It’s understandable why Chaim Bloom’s future is a hot topic in the midst of an unexpectedly low season. Red Sox ownership has proven to be nothing, if not reactionary, since Theo Epstein’s departure, and the general manager/director of baseball operations/chief baseball officer has been replaced by late-career LeBron LeBron. Tired as often as James hops teams.
Ben Cherrington won the World Series in 2013 and was replaced midway through Season 4 two years later. Dave Dombrowski then won it all in 2018 with the Juggernaut, but was dumped the following September.
But even by those standards, removing Bloom from his duties now would be reckless. He’s already reached one American League Championship Series halfway through his third season. There’s a lot to criticize this season, but John Henry and Co. hired him to rebuild their payroll and farming systems, and he’s been successful on both fronts. Shortstop Marcelo Mayer is a likely top 10 finisher, and recent additions Brayan Bello, Conor Wong and Triston Casas should play a key role in the future. The club could also spend around $140 million this winter.
Ownership knew the reckoning was looming. Prior to being fired, Dombrowski’s mandate was to put Mookie Betts, David Price, and JD Martinez on the chopping board and cut salaries like Dexter. Bloom eventually traded his first two and became the equivalent of dumping his salary with the Dodgers.
With all of that talent coming out of the book, what did the owners expect? It’s about competing behind a roster that has made a lot of progress over the years.
Bloom ruined much of that good work and sacrificed most of the resulting goodwill by taking a hopeful approach to both this offseason and the trade deadline. It looked like a big market move as a way to trade Renflow for Jackie Bradley to get leads. but at the expense of 2022. The Red Sox will get nothing for $6 million.
The trade deadline was even more confusing when starting catcher Christian Vazquez was not only shipped but sent to the rival Houston Astros, surprising the clubhouse. But then, rather than commit to a rebuild, Bloom retained pending free agents Nathan Eovaldi and Martinez, adding outfielder Tommy Pham, first baseman Eric Hosmer, and catcher Reese McGuire. is injured, but the other two outperform their predecessors, but it doesn’t matter – the season ended sometime in July as Bloom failed to get any help from the bullpen. I know now.
Tomase: No pressure, Casas.
After these recent failures, it’s fair to question his performance, but at least he’s not yet reached the level at which he would have to sacrifice his job. Instead, the injury wreaked havoc. This winter will be the first time he’s actually spending money.
Complicating matters is the fact that CEO Sam Kennedy assured both Bloom and Cora in an interview with The Athletic last week. Kennedy’s attempt to reveal their future only muddied it. Now fans are understandably left wondering why the topic was brought up. , has historically been about 50 to 50 proposals.
That said, I tend to take Kennedy at his word. Owners may not be happy with this year’s results, but we haven’t heard anything to suggest they’re unhappy with the franchise’s overall direction. Pandemic-shortened 2020 Throwing the season out as a cluster bleep, Bloom is practically 1-2 at the top of the organization.
No matter how insecure fans feel about the future, it’s not the mean that anyone would get fired. We may have different conversations.
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