Bloom will succeed longtime St. Louis Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak following the 2025 season, as announced by the team’s CEO on Monday.
Bill DeWitt Jr. indicated that Bloom will lead a reset of the club’s player development system next season before taking over from Mozeliak, who is the second-longest-serving head of a major league team’s baseball operations, after the Yankees’ Brian Cashman.
“Like many of our fans, we’re disappointed with our results the past two seasons,” DeWitt said, confirming that manager Oliver Marmol will remain with the team in 2025. “Our goals remain unchanged: to consistently contend for NL Central titles and playoff appearances and ultimately win the World Series. … Our baseball decisions going forward will focus on developing our pipeline of players, giving our young core every opportunity to succeed at the major league level.”
The Cardinals, who ended the season at 83-79 and missed the playoffs for the second year in a row, have signed Bloom to a five-year contract. The 41-year-old previously worked with the Tampa Bay Rays from 2005 until becoming Boston’s chief baseball officer in October 2019. After being dismissed in September 2023, he was hired by the Cardinals as an adviser in January.
Mozeliak, 55, mentioned that he had pushed for Bloom’s hiring last offseason to “get an assessment of where we are, what we need to do and ultimately where we want to go.”
“I’m certainly willing to do the walk, because I feel like we’re going to position ourselves really well, and ultimately when you think about your own legacy and how you want to leave something, I’m certainly hopeful it will be left in a really solid place when I do step down next year,” Mozeliak said.
Mozeliak succeeded Walt Jocketty as general manager in St. Louis in October 2007 and became president of baseball operations in 2017.
In addition to the Bloom move, the Cardinals announced Monday that general manager Mike Girsch will take on a new role as vice president of special projects. This change follows farm director Gary LaRocque’s decision to step down after the 2024 season, during which he will serve as an advisor in 2025.
“Ownership has given the green light for us to make real investments across the department now and going forward,” Bloom said. “That starts with finding and empowering new leadership in player development, which is a process that´s already begun.”
After the 2024 season, which saw the team attract 2,878,115 fans at Busch Stadium—its lowest attendance for a full season at full capacity since 1997, during DeWitt’s second year as owner—change is also anticipated on the field.
The club holds options on veteran pitchers Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson, both signed to one-year deals in November 2023, while first baseman Paul Goldschmidt is set to become a free agent after his five-year, $ 130 million contract ends.
“I´m not anticipating any big contracts going yet,” Mozeliak said. “We need to get a little reference on what our revenues are going to look like. Ultimately, when you think about the trading market in general, that starts as we enter post-World Series. We a lot of times sort of think through this. And then, ultimately, there are some players that I still think have some value here, from both a leadership and competitive standpoint. So, that is something that we´ll focus on.”
St. Louis experienced mixed results from its young homegrown talent. Masyn Winn, a 2020 second-round pick, stepped up as the club’s everyday shortstop in his rookie year, batting .267 with 15 homers and 57 RBIs in 150 games. Additionally, 2020 fourth-round pick Alec Burleson led the team with 78 RBIs and added 21 homers.
Conversely, several young players struggled, with 2020 first-round pick Jordan Walker and 2018 first-round pick Nolan Gorman spending time in Triple-A Memphis after showing promise as regulars in 2023. The club also traded 2016 first-round pick Dylan Carlson to Tampa Bay on July 30 after a disappointing .198 batting average with no homers in 59 games during 2024, despite having received National League Rookie of the Year votes in 2021.
“We haven’t really assessed what our payroll will be next year,” DeWitt said. “Certainly, putting a lot of resources toward player development is a key part of us being competitive year in and year out as the years go on.”
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