POBO Chaim Bloom joins @Cardinals camp + Cards Season Preview

00:00:08
Speaker 1: We have the president of baseball operations for the Saint Louis Cardinals, Heim Bloom, joining us right now.

00:00:13
Speaker 2: Him.

00:00:13
Speaker 1: Great to have you on. So how is camp with We've been talking to some of the younger players. A lot of those younger players now becoming more senior members and leaders of the team as it was a busy offseason for you.

00:00:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's really been the cool part of this camp so far. Every year is different. You never really know what you're going to have in terms of the vibe. So you get in there and with a lot of these guys seeing that they can make this what they want it to be, and they can step up and they can take a leadership role. And I always believe you can lead at any age. It's really about bringing a really good and authentic version of yourself to this and it's been cool to see some of these guys realize, like they understand, the standard here is very high. We want to keep that very high, but they get to define what that looks like now for them going forward. It's always better than having it imposed from the outside when the group there gets to define it. I will say, you know, the biggest problem I actually have with this camp so far is that I thought I thought Krafts was going to be on the NOPE and.

00:01:11
Speaker 3: The big league.

00:01:12
Speaker 2: I mean, did you fire him to at one point? No, No, I never have Hadham. I did had him as a player briefly and then actually worked with him a little bit during one of the years of Boston and he was always so reliable. I guess he's changed.

00:01:26
Speaker 3: He's changed.

00:01:27
Speaker 4: You know, he's got he's got a big raise now, so he's getting the new palace done or new kitchen done.

00:01:31
Speaker 2: So you know, we had we had a renovation here throughout the entirety of last year as everybody could see, and all of our Jupiter based people just worked through it, got the job done.

00:01:41
Speaker 3: Order people grind.

00:01:42
Speaker 2: Pennsylvania people together with him will.

00:01:44
Speaker 3: Have to talk about for sure. All right, So I have a couple of questions.

00:01:48
Speaker 4: First of all, can I just ask why you guys couldn't put the sauna next to the club. Also, guys, there's now dudes in towels walking back and forth here in the public.

00:01:56
Speaker 2: You know, it's got a miss on the DNA has that is a new feet Sure of the performance centers, we have a sauna there and it has been very popular, although it took about a week before before we broke it. I think from overuse because there's an out of order sign on it. The last couple of days, I will say, the staff to player ratio of people who actually use the sauna is way too high. Yeah. Yeah, I haven't been in there yet.

00:02:18
Speaker 4: Players are young though they haven't. They don't have they don't understand that party get flush.

00:02:24
Speaker 2: I'm going to use it.

00:02:25
Speaker 3: As soon as we're doing this interview, I'm gonna go.

00:02:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have been there yet. I keep thinking if I go in there and then people are going to stop the conversation just exactly, I might try it at some point.

00:02:34
Speaker 4: So, yeah, that's smart, that's smart. You're president of Baseball Offs. How does the hierarchy work? You know it's different GM, President Baseball off. You have the second parking spot, but not the first one.

00:02:45
Speaker 2: No, No, the owner has the first one, as it should be. It's different everywhere. I mean a lot of it. You know, titles are different in a lot of places. When my career started, the sort of top person on the front office hierarchy was almost always a GM. But you know that being said, like when things got revamped with the Rays. Andrew Friedman the whole time he was there, never had the GM title. We actually didn't have a GM till till much later, so everybody does it a little differently. And then he started to see just you know, the job has grown, the industry has grown. There's just so many more things that we're competing on now, so front offices have expanded just to tack all that work, and that led to some different titles. At the end of the day, you know, what we're called is really less important than what we do and how we work together. So as long as that everything's clear to everybody, it shouldn't really matter.

00:03:35
Speaker 3: Is Andrew Friedman.

00:03:36
Speaker 4: We had him on we were in Dodgers camp and I asked him, this is he the godfather of GM president of Baseball offs because he was kind of the first raised guy right to go to the Dodgers and then there now they're kind of all over the league.

