25 questions facing Chaim Bloom in his first offseason in charge, plus a brief Birdy Work hiatus
Let us turn our Cardinal attentions to the coming winter
With the Cardinals’ postseason hopes dashed in all but the most mathematical of senses, we’re all looking forward to John Mozeliak’s official exit and Chaim Bloom’s first offseason in the baseball-ops seat of power. Let’s talk about that right now via the soothing tones of the Socratic method. That is, I’ve conjured up 25 questions that Bloom this winter will be facing on some level. If you think of others, then feel free to add them to the comments section. Onward …
What will Bloom say at his first presser after formally taking over as POBO? If his Boston tenure is any guide – and it surely is – he’ll be measured yet candid and free of Mozeliak’s snark that over the years devolved from amusing to tiresome. The expectation is that, in keeping with Katie Woo’s recent reporting, Bloom will emphasize the long-term over any efforts at contention in 2026.
How will the 40-player roster crunch be sorted out? It’s presently maxed out. Yes, Miles Mikolas’ forthcoming departure will clear a spot, but Zack Thompson will need to be restored to the 40 after the 60-day injured list is no longer available to him this offseason. Names like Leonardo Bernal, Joshua Baez, Brycen Mautz, Austin Love, Pete Hansen, Bryan Torres, and Ramon Mendoza will need to be added or be exposed in the Rule 5 Draft this winter. That’s to say nothing of the high probability of needing to have open space for JJ Wetherholt and Quinn Mathews in time for the start of the 2026 season. No, Bloom won’t protect all of those names above, but it’s a forthcoming crunch no matter how you approach it. It’ll be addressed by some combination of trades and non-tender decisions.
Speaking of the crowded 40-player roster, will Bloom leave a space open so he can select a player in the major-league portion of the Rule 5 Draft?
Will the Cardinals land a lottery pick for the 2026 MLB Draft? At this writing, they’re in the ninth lottery position, which gives them a 1.85% chance of landing the top pick. Getting top six picks for three straight drafts would of course be a major boon to the system.
Will it be Randy Flores running that draft again, or is Bloom eyeing change at the top of the amateur-scouting department?
Will Bloom fill the general manager vacancy this offseason or wait to hire his chief lieutenant in baseball ops? Personally, I’d love to pull from the Brewers’ braintrust to fill this important role.
Will manager Oli Marmol, in keeping with strong hints and indicators, indeed return for 2026, the final year of his contract?
Will pitching coach Dusty Blake be retained?
Presumably hitting coach Brant Brown is safe considering that Bloom likely influenced and approved his hiring prior to this season, but will the disappointing performance of the Cardinals’ offense – and some notable young “runway” hitters in particular – change things?
Will Bloom be more successful in his efforts to trade Nolan Arenado than John Mozeliak was? If he’s not, maybe something as drastic as releasing Arenado is in play, although that might not be the best look for the organization.
Speaking of a hypothetical Arenado trade, will Bloom be able to persuade the DeWitts to pay down more of his contract than Mozeliak was? That would make a trade more likely to happen and may even push the trade return into “something worth mentioning” territory.
Will the other veterans with no-trade clauses, Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras, be dealt this winter? Gray seems likely to go, but Contreras thus far has shown no desire to go elsewhere. The competitive realities of 2026 in St. Louis could change his mind.
Will Brendan Donovan be traded? Given his positional flexibility, broad-based defensive excellence, solid offensive profile (he may have found a higher tier at the plate this season before that toe injury cascaded throughout his lower half and undermined his production), and remaining years of team control, he’s likely the most valuable trade chit the Cardinals have in the majors right now. He’d be of interest to an array of aspiring contenders.
Is Nolan Gorman a part of the future, or will Bloom judge his persistent contact issues to be a fatal flaw? If it’s the latter, then a change-of-scenery trade may be in the offing.
If Donovan is traded and Gorman is deemed non-essential, is a trade of Arenado even necessary?
Will the profoundly disappointing Jordan Walker be given another year of runway, have his final option year used to put him in Triple-A for 2026, or shipped off to another organization? It’s hard to imagine Mozeliak’s cutting bait on Walker, given the substantial (if still overblown) history of seeing young Cardinals outfielders go on to develop elsewhere. Bloom, though, isn’t burdened by that history and the attachments that grow from it.
