ST. LOUIS – Chaim Bloom will take over as the St. Louis Cardinals’ President of Baseball Operations after the 2025 MLB season, succeeding longtime lead executive John Mozeliak after next year, the Cardinals formally announced Monday.

Bloom, a 41-year-old Philadelphia native, has signed a five-year contract to serve as the Cardinals’ POBO upon Mozeliak’s departure. He joined St. Louis in an advisory role to Mozeliak last year.

Prior to joining the Cardinals, Bloom has spent nearly two decades in Major League Baseball front office roles between the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox. His background is closely associated with modern baseball analytics, international scouting, minor league development and cost-effective team-building strategies.

Bloom’s MLB career began with the Rays in 2005, working all the way up from an intern to Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations over 15 years. Baseball industry leaders often credit Bloom for helping build the small-market Rays into a perennial contender through data-driven philosophies and minor league development. Tampa Bay made the postseason five times during his run with the organization and five consecutive seasons upon his departure.

According to a 2013 Sports Illustrated report, Bloom’s work in Tampa Bay often focused on clean fundamentals and finding ways to expose weaknesses in opponents for organizational success. He also oversaw baseball operations as the Rays tried to implement modern breakthrough strategies, such as positional shifts and the use of openers and bulk relievers.

At 36 years old, following the 2019 season, Bloom joined the Red Sox as a Chief Baseball Officer, succeeding well-experienced executive Dave Dombrowski. Upon his arrival, Boston had one of MLB’s largest payrolls, and one of Bloom’s immediate challenges was to reduce it and avoid a luxury tax threshold. This led to a controversial trade involving former MVP Mookie Betts.

However, rather than a deep rebuild, the Red Sox have found some balance over the last several years, finding ways to extract value from overlooked ballplayers. The Red Sox have also valued player development under Bloom, ranked seventh among MLB’s 30 farm systems to end the 2024 season with many Bloom-inspired draft picks knocking on the door of MLB debuts.

The Red Sox went 267-262 while Bloom served as their lead executive, making the postseason once and reaching the ALCS that season.

The Cardinals announced plans Monday to begin the 2025 season with a lower payroll than last year, which came in at around $175 million and 12th among MLB teams. Bloom may not be the final decision maker in roster moves for the Cardinals to reach this goal for next season, but he will continue to serve as an advisor for one more year and oversee long-term operations of the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I think this challenge of basically taking all of the energy that’s here – and believe me, having gone around our staff, there’s a lot of energy there. There’s a lot of energy that’s been there, there’s a lot more that’s ready to be unleashed,” said Bloom during a Cardinals press conference on Monday. “I’m excited about that opportunity to help unleash it and help find how we get back out in front.”

Mozeliak referred to the succession plan Monday as a multi-year strategy. The Cardinals are coming off back-to-back seasons without playoffs and have been criticized for setbacks in player development in recent years. Bloom’s top priorities, upon taking over, could involve a mix of strategies that worked with Tampa Bay and Boston.

Bloom is a 2004 graduate of Yale University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and international studies. As for his personal life, Bloom is of Jewish descent and is married with two children.