00:03:50
Speaker 2: You mean, the godfather the title or of like the raised tree, the race both kind of well, as far as the race tried, I mean, I'm curious what he said, but you know, obviously there's so many of us got to be a part of that and then go on, you know, whether there elsewhere to just do all sorts of cool things. It was a really special place to grow up and amazingly fortunate to have gotten my start in baseball from him and gotten to work work for him for all those years and and you know, stay a friend, and you know, it's there's a lot, it's a really special place. There's a lot of really cool things that came out of that. When I think about the people that I got to work with, the things we got to do, I couldn't ask for anything more. Wouldn't trade that experience for anything. As far as the title, I think there were a couple others, Like I think when THEO went from Boston to Chicago, that was that that title came to play there, and that was a little before. I'm probably forgetting one or two again. Titles are you know, on some level, they're important for everybody to understand and for there to be clarity around what people's jobs.

00:04:46
Speaker 3: You're the boss, right, so you're just like, I know this title.

00:04:50
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, it's like, you know, call us whatever you want. We're here to get a job done, and that's what matters.

00:04:55
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, I think this town and talking about say Lewis, has seen a ton of success in terms of their baseball team right for a long period of time. Do you think the modern fan understands the process of a team going through what could be some pain points and just whatever word you want to call it to get to the next great Cardinals team. Do you feel like the fan now is better equipped with how much info we have on prospects and just the game being covered and more extensively these days.

00:05:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to compare now versus you know, something way in the past where I just wasn't around and wasn't as a tune with with the Cardinals fan base. I will say just from being around the last couple of years, and I think this is generally true, especially in a baseball town. You do yourself at this service if you think you can pull the roll over the eyes of your fans. Our fans are really smart. They get this, and you know, I actually have felt you know, and I understand that. You know, people are polite. They may not tell you everything that they feel to your face. You usually got to put them behind a keyboard for that type of stuff. But what do you mean. You know, I actually have felt that, look to the extent, that this is the right course for our organization. We believe strongly that it is, and actually the best and quickest way back to where we want to go is just to lean into this and just make sure we're doubling down on building up our young talent base, because that's how the Cardinals always win. I think I have felt that our fans understand that, and I think we'd actually be doing ourselves and them a disservice if we were to try to pretend that something else is appropriate. You know, at the same time, there's not going to be a day, regardless how young we are, there's not going to be a day when we show up. It's place not expecting to win and not looking to win, and not looking to keep that standard really high. It's not a switch you flip. You established that from day one, and that should not change just because our strategy is a longer term strategy that intensity, the attention to detail, the hunger to win, whatever's on your plate that day. It's something that I preach a lot within our walls to our staff. You know, in any given day, whether you're a coach, whether you're a front office person, a scout, whatever your role is, whatever's on your plate that day, treat it like game seven. That's the only way we get where we want to go.

00:07:07
Speaker 1: So now let's push this forward and get people excited both. You know, I know the Cardinals fans know what's coming, but what about even for the national scene. Can you tell us what you've seen some exciting storylines in camp, whether it's names that you're seeing a lot of improvement from guys on the big league roster who haven't like fully blossomed and now you think the next step could be coming.

00:07:28
Speaker 2: Yeah. I hate answering this question because it feels like you're tempting the baseball gods just to point out all the things that are going right on March second. But it has been exciting. You know what stood out and I think give it to some of the newcomers, the group of arms that we have in camp and the way that they've looked early. Again, it is March second, so this feels like playing with fire with respect to the baseball gods, but that group has looked really good and you could see that both the camaraderie building within the group, and also these guys bringing some stuff to the party, which is cool and which is something that we need. Both you know, starters, bullpen guys at big league experience, guys at out big League experience that that looked really good, and then also just the energy to hunger from the physician player group. You know, whether it's you know, guys that are established to know exactly what they're doing, or maybe some guys like I think about Thomas a jac who was leaving us to go play for Team Italy, But who's really who's getting the chance now of play everywhere and really leaning into that, taking it on with enthusiasm, working hard. You know, guys are seeing that opportunity we had. I was actually tied up in a meeting. I didn't get out to see it. But we had this execution drill that the staff came up with. I think there's some videos of it that might have made it out on the internet, and you know, this is a drill. This is just trying to practice things that we're gonna have to execute in season. And the intensity the competition. I had somebody come up to me and say they were hearing like you know, it was it was sort of a college baseball vibe in a sense. But hearing things like hooting and hollering that they hadn't heard being here for a few years, and you know that's that's coming from the players, and that's been cool to see.

