Bernie Show: The "Blooming" of Bill DeWitt

Chaim Bloom is an ideal hire by Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. Why? A simple reason: they both share a love of drafting, player development and building a thriving minor-league system.

DeWitt's baseball DNA goes way back to accompanying his father -- who ran and owned the Cincinnati Reds -- on scouting trips. The young DeWitt Jr. also installed a database for the Reds' scouting department years before other MLB teams did something similar. DeWitt was, in some ways, ahead of his time.

And if you think this is a bunch of hooey, then answer me a question: did you enjoy the results when DeWitt did something unpredictable and unusual by hiring an analyst named Jeff Luhnow out of the corporate world to put in a new and advanced system for scouting, drafting and player development? Was that OK? Did you like all of that winning and winning and winning?

DeWitt got away from his love of player development for reasons that I still don't understand. He let the minor league systems slide and become outdated. But at age 83, DeWitt is fired up by the addition of Chaim Bloom to the baseball organization. Bloom will not only rebuild and modernize the STL minor-league operation, but he'll also reenergize Bill DeWitt's love for player development -- a longtime DeWitt/Cardinals strength that lapsed into weakness.