51ºÚÁÏ

TAMPA, Fla. — The premise of the question was how intriguing it would be for Chaim Bloom to merge his experience with a small-market, innovative club in Tampa Bay with his time running a big-market, iconic team like the Boston Red Sox.

But before it could be asked, Rays executive Erik Neander interrupted.

“Like right into 51ºÚÁÏ,â€� he stated.

Like right into his former colleague and longtime friend’s next club.

“He was keenly aware that the Rays needed to operate one way and that Boston was solving for something a little different,â€� Neander said. “As I’m going through the compliments for Chaim, ‘adaptable’ is absolutely one I would insert. You have to do the business one way here. You have to do your business another way in Boston. I’d have all the confidence in the world with him going to 51ºÚÁÏ without those experiences. But having those experiences can put him ahead.

“Having the experience in a market a little bigger and a market a little smaller — with lessons learned from both,� Neander continued. “He’s going to do an exceptional job with this one. It’s right in the middle of all of it.�

Neander, the Rays’ president of baseball operations atop their front office for the past eight seasons, spoke about Bloom with the Post-Dispatch this weekend outside Tampa Bay’s clubhouse at George Steinbrenner Field.

Bloom is set to take over as the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations in the coming month as the successor to current top executive John Mozeliak. Bloom has spent the past two seasons mostly focused on the Cardinals’ player development — auditing it and offering suggestions in 2024 and reworking, staffing and updating it during 2025. In recent months he’s increased the time spent with the major league staff, and he’s met regularly with manager Oli Marmol.

Since the October 2024 news conference to announce Bloom’s rise to run baseball operations after the 2025 season as well as his five-year contract that starts in 2026, his public comments have been limited, mostly to the team’s monthly publication.

His past comments have touched upon the merger of experiences with his two previous organizations and the benefit of both tradition and innovation.

In the past two weeks, executives with other clubs have independently told the Post-Dispatch how eager they are to see what Bloom — “Free from what he had to deal with in Boston,� one said — does with the Cardinals given his head start on shaping the system he’ll inherit.

Neander offered several thoughts on what Cardinals fans can expect.

“Character. Integrity. Passion for baseball. Knowledge of baseball? A-plus,� Neander listed. “Not just the present but like 1862 baseball. I think the world of him. ... There’s not going to be a lot of GM-speak. He’s going to want to communicate that vision. He understands and appreciates the importance of fans. You don’t open the curtain and disclose the world, but there’s an importance to communicating to fans what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and why (they should) be excited about it.

“I don’t think he’s too worried about concerning himself with looking smart or outsmarting (others). He’s concerned with winning. He looks plenty smart enough without trying.�

Bloom joined the Rays as an intern in February 2005 and was hired full time in October of that season. He climbed the ranks in the Rays front office to senior vice president of baseball operations before being hired as Boston’s chief baseball officer in October 2019.

Neander, likewise, began as an intern with the Rays, and their careers dovetailed through baseball operations as the Rays rose to appear in the 2008 World Series and then built toward a run of consecutive postseason appearances despite playing with a limited budget in the land of giants: the American League East. Bloom is credited with helping build the Rays’ emphasis on player development and especially the Rays’ success identifying and amplifying pitchers.

“Hellbent on making the most of your paths to compete and win,� Neander said, describing the collaboration with Bloom when both had prominent spots in Tampa Bay’s baseball operations. “It was competitive toward winning. Our hands were full trying to compete with some really successful, historic franchises, and all of our time and energy went into doing our best to succeed in that challenge.�

In 2019, Neander’s last season together with Bloom in Tampa Bay’s front office, the Rays went 96-66 to finish second in the AL East and reach the playoffs. That was the first five consecutive playoff appearances for the Rays — the continuation of momentum Bloom helped start. His time in Boston was shaped by ownership’s pressure to trade Mookie Betts, one of MLB’s top talents, and other mixed motivations at the major league level. But beneath the spotlights of Fenway Park, Bloom’s front office in Boston rebuilt a farm system that the Red Sox are benefiting from today with rising stars like Roman Anthony.

Although it ended abruptly with Bloom’s dismissal at the end of the 2023 season, the talent produced by the system he restocked is changing the perception of his time in Boston.

Which brings the conversation back to the question about how he’ll merge his two experiences with an organization moored in the middle.

A city rich with baseball tradition will welcome talking about 1800s baseball.

But what it really wants to hear is a vision for the late-2020s Cardinals.

“He deserves it,� Neander said. “I think it’s a great fit. It’s a wonderful baseball town. There is a lot of tradition. Test Chaim’s knowledge of tradition and baseball history. Ask him about some player in 1872. Pull up a team and ask him the roster. He’ll have stories about people that I’m pretty sure he made up and then I’ll look, and, oh, there they are.

“I know he’s energized, and I can tell it’s something he’s very passionate about doing and doing it there. It’s already easier to root for him when he’s in the NL Central as opposed to the AL East.�

Winn scratched, errorless streak ends

Masyn Winn, who has been managing soreness in his right knee throughout the season, was a late scratch from Sunday’s series finale due to pain in the joint. The Cardinals considered him day to day, which is a continuation of how he’s been for other stretches of the season.

Winn received an anti-inflammatory shot during the All-Star break to alleviate soreness in the knee, and he’s adopted a training-and-treatment regimen that allows him to continue starting.

Winn appeared in 116 of the Cardinals’ first 130 games, and he’s eight innings shy of surpassing 1,000 at shortstop this season.

Although he didn’t field a ball Saturday, he did receive an error, retroactively applied to a game this past week in Miami. After a review by Major League Baseball, Winn was given an error on Xavier Edwards’ ground ball to lead off the fourth inning Tuesday. The play was initially ruled a hit at loanDepot Park.

The scoring change ends Winn’s streak of errorless games at 49, just shy of being the third shortstop this season to reach 50.

He has only three errors in 450 total chances this season.

Wetherholt, King, etc.

Cardinals top prospect JJ Wetherholt went 2 for 2 on Saturday against former Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale in the lefty’s rehab start for Atlanta’s Class AAA affiliate. The left-handed-hitting Wetherholt led off the bottom of the first with a single, and he doubled off Sale in the third inning.

Wetherholt finished the game 3 for 4 to lift his average to .316, but Class AAA Memphis lost to Gwinnett, 4-2.

• The Cardinals recalled lefty John King from his rehab assignment and placed him on the active roster. King missed a couple of weeks with a strained oblique muscle, and he appeared in three games with Class AAA Memphis to prepare for his return.

King allowed three runs (one earned) in 2 2/3 innings for the Triple-A Redbirds.

• The Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced this weekend the creation of its first new award in several generations. Starting in 2026, the BBWAA will add a Relief Pitcher of the Year Award in each league to the historic awards already presented by the organization: the MVP, Cy Young Award, Rookie of the Year and managers of the year honors.