00:09:02
Speaker 3: Is that why you gave all it to your extension because he came up with this drill.

00:09:05
Speaker 2: Well the extension was well in progress.

00:09:07
Speaker 4: But I thought you saw this drill and you're like, we got to have him for two more years. Uh, No, I missed the drill. I was I was starting to need it. You know, you heard about it about I couldn't hear you know, there's doctor Phillips graduates from it, smart smart getting Sorry, I have trouble with this.

00:09:25
Speaker 1: Take it off, you got it?

00:09:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you can take it. You can take it out.

00:09:28
Speaker 2: I just want to make sure you can still hear you. But yeah, I figured there would be some mention to that at some point. No, it's actually been It's been great to work with Ali. I mean, you know, just you want to feel like you're on the same page. Uh, you know what we're what we're parking on. It's difficult. This game is hard. Everybody's competing zero some Game one trophy a year. You want to feel like the organization's on the same page, that we understand where we are, where we're trying to go, how we're going to get there. And you know that I have felt from day one and also just seeing to get where we want to go. It doesn't matter if you're wearing a uniform, wearing a polo shirt, whatever, if you're wearing a towel in thesauna, You're gonna have to push yourself beyond what you have been where You're gonna have to get out of your comfort zone, push yourself to improve and not be insecure as to so insecurious to say there's nothing I can get better at. And he is a secure person who is looking to get better always and looking for people to challenge him on that. And that's the type of person that I enjoy working with.

00:10:24
Speaker 4: Since you're hiring ex Cardinal Catchers to come back to the organization, is two doctor Phillips high school brains in one room. Too much to have to ask for hair since you brought back your.

00:10:35
Speaker 2: Openings at present, But I think Yati might have taken the last.

00:10:41
Speaker 4: Oh, I can't believe you picked Yaudi over me. With our cardinal careers next to each other.

00:10:46
Speaker 2: Absolutely no disrespect. You are you are remembered fondly in this building.

00:10:50
Speaker 3: Well that's good, thank thank goodness for that.

00:10:52
Speaker 2: But yeah, but well we'll keep talking. Send me ash.

00:10:55
Speaker 3: Okay, perfect.

00:10:58
Speaker 4: You mentioned familiarity. Is that why you trade with the Red Sox all the time? You make all these trades with the Red Sox because of the familiarity with the prospects or is Craig Breslo.

00:11:07
Speaker 2: I mean, that's just about trying to get the best return when it's time to do business.

00:11:11
Speaker 4: Oh okay, because that means it just it just seems to keep happening. Someone used to work there. You know, there's players.

00:11:17
Speaker 2: You know what's funny. I been asked about that a lot, And like, of all the players we required there, there's actually only one that I was in the organization with That was Hunter Dobbins. The others were all acquired after I was gone, So I had to study up on some of these guys. You know, we get two guys and those deals out of their twenty twenty four draft, and Brandon Clark and Blake Ida and and the harder they picked up in a trade fits they picked up in a trade. Although I did do a little homework on him my last deadline, so I hadn't I had an eye on him, But you know, it's really looked with those types of deals. Obviously moving good talent, you just want to make sure you do the best for your organization. There's there's twenty nine other clubs. Whoever's willing to meet our needs and give and give us the best turn. You know that that has to be about the Cardinals and what's best for the Cardinals and not about me.

00:12:04
Speaker 3: Makes sense. How do you know when a guy's ready?

00:12:07
Speaker 4: I'm not sure if JJ weatherhold who everyone is expecting to be your opening day second basement and you know, hitting the top of the order, maybe opening day against your old team, the Rays, how do you know?

00:12:19
Speaker 3: How do you know? How do you balance being ready versus rushing?

