Cardinals' Chaim Bloom Looking To Make Major Staffing Change: Report

On Friday, Katie Woo of The Athletic reported that Bloom was looking to hire someone to oversee the professional scouting department, which has taken heat in recent years for poor evaluations of players in other organizations.

"Although the title of the position has not been finalized, the job will be comparable to a director-level role, "Woo wrote. "This will not alter assistant general manager and scouting director Randy Flores’ role within the organization, a source described."

"Instead, it will allow for more separation between amateur scouting and pro scouting, with the organization searching for better evaluations of players in other organizations. The Cardinals have missed on several players in recent trades, with multiple people inside the organization lamenting the returns for Dylan Carlson and Tyler O’Neill as examples."

In a day when many teams are gutting their scouting departments, it could be seen by some as an encouraging sign that Bloom is looking to invest in that purpose for the Cardinals. Woo also reported that the team currently has seven professional scouts, who all received one-year contracts for next season.

Bloom, in his introductory press conference on Tuesday, acknowledged that he doesn't view scouting as some sort of dinosaur act that's on its way out in favor of data.

“It would be dangerous for us to make the assumption that seasoned evaluators can’t help us,” Bloom said, per Woo. “I do think smart organizations are finding different and better ways for those evaluators to help out than what they might have done five, 10, 15 years ago. And actually, I think if we don’t do that, we’re going to get beat by someone who does.”