Cardinals' Chaim Bloom Can't Afford To Repeat John Mozeliak's Mistakes

The St. Louis Cardinals are entering a bit of a rebuilding phase heading into the offseason. They opted to trade players like Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton, and Steven Matz at the trade deadline, but the real rebuilding will likely begin in the offseason when the Cardinals pass the torch from president of baseball operations John Mozeliak to Chaim Bloom.

With Bloom taking over, he's going to need to fix a lot of Mozeliak's mistakes. More than that, Bloom is going to have to make sure he doesn't repeat any of Mozeliak's mistakes.

Mack Baltes of Redbird Rants recently urged the Cardinals to avoid giving out no-trade clauses to players who aren't superstar caliber. In the past, the Cardinals have seemingly handed out no-trade clauses like candy on Halloween night.

Cardinals can't afford to keep giving out no trade clauses

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikola — Aug 11, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas (39) walks off the field after he was removed from the game against the Colorado Rockies during the seventh inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

"It would be great to offload veterans like Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras. Oh wait, we don’t have the freedom to do so. Now that John Mozeliak is on his way out, hopefully this means the end of giving out no-trade clauses to so many players, many undeserving," Baltes wrote. "While Nolan Arenado’s clause was given to him by the Rockies, Mozeliak remains on the hook for the Miles Mikolas, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contreras clauses in addition to poor no-trade clauses given out in the past.

"In limiting these clauses to perennial MVP candidates only, the team will be able to offload whom they need to, whenever they want to. Although I’m confident in Chaim Bloom’s ability to turn this team around, I’m afraid that poor decisions made this season have made his job even tougher. Cardinals fans are fed up, performance is mediocre, and ownership has yet to prove that they want to compete."

The Cardinals aren't to blame for Nolan Arenado's no-trade clause, as this contract was given to him by the Colorado Rockies. But Sonny Gray was a piece the Cardinals could have moved to get younger and bring in more prospects, but the veteran pitcher refused to waive his no-trade clause. Willson Contreras isn't the caliber of player who deserves one either and he refused to waive it to be moved.

Perhaps the worst player with a no-trade clause is Miles Mikolas, who has consistently graded out as one of the worst players in the league. While the Cardinals likely couldn't have found a trade for him, it didn't matter because he was unwilling to waive his no-trade clause.

At the end of the day, this clause should be reserved for franchise superstars. Players like Paul Skenes, Elly De La Cruz, and other young superstars instead of Contreras, Gray, Mikolas, and others.

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