Photo courtesy (Boston Herald: Jason Mastrodonato)
On Thursday afternoon, the Red Sox announced that they would be letting go of chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom as the organization has become more irrelevant than I can ever remember. The Red Sox highest highest-selling jersey on MLB.com is the jersey that reads “No Name” on the back. This goes to show what has happened to the organization in recent years. The Bloom news broke right before a doubleheader with the Yankees. Bloom was hired in October 2019, and the team had just one postseason appearance in his four years with the organization. That playoff appearance ended in the ALCS against the Houston Astros. In Bloom’s other three years, they finished last place in two of them, and are likely headed for a third as they enter play tonight 1.5 GB of the Yankees for fourth in the American League East.
Prior to the 2020 season, the Red Sox knew they were not going to sign Mookie Betts long-term. Therefore, Bloom’s first task on the job was to trade Mookie Betts, a former MVP and the face of the Red Sox at the time. He traded Betts to the Dodgers for Connor Wong, Jeter Downs, and Alex Verdugo. Wong hit .240 with the Red Sox and has 44 career RBI in 149 games across three seasons. Downs is no longer with the organization, as he was DFA’d this past offseason. He played just fourteen career games with the Red Sox and hit .154. At the time of the trade, he was the 44th-ranked prospect in baseball (MLB Pipeline). Verdugo has had the most impact of the three, as he was a big part of the team’s playoff run in 2021, batting .310 in the postseason. However, Verdugo has just forty-three homeruns in four seasons with Boston since the trade. Betts has thirty-nine homeruns just this season alone, and he has since gone on to win a World Series and will finish in the top five in the MVP voting this season for the third time in his four years with LA.
Chaim Bloom has failed at the trade deadline in three consecutive seasons, even in the year when the team reached the ALCS in 2021. Last year, the team was five games out at the trade deadline and decided not to do anything major. At this time, they would have been better off picking a side, buying or selling, rather than trying to do a mix of both. Bogaerts, Martinez, and Eovaldi all had expiring contracts at the end of 2022, all of whom they ended up letting walk in free agency. At the deadline, they moved Christian Vazquez, someone who was very well-liked in the clubhouse. They also brought in Tommy Pham and Eric Hosmer, platoon players with experience, but don’t have a great impact on the field.
This season, the team was only 2.5 GB on July 31st and the only move Bloom made was acquiring Luis Urias from the Brewers. At the time of the trade, Urias was hitting .145 in twenty games. Meanwhile, contending teams around them made big moves, and all are on the verge of making the playoffs. For example, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander went to the Rangers and Astros respectively. Keep in mind that the Red Sox have the 24th-best starter’s ERA at 4.74. The Red Sox went from in contention at the deadline to not even playing meaningful baseball in September, that is the result of not improving your team at the trade deadline.
Bloom did not spend as much money in his time with the Red Sox as you would expect from a team in this market. He came from Tampa Bay, where they are known for having a low payroll, yet they are still in contention year in and year out. Bloom was brought here by John Henry and the Fenway Sports Group to replicate that model, though it seemed at least. The Red Sox were the 11th-highest-spending team in the league before this season began. Jeff Passan of ESPN tweeted that, “Over the 15-year stretch during which they won four World Series, here were the Boston Red Sox’s payroll ranks in those years: second, second, third, first.” Typically, they're in the top five in payroll, and being in a bigger market in Boston that brings up the question, is this what Chaim Bloom wanted, or is this the way he was directed by ownership? The answer to those questions will not be known until the next chief of Baseball officer comes in and we will need to see if he decides to go out and spend more money. Bloom has caught a lot of backlash from the fans, and rightfully so.
However, John Henry should not be off the hook here. He purchased the Pittsburgh Penguins after the Red Sox season ended in 2021, and the Red Sox have not been a good team since, I don’t see a coincidence there. All parties involved (Bloom, ownership, Cora, and the players) have the right to be blamed for the recent struggles. Once one of the perennial powerhouses of baseball, that simply is not the case anymore.
There have been many instances this season where Fenway has been taken over by the visiting team's crowd. It happened noticeably when the Braves, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees were in town. Yes, you heard that right, the Yankees fans being louder than the Red Sox fans at Fenway. Thursday night, Aaron Judge hit a Grand Slam in Fenway Park, and that may have driven one of the loudest roars in the crowd all season long. That may have been a new low for this Red Sox organization.
As of this article, the Red Sox are second in errors committed as a team, with ninety-eight, headlined by franchise player Rafael Devers having committed seventeen at third base, where he ranks fourth in the league. They have tried out many different players at new positions in the past, and it has primarily backfired, such as Kyle Schwarber at 1B, Bobby Dalbec at SS, and Justin Turner at 2B. All these defensive experiments that Cora was forced to try and make were due to poor roster construction from upstairs.
According to MLB.com, four of the Red Sox's top eight prospects are shortstops. These players are Marcelo Mayer, Ceddanne Rafaela, Mikey Romero, and Nazzan Zanetello. For Rafaela, he is also able to play the outfield. However, the point here, is that you can only have one shortstop at the big-league level. Therefore, at some point in the last couple of years, the second guess becomes, should one of them have been moved to bolster the pitching rotation on the major league ball club? Also, Trevor Story is manning that position in the majors where he is signed for four more years following this one. Story was Bloom’s biggest free agent signing while he was here, signing him for six years and $140 million. He is batting .181 this season with two home runs in 34 games.
In the search for their next GM, Red Sox fans should hope for someone who is willing to be aggressive at the right times and cares more about their major league team than their minor league team.
Have an opposing viewpoint to this opinion? Let us know. All views are welcome. Send your thoughts to our Editorial Staff – Editor Dylan Hicks dhicks@student.dean.edu or Dean Daily Faculty Advisor, Professor John Rooke jrooke@dean.edu