Masyn Winn passes the sniff test as a young player worthy of a long-term extension that maybe even buys out one or more free agent years. Will Bloom explore such a deal?
Will Lars Nootbaar, coming off a disappointing 2025 at the plate, be dealt? Like Donovan, he’s into his arbitration years and perhaps on the older side for a club looking at a long-term rebuild. Noot still has good plate discipline and a capacity for hard contact, so it’s not hard that teams around the league will see him as a worthy rebound candidate.
How will the catcher bottleneck be sorted out? Pedro Pagés and Jimmy Crooks would seem to be in line for prominent duty next season, but let’s not forget about the promising-in-doses Yohel Pozo. As well, Bernal figures to arrive soon, and Rainiel Rodriguez, while farther down the ladder, could be a fast mover. This seems like another spot where a trade by Bloom might add clarity. There’s of course one other name to ponder …
On the subject of present and future catchers, will Iván Herrera’s forthcoming work this offseason on his defensive skills behind the plate yield a true return to the position? Framed another way, will the Bloom regime be more tolerant of Herrera’s catch-and-throw issues (mostly throw, to be fair) than the Mozeliak regime was? Bloom is of course not as haunted by Yadier Molina’s legacy.
What’s Andre Pallante’s future? The Cards will probably be starved for rotation innings next season, which could be to Pallante’s benefit. However, his difficulties of 2025, at both the run-prevention and command-and-control levels, may mean a return to the bullpen or even a trade elsewhere.
On that point – the need for rotation innings – will Bloom use what figures to be his exceedingly modest free-agent budget to take on some pitching reclamation projects in an effort to fortify the rotation for next season and perhaps beyond? The Cardinals have rebuilt their player-development apparatus, and Bloom and Rob Cerfolio and others may see opportunities to “lab up” a castoff arm or two from outside the organization. This should very much be on the to-do list.
Will Bloom deal away an older core reliever or two? I’m thinking specifically of JJ Romero and Riley O’Brien. O’Brien is relatively new to the scene in St. Louis and has been impressive this season, but he’s already 30 years of age. It’s possible Bloom will see them as more valuable in trade than they are to a 2026-27 set of Cardinals teams that may not even matter.
Is there a “surprise” trade of a runway player or two in the offing? We’ve already talked about Donovan, Nootbaar, Gorman, and Walker, but what about the pre-arb guys who haven't been gravely disappointing this season? This cohort includes Herrera and Alec Burleson on the position-player side. Expand it out and you can include Victor Scott II – his defensive and base-running value are enough to diminish concerns about his bat, for now at least – and Thomas Saggese. I don’t expect that Matthew Liberatore and Michael McGreevy are in this discussion given the afore-noted lack of rotation innings, but let’s name-check them just the same.
Will Liam Doyle be in big-league camp next spring? The guess is a strong yes, since he’s already been elevated to Double-A in his first sliver of a pro season. Being in major-league spring training would be a tell that Doyle is in the mix for rotation duty at some point in 2026 and also puts in play the (admittedly remote) possibility that Doyle could crack the Opening Day active roster. He’s a major-conference college arm with elite stuff and a record of dominance. In a sense, much additional time in the minors may be tantamount to “wasting” a chunk of Doyle’s healthy peak. His spring deployment will be a bit of a tell on this front.
Everything’s complicated, and there’s a lot of everything. That means Bloom has a great deal of work ahead of him this winter, and much of that work will entail difficult and even high-risk decisions. Speaking of all of this, friend of the program C70 has a contest going on in which you may predict which players stay or go in advance of the 2026 season. Make your picks here before Sept. 29.
I’m going to go dark in this space from now until the end of the World Series. That’s because my October duties for CBS Sports are pretty heavy and involved – especially since the playoffs expanded – and that will require my full attention and efforts. Since this is a pretty substantial bit of time away from the newsletter, I’m going to hit pause on paid subscriptions. For paid subscribers, this will mean the clock will not be ticking on your annual or monthly subscription while I’m tending to my CBS duties for the next month or so. I’ll restart those “clocks” when I post the next newsletter in early November. Until then stay healthy, defiant.
For once, I feel like this will be a winter that sees activity that answers questions, rather than them being answered by default.