There's a fine line between playing hard ball and being indecisive and I want to make sure that Chaim Bloom isn't flirting with it.

Before I expand, let's take a look at a relatable analogy.

Most of us have, at one point or another, played fantasy sports. An integral part of fantasy sports is trading. We've all gotten the trade offers that are completely one-sided and laughable, and we've all gotten nervous about making a deal that seems like it's taking advantage of us.

Now, back to the issue at hand for Chaim Bloom and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bloom's reputation in Boston

I covered Bloom's four-year tenure Boston with the Red Sox and one of the knocks on him was that he was too indecisive when it came to deal-making. 

He was, as outlined above, the guy in your fantasy league that felt he had to "win" every deal. And maybe he didn't just need to win, he needed the deal to be a landslide in his favor. He's the guy that offered the ridiculously and clear one-sided deal, or he was the guy too afraid to make the deal for fear of getting fleeced.

Take this 2023 column from NBC Sports Boston's John Tomase:

But Bloom operates from a default position of tolerating roughly zero risk, which is a great way never to get burned -- or acquire anyone who might make a difference.

He exudes analysis paralysis, the inability to make a call when presented with an avalanche of information, an affliction that probably isn't helped by the team's rapidly subdividing analytics department. At some point, all of that data doesn't just diminish returns, it eliminates them.

Is the same thing happening now that he's in charge in St. Louis?

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I want to be clear

Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar both have two years of team control left. The Cardinals don't have to trade them right now, and they don't have to trade them for an underwhelming return. They certainly have the leverage at this point and they can hold out if they want to, however, is Bloom falling into an old habit? Is the search for a perfect deal, an overwhelming win, getting in the way of a good or very good deal that's in front of him?

It's all speculative, and only he knows what's being offered and what's being countered, but it was Bloom's reputation prior to getting the Cardinals job, and the hope was that he'd show real growth this time around.

He still can, but the longer the (specifically) Donovan trade talk drags on, the more the questions will be asked about him. At some point, he'll have to take a risk and at some point, he'll have to be willing to pull the trigger.

This team won't compete in the next two years, so Bloom either needs to extend Donovan and give him an opportunity to be part of the building process, or he needs to move him.

Don't let perfect be the enemy of very good.

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