Buster Olney Breaks Down Pros, Cons of Cardinals' Next GM

The St. Louis Cardinals have a lot to look forward to in the future.

While their young core of prospects and the talented stars like Brendan Donovan and Iván Herrera are enough to be excited about, the Cardinals are taking an even bigger step in the offseason. They're set to replace president of baseball operations John Mozeliak with Chaim Bloom in the same role.

ESPN's Buster Olney recently broke down the positives and negatives of Bloom as a baseball executive on an episode of 101 ESPN's BK and Ferrario.

Chaim Bloom has his pros and cons as a baseball executive

St. Louis Cardinals Chaim Bloo — 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

"I am going to be really curious, as he goes forward, what he learned from his experience in Boston because, and I know this is not a surprise to Chaim if I were to tell him this, there was some criticism of him in Boston that he wasn't inclusive, that he didn't bring people in the front office and draw them in," Olney said on 101 ESPN's BK and Ferrario. "Here's the thing. General managers, like all of us in this industry, you have a chance to get better. You have a chance to learn and go forward day to day, and I'm curious to see how that part of Chaim evolves.

"And we saw it the most at the trade deadline. You know, there's some general managers who clearly are not afraid to make a deal, and to potentially be wrong. Dave Dombrowski is one of those, Jerry Dipoto is one of those, A.J. Preller of the Padres is one of those. The perception of Chaim in other front offices when he was with the Red Sox is that he would agonize over these trades and he would sometimes get paralyzed by that. I'm going to be really curious to see how he evolves as he takes over the Cardinals."

Bloom, most recently with the Boston Red Sox, has his fair share of pros and cons.

On a positive note, he's notorious for scouting and developing young talent, which seems to be a major flaw for St. Louis right now. Prospects like Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker have already begun to falter before they could truly get going in the big leagues. Bloom could look to scout, draft, sign, and develop talent at a much higher rate than Mozeliak before him.

But Bloom doesn't have the track record of going for broke in the same way other top executives do. There's a time and a place to go all in and Bloom hasn't really shown that willingness. As Olney states, it'll be interesting to see if he's learned and developed as an executive over the last few years.

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