00:12:24
Speaker 2: Look, I think the most honest answer I think anybody in the seat could give you in terms of how do you know? You don't. There's like to say this is a perfect science. It never is. There's always some art to it, there's always some subjectivity to it. You try to do the best you can in terms of having a clear eyed, objective view of the player, trying to take some of the emotion out of that view and be really honest both with the player also with yourself about you know, what are we working on. What do we need to see to make this decision, especially in spring training where you can really get fooled if you basis on spring training results, that's a good way probably to make some bad decisions do play into it, But there's so many other things that you're looking at. And then some of it's subjective too. It's get to know how the guy ticks, you know, how is he going to respond to that challenge? When is the right time to put to put him in there? Big leagues are really hard. I think oftentimes we tend to rush guys more than we let them overcook. But you also don't want them to die in the line either, So there is not a formula for it. Love to be able to tell you there is. I wish I could tell myself there was. I can't. But we just try to get all the appropriate input, untrust and ask the right questions the people that are closer to the player that might understand this. Players a person the best, obviously, look at the needs of your team, try to make a good decision.

00:13:41
Speaker 1: When you say tick, do you look at each player's you know, mental components and say, hey, if it doesn't go perfectly when he first gets called up, how do we think it will go when we have a conversation with someone And now just this is getting past JJ, but just with anyone with a call up, right when you're dealing with a prospect who's highly rare, and you're like, I think he can handle it, but we don't know for sure until we see it, and we might have to have a conversation with him and say, hey, you're going back to the minor leagues? Does that factor into how early you call up any top prospect.

00:14:13
Speaker 2: That's exactly at that and those types of questions or where my head goes the most, you know, most guys. Obviously, some to the nature of the game is that there's guys that are going to go up and down, be on the shuttle. That's just how we have to manage our roster out thirty clubs do. But obviously, you know, when you're doing something my choice, or you're doing something with a prominent player, you'd like to only call them up once. So you want to feel that they're ready for it, And that is one of the questions you have to ask yourself, is you know it's great if it goes, If it goes wonderfully and everybody's having success, everybody's having a good time, that's awesome. But what's going to happen when this guy gets punched in the face. What's going to happen when he fails? Is he going to be okay? Because almost all big leaguers, including good big leaguers, all stars, very very few guys never fail. Those guys are extremely rare cats amongst the population of big le years that are already incredibly uncommon. People who are the best in the world at what they do, they almost all fail at some point. Are they going to grow for it? Are they going to be able to stay with it? Are they going to drown? And if you believe they're going to be able to stay with it, you have to expect there will be failure. Yeah, you can be wrong. I guys some of these guys, especially the really good ones, you might not have seen him fail. So you're guessing, but getting to know the person and understanding how is this person going to handle adversity? How are they going to handle that spotlight. There are some indicators we can get on that, and those are important parts of the decision.

00:15:31
Speaker 3: How do you what do you say to people?

00:15:33
Speaker 4: Let's say hein Bloom is just a talent evaluator, right, because you've never you've never really been given the chance to build the team from start to finish. It's kind of Michael Olyas comes to mind in Baltimore, right. They say, oh, he drafts great and he develops guys. But now they're out there, they're in their so called window. Now people are saying, well, does he know how to put the finished product? What do you say to people that question whether you're just an evaluator and you know how to put a team over the top.

00:15:58
Speaker 2: Well, for starters, I guess I should say thank you for the compliments the extent that they think I can evaluate talent. That's a good place to start. I'll take that. I've been call worse. You know, there's only so many things you can control about you know, you obviously control a lot about how you do your job. There are things you can control things you can't control about the opportunities you get, and so you just try to make the most of the opportunity, do right by the opportunity. I understand those questions. I mean, look, we all share the same goal here. We're obviously in a phase now where the acquisition young talents first and foremost for us. But like I said, there's never going to be a time when we're going to be thinking about anything but winning. It just so happens that right now where we are, the best way to get there is to do this, and it's on me, on us, on our whole organization to make sure that we're always keeping winning first and foremost and doing whatever makes sense that on a given day to push ourselves towards that.

00:16:51
Speaker 1: Well, Hian, we appreciate the time. We're looking forward to seeing this next wave, this next brand of Cardinals baseball. Thanks man, good to see.

