Trading away high-priced veterans? Including money to get better prospects? I've seen this movie before, and I know how it ends for the St. Louis Cardinals. 

The St. Louis Cardinals recently announced Chaim Bloom as their newest chief baseball officer, and it looks like they are set to embark on a rebuild that could take quite some time to fully execute.

Now, I covered Bloom's entire tenure in Boston, and I've seen how this movie will play out. And it has a chance to play out well for the Cardinals, but everyone needs to exhibit some patience.

From my vantage point, here's the playbook:

Bloom will look to trade high-priced veterans 

Nolan Arenado and Sonny Gray have no-trade clauses and could complicate matters, but they've both indicated they'd be willing to re-evaluate their statuses. William Contreras could also be dealt. Trading established players is the quickest way to acquire young talent, and Bloom won't be afraid to do it.

In Boston, Bloom dealt away Mookie Betts and David Price nearly right after he took the job. He also moved on from Xander Bogaerts before the 2023 season, showing he isn't shy about ruffling some fan feathers and allegiances. 

He will also include money to facilitate deals 

Bloom isn't going to just straight salary dump players if he can avoid it. He wants to gain prospect capital in return, and he wants to get as much of it as possible. If a team will give up better players in order to get the Cardinals to take on more money, Bloom will do it. It's been indicated by Katie Woo of The Athletic that ownership is willing to do that as well. 

Cardinals prepared for spending change as Chaim Bloom era begins: ‘Going to provide the resources’ For the Cardinals to be successful under Bloom, ownership must be open to ideas. The early consensus is that will be the case.

He'll sign bargain basement options 

Bloom is not going to just punt the season. He recognizes that the Cardinals fanbase deserves a chance to see a representative product, and he will provide that, even if he doesn't swim in the deep end of free agency. 

In Boston, he signed the likes of Martin Perez and Garrett Richards to the starting rotation. They brought in Kevin Pillar in the outfield and traded for Hunter Renfroe. He will look to buy-low on players, and if they hit, it will make the team better - and could become a trade avenue to more prospect capital.

It should be noted that the 2021 Red Sox got to the ALCS, so the plan can work. 

He'll spend, to a degree

In Boston, he signed Trevor Story to a $140 million deal and he also signed Masataka Yoshida to a $90 million deal deal before the 2023 season. He has absolutely spent money in the past, but he won't do it until he feels the team is ready to turn a corner.

He'll work to nail the draft

Marcelo Mayer. Kristian Campbell. Roman Anthony. All three are future pillars of the Red Sox and all three eventually became Top-10 prospects in baseball. All three were drafted by Bloom.

Bloom has a playbook, and it certainly can work, as Boston is showing now, but will the fans be patient enough to see it work?