Aug 28, 2022; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Chaim Bloom, Chief Baseball Officer of the Boston Red Sox on the field before the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

Chaim Bloom Defends Cardinals’ Trade-Filled Offseason

Originally posted on St. Louis Cardinals on SI
By Patrick McAvoy | Last updated Mar 19, 2026 9:16 AM ET

It was a transformational offseason for the St. Louis Cardinals and now we are one week away from seeing how it's going to impact the club over the course of the 2026 Major League Baseball season.

Chaim Bloom took over officially as the team's president of baseball operations after the 2025 season wrapped up and he ripped the Band-Aid off. Over the course of the last few months, Bloom traded four All-Stars away in Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Brendan Donovan and Willson Contreras. That's a lot of talent out the door and also a lot of maneuvering, seeing how Donovan was the lone member of that group to not have a no-trade clause.

It was a wild offseason, but the Cardinals arguably are better off for it. With a week to go until Opening Day, No. 1 prospect JJ Wetherholt and young slugger Nolan Gorman are both in line for significant roles in the infield. Also, Alec Burleson is in line for a consistent role at first base, rather than bouncing around all over the place. The rotation is very young, plus the Cardinals landed a handful of prospects, including Jurrangelo Cijntje and Brandon Clarke, among others. The Cardinals are trending up. On Thursday, The Athletic's Tyler Kepner shared a question-and-answer column with Bloom and he opened up about the roller coaster offseason.

Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

"Looking at it, I felt like we do have good young talent in this organization," Bloom said. "Clearly we need more. And so in order to get where we want to go, we felt that doubling down on that core and on that need to amass as much young talent as possible was where we wanted to hit. And it was necessary, given where we are, to prioritize that goal and take a long-term focus over short-term gratification. We are not where we want to be. What’s the quickest way to get there? What’s the best way to get there?

"That, to me, is clearly trying to build as good of a talent pipeline and as good of a young big league core as we possibly can. Now, with that, we’re not looking to concede anything and we’re not conceding anything. We are willing to potentially take that step back in service of that long-term goal, but from a cultural standpoint, the standards we uphold here, the ambition we have, the mission of this organization, everybody in this organization should walk in here every day looking to win. That’s not something we ever want to change."

There's still more work to be done, the Cardinals are trending up ahead of the 2026 season. Arguably, this is a team that can surprise some people. It was a long offseason, but it was the right call trading the veterans away for the long-term health of the organization.

This article first appeared on St. Louis Cardinals on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: