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The Brewers had a first rate manager in Counsell since ’15. Now the Cubs have him and the Cardinals are trying to win with a manager who I think is worse than Vern Rapp.
One not so obvious benefit of this Bloom hiring is, that if Girsch gets poached by another organization, the Cardinals have an experienced replacement for him already in house.
Especially given the Cardinals’ recent struggles, I would think the odds of another team poaching Girsch to be their PBO is low. Since he is under contract, a lateral move to another GM job wouldn’t be allowed.
The Cards were fearful of losing him when he was AGM, which was mentioned as one of the reasons for his promotion. That was back in 2017. Perhaps he is waiting for a shot at the top if Mo retires.
I have not dug into this issue, but there seems to be some conflicting description of the job. I have seen it described as ‘remote’ meaning he will not relocate from Boston. I have also seen it said he will be a presense at ST and at games. I did not take that to mean all games or even most.
I do not see him gaining much from observing the game being played, either in person or video. I think he does what he does at a desk with a computer. It does seem like the Rays have smarter wonks than most anybody, unless you want to go back to Luhnow and his bunch. So it makes sense to poach from that source.
Mo recognizing there is a problem is good at least.
Having fresh eyes on the Cardinals’ baseball operation is an excellent idea. The question is, will anybody listen to what he says.
I doubt it matters CiF. I think the problem is applying all that to the brick and mortar game. The Ray’s had people good at that and the Bosox didn’t and the Cardinals don’t. That’s my shoot from the hip take.
Was it really Chaim Bloom and the Rays’ player development staff that brought the Rays their unusual success? Or was it the sweeper?
https://www.mlb.com/news/sweeper-slider-latest-pitching-trend-explained
Chaim Bloom: “Hey, Mo, I’ve looked at your team and I know what went wrong. Your manager stinks.”
Mozeliak: “Thanks, Chaim. I guess I’ll fire him.”
Chaim Bloom: “Also, look at my Red Sox record. I stink, too.”
Mozeliak: “Okay, you’re also fired.”
One thing’s entirely certain…Johnny likes his traveling secretaries to have curly and wavy hairstyles.
Bloom’s time with Tampa gives him a lot of credibility despite his tenure in Boston. The Rays regularly win 85-95 games a year on a showstring budget. I imagine that would be appealing to Cardinal ownership.
Probably does not hurt to bring in an efficiency expert to look at how things are done and bring a fresh look.
But the club could have saved some money and just check in here regularly if they want advice on player and field management decisions. The TCN team tends to be right far more than wrong.
We would just need to let them know that any advice they receive from GameCard on a certain Mr. Edman to take with a large dose of salt -otherwise you will be handing out a 10 year contract at some $25M a year. 🙂
In a similar vein as Bob Reed’s post and a take on Rodney Dangerfield, I can see Mo talking to Mr. Bloom after a few months….
Mo: “So tell me what you think of our operation here.”
Bloom: “Well to be honest with you, you are too egotistical to make good decisions and have run this club into the ground.”
Mo: “Whoa, that was harsh – I want to get a second opinion!”
Bloom: “Okay, your manager stinks too.”
He’lll do great stuff like Lunhow did. Worst mistake by Dewitt was firing of Walt and then letting Lunhow slip away
Remember that Bloom is a consultant, not an exec with operational responsibilities. The best comp I can come up with is former Rockies GM Bob Gebhard, who was a senior advisor for a number of years. Does anyone know a single thing he did for the Cardinals? Nope, because he worked behind the scenes. I imagine it will be the same with Bloom unless the current guys (owner, PBO, GM, etc.) praise him publicly.
Regarding Walt and Luhnow, one of them had to go. They could not co-exist and Walt lost out.
Remember that Bloom is a consultant . . . .
This context seems to be missing based on some of the commentary here. It’s also why Bloom’s less than stellar record in Beantown might not be so relevant for StL. He knows what success AND failure looks like. He can come with an independent, unbiased viewpoint if that’s what he and BDW agreed to be the starting and stopping point of his employment in StL. Criminals, who are bad at following the law, are consulted by law enforcement all the time.
Maybe I’m way off base and have missed info otherwise, but because of Bloom’s role, I’m thinking his hiring was not an idea that originated with Mo, and nor is Mo thrilled about it. As we say in the military, the two biggest lies ever told are the IG showing up at an org and saying they came to help, and then the org commander replying he was glad they came.
The big question as I see it is who hired Bloom and to whom will he really report. The only way to know is to be on the inside and watch how the key players will interact over time. Words spoken in announcements and press statements don’t matter. And how it works initially could evolve once they get into it.
What follows is entirely unfounded speculation on my part.
Say you are Mo. For maybe the first time ever, you are feeling pressure. This is because of 2023, a starting pitching shortage and a down expense plan. You have to do something to show action while buying time, but what do you do?
You don’t want to do the obvious and fire another manager and rebuild the coaching staff. You’ve done that twice already. You are loyal to your GM and your AGMs. You can’t trade your key players and rebuild, because you may not survive the resulting several more years of losing. You can’t make huge investments in free agents. You can’t trade your top prospects, who you are counting on to help turn the tide.
You have to buy time. So you offer to/agree to bring in a consultant, who can make suggestions, but isn’t close enough operationally to make anything happen on his own.
The wild card is the strength of the relationship between BDW and Mo. If Bloom gets between them, it could be trouble for Mo. But if Bloom is there just to advise Mo with his recommendations filtered upward, then any change will be incremental and controlled and the elements probably won’t stand out publicly.
From Bloom’s side, he is barely 40 and I bet he wants to run another organization. This is a good job to stay engaged in the game until the next opportunity comes up, whether here or somewhere else.
IMHO, Bloom will have one year to assess our system and then take over for a retiring Gary LaRocque.
Bloom isn’t going to want to be a farm director. No way. He’s been a PBO/CBO in two different organizations. At the very worst, his next job will be a GM.
But if down the road, LaRocque decides to retire, I could see Bloom being involved in sourcing candidates for his replacement.
Brian, your analysis of the Bloom situation is spot on, especially from Bloom’s point of view. It is in his best interest to keep his name active in order to get another high level FO job. I am sure he has little desire to be a consultant very long. I would expect his tenure with the Cardinals to be short unless BDW decides to give him a highly prominent full time role, which would displace Mo or Girsch. I don’t see that happening.
Wonder if Mo is contemplating retirement, but does not want to leave with the club at a low point. Perhaps if the team competes this year, Mo walks and Bloom takes charge as GM, or even PBO over-stepping Girsch.
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