cefolio, who moved from first assistant GM to GM, along with Larry Day, Carl Kochan, Matt Pierpont, Dalton Hurd, Jacob Buffa, Joe Douglas, and others have all been added to baseball operations since Bloom’s arrival. On the field side, Joel McKeithan was brought in recently to take over as the Major League hitting coach after Brown’s departure.
What stands out, though, is that Bloom did not sweep the whole place clean. Flores and Moises Rodriguez stayed on as assistant general managers.
Michael Girsch shifted into a new role but remained in the front office. Matt Bayer is still in analytics.
Zach Mortimier was elevated to oversee amateur scouting. And on the Major League coaching staff, nearly everyone has stayed in place since Bloom came aboard.
That balance is part of the point. The Cardinals have kept their core structure while layering in new ideas, and this winter gives them another chance to do it again. They can fill open jobs, create new ones, or simply change who reports to whom while keeping the people already in place.
Bloom has also shown a pattern of tackling a different area each offseason. After his year as an advisor and then his “year in waiting,” he overhauled player development and performance.
Last offseason, he turned to scouting. This winter could bring changes or additions in analytics, medical, baseball technology, or somewhere else entirely.
However it plays out, the Cardinals are in position to keep mixing what they already have with fresh thinking. That’s the kind of blend Bloom has been chasing, and it’s what can help keep the organization moving forward.
In Other News...
Astros Could Hand Cardinals A Dangerous Lineup Upgrade This Winter
The Cardinals are heading into the winter with a young core and plenty of room to upgrade after finishing 77-85, and MLB.coms Will Leitch has already floated a name that would fit the timeline. Houston infielder Isaac Paredes is down to one year of team control, and his 2026 production was solid enough to make him an appealing target for a club looking to add more impact around players like JJ Wetherholt and Jordan Walker.
Paredes would give St. Louis a different kind of presence in the lineup, the sort of move that could help deepen the offense for 2027 if the Cardinals decide to be aggressive. The catch is that a deal does not sound especially likely, which leaves the idea in that familiar offseason space where it makes plenty of baseball sense but still has a long way to go before becoming real. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals May Already Be Seeing The Lars Nootbaar Trade Pay Off
The Cardinals moved Lars Nootbaar to Arizona and brought back three pitching prospects, a deal that was always going to be judged by what came next rather than what it cost in the moment. Among the return, Daniel Eagan has already given St. Louis a reason to feel better about the exchange, with the 24-year-old right-hander showing noticeable improvement after the trade and finishing the second half with a 4.15 ERA while piling up strikeouts at a rate that stood out across the minors.
Eagans progress has carried into the offseason, too, as he took part in the Cardinals development program in Florida with an eye on adding velocity and sharpening his splitter. For a club that has spent plenty of time looking for more impact arms, that kind of early traction matters, especially when a trade built around a major-league outfielder starts producing encouraging signs from the pitching side before the dust has even settled. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Could Revisit A Familiar Rotation Gamble This Offseason
Casey Mize has spent much of his career trying to turn promise into consistency, and this winter could put him back on the open market as a former No. 1 overall pick with plenty of intrigue attached. For a Cardinals club that has been searching for ways to reshape its rotation without overcommitting long term, he fits the kind of low-risk, high-upside profile that often shows up in offseason conversations.
The appeal is obvious: Mize is still young enough to be viewed as a rebound candidate, and his background gives him a ceiling that teams are willing to bet on even after injuries and uneven results. A one-year deal has been floated as a reasonable path, which would let St. Louis take a swing without tying itself down, though the real question is whether the Cardinals decide this is the kind of gamble worth making when the market opens. [Read more 🡒]