Did Chaim Bloom spend too much time analyzing and not enough time deal making?
The San Francisco Giants officially signed three-time batting champion Luis Arraez to a one-year deal worth $12 million on Saturday night. Arraez will play second base alongside All-Stars Willy Adames, Matt Chapman and Rafael Devers.
The addition of Arraez and the completion of the infield also (very likely) means that the Giants are no longer in the running for St. Louis Cardinals' All-Star Brendan Donovan, who they had been linked to heavily on the trade market this winter.
Of course, Donovan can play other positions and provide value beyond second base, but the Giants had been looking at him to fill the second base gap, which they've now done.
It leads me to wonder: Did Chaim Bloom mishandle this situation from the Cardinals standpoint?
The arc of this story
Let's be fair: A few weeks ago I thought Bloom had handled this perfectly. Once the Arizona Diamondbacks took Ketel Marte off the trade market, and then again when Bo Bichette signed with the New York Mets, it seemed like Bloom had all the power.
He was in possession of the very limited supply, and there were multiple teams in demand of Donovan's services. The Giants and Seattle Mariners were the two most strongly-linked teams, but the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays were at least lurking.
Now? It seems like Bloom is down to only one real dance partner: Seattle. The Giants have moved on and the Red Sox pivoted to starting pitcher Ranger Suarez. While the Rays acquired a ton of prospect capital in the Shane Baz trade, we haven't heard much in the way of interest in Donovan, though they were reportedly interested in Marte. If they were interested in him, they are likely also interested in Donovan, at least to some degree.
Regardless, it seems as if Bloom may have overplayed his hand.
So what now?
The Cardinals can re-engage with Seattle seriously again, but they will likely have to be more amendable to Seattle's terms, or Bloom can try to re-engage Tampa Bay, who did trade away Brandon Lowe earlier this offseason and have a theoretical opening at second.
Beyond that? He's probably stuck waiting until the trade deadline and hoping for a new crop of suitors to emerge. However, the longer he waits, the more he risks injury to Donovan - or poor performance. Furthermore, the second year of club control for Donovan is less valuable given the labor questions that exist for the 2027 season.
Bloom's reputation
Remember what ESPN's Buster Olney said on our sister Mariners podcast earlier this week about Bloom:
I would not interpret the length of these negotiations as being St. Louis dissatisfied with what Seattle's offer is or what the Giants offer is. As you know, that's just how Chaim Bloom, who's head of baseball operations and Cardinals, does business. He's known as the most deliberate front office person in the sport. And I think he's going through his process and I'm still really curious to see, you know, will the Mariners land Brendan Donovan?"
The most deliberate front office person in the sport.... It's certainly a descriptor that can help you land premium talent and "win" a lot of deals. But, over analysis can also leave you holding the bag at times. Is that what happened here?
We'll find out.
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