The St. Louis Cardinals, after failing to reach the playoffs for a second consecutive year, announced a gradual shakeup to their front office on Monday.
The main change won’t occur until after the 2025 season, when Chaim Bloom will take over as president of baseball operations from John Mozeliak.
For the coming season, Mozeliak will team with Bloom to run the club, according to team owner Bill DeWitt Jr. Meanwhile, Mike Girsch is out as general manager, with his new title being vice president of special projects. Oliver Marmol will remain as the field manager, though his coaching staff will undergo changes that weren’t immediately announced.
Bloom, 41, spent 2024 as an adviser to the club after previously holding top roles in the front offices of the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. He received a five-year contract to serve as Mozeliak’s successor.
Mozeliak, 55, has been in charge of the Cardinals’ baseball operations since October 2007, helping build the team that won the World Series in 2011.
DeWitt said that Bloom’s short-term assignment is guiding “a reset of our player development system. As part of his assessment this past season, Chaim has developed a plan for improving our player development infrastructure and philosophy.
“We will be making significant new investments in staffing programs and infrastructure, beginning immediately and in the years to come.”
DeWitt added, “We’ve always prided ourselves on drafting and developing our own players. It’s clear we need to make significant changes to get back to this model. 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.”
Bloom said, “More than anything, the remarkable success this organization enjoyed for much of the past two-plus decades was fueled by its homegrown talent pipeline. This year, I saw some of the reasons why. I saw the pride in what’s been accomplished here over the years, the passion for teaching the game, the care for the organization, for what it stands for, and especially for our players, and I also saw in many of our staff a hunger to learn, to grow, to get better, to change.
“The competition in this area of our industry has been absolutely relentless over the past decade. It takes boldness and humility to get on top and to stay there. And if you stand still and you rest on your memorials for even a moment, you get beaten.”
Mozeliak said, “As I turn the page to my final year, there are some things I hope we can accomplish. I’d like to set us on a course to get back to consistent winning, focus on the build up of our baseball operations, invest in new infrastructure and technologies.
“This is a multiyear strategy, a focus on player procurement and development. It’s a long-term investment in the organization’s future.”
