Chaim Bloom Discusses Marmol, GM, Arenado, Gray

Chaim Bloom was officially introduced as Cardinals president of baseball operations at a press conference on Tuesday morning. He takes control at a time when multiple reports have suggested they’re moving to a rebuild that’ll put Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and others back in trade rumors.

While Bloom pointedly avoided the term “rebuild,” his meeting with the media did little to dispel the overall notion. “We have talent here. We have more talent coming, and we have some of the makings of that core, but we need more. Our top priority will be to build our talent base for the long term,” he told reporters (link via Katie Woo of The Athletic). “That may mean hard decisions and short-term sacrifices, but to get where we want to go, we can’t take shortcuts — and we won’t.” Bloom subsequently added that while they’ll “hunt moves and decisions that allow (them to win) right now,” the focus will be on the long term if they need “to choose between short-term gratification and our bigger goal of contending consistently.”

None of that comes as a surprise. Arenado, Gray and Contreras have all confirmed they’d spoken to Bloom late in the season and understood where the organization was going. That’s the impetus for all three players saying they’re willing to consider waiving their no-trade clauses in the right circumstances (though Contreras said he’d still prefer to stay and be a veteran mentor).

Oliver Marmol will continue to oversee things in the dugout. Bloom confirmed the manager will be back for a fifth season (relayed by Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Marmol is under contract through the end of next season. Bloom indicated there haven’t been any extension talks to date but didn’t dismiss the possibility of having those conversations at some point.

There’s also an uncertain timeline on the club’s GM hire. Former general manager Michael Girsch was reassigned to vice president of special projects last offseason — a move that came in conjunction with the team’s announcement that Bloom would replace John Mozeliak as baseball operations president going into 2026. Bloom will eventually hire his own top lieutenant with the GM title but indicated that might not happen this offseason (via Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat).

Of course, most of the focus will be on the team’s expected roster turnover. The Cardinals will be motivated to try to trade Arenado, who is signed for two more seasons. They’re on the hook for $22MM of next season’s $27MM salary (though another $6MM of that is deferred) and his entire $15MM deal for 2027. They’d need to pay down the bulk of the money given Arenado’s declining offensive production. Bloom spoke of a general openness to kicking in cash in the right trades but definitively shot down the idea that they might simply release Arenado if no trade presented itself.

St. Louis would also need to eat some money on Gray. That’s less an indictment on the right-hander’s performance than a reflection of his contract structure. His three-year, $75MM free agent deal was heavily backloaded. Gray will make $35MM next season and is guaranteed a $5MM buyout on a $30MM option for 2027. It’s a $40MM commitment for one year, the kind of salary that has been reserved for late-career aces who were still performing at Cy Young levels (e.g. Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Zack Wheeler).

Gray remains a very good pitcher but isn’t at that level. Assuming the Cardinals are willing to eat some of the money, there’d be plenty of teams intrigued by the idea of adding Gray to the rotation. The three-time All-Star has already acknowledged he’s willing to think about waiving his no-trade clause. Bloom said the front office will “see what’s out there, and if there’s something that could make sense for us that furthers our goals that he also wants to do, then we’ll explore” trade possibilities (via Woo).

However, he contrasted Gray’s situation with Arenado’s and implied that the Cardinals are a little less motivated to trade the former. “With Sonny, the situation is a bit different in that we do have a clear fit for him here,” Bloom said. Even in a non-competitive year, the Cardinals will need some level of veteran presence in the rotation. They’re not going to keep Gray for that reason alone, but they’ll already have ample opportunity for pitchers like Matthew Liberatore, Michael McGreevy and Kyle Leahy to stake claims to rotation spots. The Cards aren’t going to be major players in free agency, but Bloom said they’ll be in the market for pitching depth in both the starting staff and the bullpen.