00:16:57
Speaker 2: It, appreciate it. Good to check in with you, guys.

00:17:06
Speaker 1: Let's do a little season preview on the Saint Louis Cardinals for the twenty twenty sixth season. First to quick recap, the off season was busy for them, aj and we heard it, I think most emphatically from Ali Marmole. Now, some veterans move on and they get to establish a new leadership aura right, So Wilson Contras traded away, Sonny Gray traded away. We can show some of these editions and subtractions here. Nolan Aronado traded away, Ryan Helsley was traded and then signed elsewhere. So those are four major veterans that are not part of the team here when they were part of the twenty twenty five opening day roster. Enter Dustin May to the rotation, Hunter Dobbins acquired via trade, Richard Fitz, Ryan Stannick signed up to be a veteran. We've already heard his name, Sinja, who's the big prospect coming over in the Brendan Donovan three way trade. And Clark also a name who could be a contributing factor from the pitching department. So first off, when we add and subtract here, aj, we know where the team's going. I mean, you're not going to hear the word very often, but it's not a bad word. It's just a word. It's called rebuilding. That's what they're doing.

00:18:13
Speaker 3: Right now, retooling, rebuilding, reloading.

00:18:17
Speaker 4: Every team nobody wants to use the word rebuild, and I don't know why, but that's what they're doing. And you saw the subtractions and those are veteran guys, but they feel like here in Saint Louis and in Jupiter that they have the right mix of young players that are starting to come up. And if you talk to them about their system, they really like their system. So we'll see how it goes. But they're definitely going to take a step back even from where they were last year. That's why I think it was nice of Heim Bloom to give Ali Marmal a contract extension because he doesn't have to worry about expectations. And the one thing that the Cardinals have been though, they've been upfront with their fans and they said, hey, listen, we're going to need to take a step back to take two steps forward.

00:18:51
Speaker 3: So they're doing it this year.

00:18:52
Speaker 4: They continue to draft well, if I'm Bloom's in charge, they'll continue to develop players well, and then they'll be good, hopefully in a shorter time than what most people expect.

00:19:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say.

00:19:07
Speaker 5: As a Cardinals fan, you sit there and go, Okay, we've had history of this, and you look at you know, no other organization has had history of success, and then rebuild. Wait no, they haven't rebuilt. There's a whole generation of Cardinals fans that don't know what a rebuild or reboot looks like, and this could be hard. And I hear a lot of words coming out of the clubhouse or coming out of this organization right now, like, oh, we got to start new, We got to start new. What are the things that they're keeping from the other from the last regime, the last regime that was supremely successful are how are they building to that? And I think, you know, you might have pieces in this organization that allow them to build on them, but what is the core principles of this organization that will make this be the Cardinals of old and not Okay, well we'll do this for five years and then we'll rebuild. The reality is they're going to need to spend money once they see a season like this and say, Okay, who's going to step up as JJ Weatherholt an everyday big leaguer. Is Mason win going to take the next step and be not just the elite on defense but a three hundred hitter every year? Is Jordan Walker going to be that guy? So there's a lot of questions that need to be asked when you go through a rebuild, and those questions need to be answered here this season.

00:20:31
Speaker 1: And let's show what BETEMGM is bringing to the table for their win total projection. Fangrabs has them and they play everybody a little bit closer to the middle. That's seventy four point nine, so about seventy five wins. BETAMGM has the total at sixty nine and a half. For the Cardinals, Giggity beat you to it. But what do you think, aj, I.

00:20:52
Speaker 4: Think they're closer to the fan grabs than they are the VITMGM. I think that I just think that they'll figure it out. They oh last year, the last couple of years, they haven't, you know, supposed to be that gray, but they always end up around five hundred ish Now I think. I think seventy for four to seventy five wins is a great number. I think the sixty nine is too low, So I like the I like the higher little bit of a higher number. I think there were low seventies, the mid seventies win team.

00:21:21
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go below.

00:21:23
Speaker 5: I think they're going to lose one hundred games, and I think it's going to be a tough, a tough build because of the fact that you're already using your depth pitching wise, like had they had they re signed to Miles Michaels, had they kept a sunny gray. Now, all of a sudden, you're using some of these young guys to be that depth. You're already using that depth, and I just think I think the NL central is a little bit tougher. So I'm going under the giggoty that the bet MGM put out for us.

00:21:53
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's look at the lineup, and there are a lot of numbers on here AJ that are sub one hundred for ops plus as in league average. Not quite there. Do we think anybody on this lineup will emerge and get past that that vaunted one hundred number. Of course, I'm not saying nobody on here is on hundred. Von Herrera had a banger season for them and is a name not many no, but should know. Alec Burlison is going to get every day be mostly at first base. Great, those are the only two guys in the projected starting lineup from Fangrafts that were registered as above average bats last year.

00:22:30
Speaker 4: Anybody like, yes, it's Jordan Walker's time. It's time, Jordan here, It's time. It's just time. It's time for Jordan Walker to take the next step, and I know he's had some and we talked to him and we talked to Ali about Jordan Walker.

00:22:44
Speaker 3: But it's time.

00:22:45
Speaker 4: It's time for him to swing and it's time for him to hit, and it's time for him to be the number one prospect that everyone thought he was going to be. So I think Jordan Walker is going to be free. He's not going to be any worries and he's going to figure it out. I mean, this kid's still what twenty five years old, I think he is, so he's not He's still super young. So I think Jordan Walker is gonna have a huge year. And listen, if I'm betting JJ Weatherholt is going to be a stud for the Cardinals and they're really gonna enjoy what he does.

00:23:09
Speaker 3: He's Jack. He just walked by.

00:23:11
Speaker 4: I know he sat earlier with us, but he kind of was covered up. He's walked by. He's freaking Jack, dude. That's why when he brought up the Paedroia comparisons, I'm like, you're way bigger than old.

00:23:20
Speaker 1: One to five was Jordan Walker. By the way, He's twenty three turning twenty four in late May. He's pretty damn young.

00:23:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:23:30
Speaker 5: To me, that guy on there is Mason Win. I think you gain confidence from your defense, and I think his feet are firmly on the ground and defense.

00:23:44
Speaker 1: I think his.

00:23:45
Speaker 5: From his bat speed to his speed to just another year. I know we make fun of some teams who say that, but I think Mason Win takes the next step. Is he ever going to be a one thirty ops plus? No, But I think he takes the next step in pushes it over that one hundred because I also think you have if the lineup's constructed where like Nolan Gorman's around him, who I think is going to have a better year this year. And Jj Weatherholt is what I've seen in the few at bats from spring training, and I watched a couple of his triple A at bats, like, now you have a little bit more protection, not that you're protecting Mason Win, but just that I think he takes that next step because he's completely solidified, he's got gold, he's got those things. And now the offense, which really good defenders at shortstop in history that I've seen recently of shortstops who don't hit right away, they slowly learn it because they're out there every day. So I think that's where he's going to take the next step.

00:24:48
Speaker 1: And we didn't get to talk about this aj from the last few days, but we mentioned it of course to Ali Marmole. He gets extended, so you get some stability in there. He knows he's going to be the guy for the next few years.

00:25:02
Speaker 4: Yes, he does, and that's big for a manager, especially a guy who's going into this process where they're going to have to have young players. You have to give a guy a chance to teach the young players and grow with him. And Ali Marmle I believe is the right guy for this. Oli Marble is only thirty nine years old. He's not even forty years old yet, so you know he is a younger coaching staff that a lot of the players around here know most a lot of them played for the Cardinals. They're people in Saint Louis trust their opinion. John Jay descalso some of these guys. So I think that giving Marvel the extension gives him the confidence and gives him the freedom to raise these young kids the way that he thinks they should. And all he's been in this organization for a long time. So he knows the Cardinal way and he knows what he's expecting and people of Saint Louis expect out of their big league team.

00:25:47
Speaker 1: He's managed this team and they've had some success, and they haven't been as good the last couple of years, and that's probably going to be the case here. So he knows how to do that side of the equation. And also we're trying to get some information crats out of some of the young guy In terms of what's going to look different, I would say I'll look back at a Katie Wu article that we discussed, what was it two years ago at this point about how the Cardinals had fallen very behind on some of the development that they did a really nice job of in the past, because they kind of had to make the decision, Hey, do we want to spend a little more on the major league roster, Yes, but then we have to take that away from what we do on the development side. Whether they weren't getting the best tech, whether they weren't you know, having the most loaded coaching staff in terms of numbers, how many coaches they had, all of that right that the Cardinals did so well, they kind of sacrifice that and it sounds like the pendulum is shifting back towards that side and that should help on the development front. Now, eventually the team's going to build up, and then fans and basically everyone's going to be like, hey, well now you've got to support that team again, So don't take from your development side, just add on and we'll see if that happens eventually.

00:26:55
Speaker 5: And talking to him, unfortunately I missed the him interview and he gave me a hard time for but talking to him off camera, he is and I guess, I guess I'm a proponent of Hein Bloom because I worked for him for a little bit and I played in the organization that he was one of the assistant jams for. But he has a track record of understanding what it takes to build up a farm system, and when he came in there were things lacking. Some guys come in and they're like, oh, we're going to re reboot this farm system. We're going to do this, and they hack everybody. Look at the Marlins. The Marlins came in and Peter Bendex came in and just hacked coaches after coaches after, you know, assistant directors of this and him came in and he did it differently. He did it more like what happened in Boston, where he said, okay, there's a few few people that we had to get rid of. But he was like, that wasn't his goal. His goal was to say, there's been twenty years of success here. If you've been here for twenty years, you've been doing something right. Do you need and he had he attached the hey, I want to I want to be I want to be a help. I don't want to be the you know, the person who lords over everything from the Ivory Tower. And so instead of hacking jobs, he added to positions that organizations had been adding, you know, a fourth coach to triple A or DOUBLELA. They added those ten years ago, and the Cardinals were behind on that. Their their system of analyzing stuff like analytics stuff. Their system was way way behind, but they didn't need it. And we talked about this on this show. When they got Wilson Contreras from the Cubs. There was a lot of things that Wilson Contreras was asked to do that Yadi Molina was doing before. And it's evaluating who you're playing against. All that stuff that it was unfair the organization to say, oh, hey, we're going to have you do this, and him Blooms come in and he's seen how two differentiations, the Rays and the Red Sox did things settings up out from an in structure, and from what I heard and what he told me, it seems like ownership has been like, Okay, we're we want to get back on track, we want to do this. While you're not seeing them spending a big league team, there is some behind the scenes spending and it kind of kind of starts with what AJ sees behind them. In the addition that they made at the at the complex.

00:29:28
Speaker 1: There, that's right, the complex is shiny.

00:29:31
Speaker 4: The complex is brand new. But that was that was not the Cardinals. I mean they the Marlins are will be there tomorrow fifty feet down the road, and they have the same thing. So that was more the city of Jupiter and the county down here did not want to lose the Marlins and the Cardinals, so they did a nice job. I mean the Cardinals didn't. As much as I love the Cardinals, the Cardinals did not pay for this. Okay, let's just let's let's not go.

00:29:52
Speaker 1: There, right right, Yeah, the cities put in money to keep the teams and drive the tourist dollars.

00:30:00
Speaker 4: And also it was time. Also it was time because crats, you know you were here last year. This was outdated and listen outdated.

00:30:08
Speaker 3: But a lot of the things, a lot of a lot of the things are outdated.

00:30:15
Speaker 1: Yep, sauna's in place. AJ is ready to go for it in like seven minutes.

00:30:19
Speaker 4: When I gotta go, I gotta walk. I gotta get a towel and put my underwear on and walk though across the street, across the walkway here to get to it.

00:30:26
Speaker 1: They call it the walk of fame, to walk to the sauna.

00:30:32
Speaker 5: Not not at as age shame.

00:30:36
Speaker 1: No fame, fame crafts. By the way, I liked your Ivory Tower drop. That's what Pat Murphy calls the front office, or any front office