Red Sox Have Hired Chaim Bloom As Chief Baseball Officer; Announcement Expected Monday

"and yes I said yes I will Yes"

Ian Browne, mlb.com:

The Red Sox have found the next leader of their front office. Chaim Bloom, the Rays' senior vice president of baseball operations since 2016, has finalized a deal with Boston to be its chief baseball officer, sources told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand and Jon Paul Morosi on Friday.

Brian O'Halloran, one of the three assistant general managers currently in Boston's front office, will be named GM of the club under Bloom ... Eddie Romero and Zack Scott will retain their assistant GM titles, while Raquel Ferreira will continue in her role as senior VP of Major League and Minor League operations.

The 36-year-old Bloom -- the lone external candidate interviewed by the Red Sox during their search ... would be a significant get for Boston, which been looking for a creative and dynamic mind to build a championship-caliber team while also cutting some payroll and rebuilding its farm system.

Jeff Passan, ESPN (Twitter):

Chaim Bloom may be the most well-regarded executive in baseball without a GM title. If he is indeed the Red Sox's choice, as multiple sources believe he will be, this would be seen as a home run of a hire.

Jeff Passan, ESPN (Twitter):

With Chaim Bloom taking over baseball operations for the Red Sox ... Boston injects a brilliant young mind into a front office already with a lot of brainpower. Under Dave Dombrowski, much of it was sidelined. They won a ring, yes, but this optimizes them.

Mark Feinsand, mlb.com (Twitter):

It's rare to find a person in baseball about whom nobody has a bad word to say. Chaim Bloom is one of those people. Early response from execs around the league is that the Red Sox made themselves a fantastic hire.

Alex Speier, Boston Globe:

Bloom comes to the Red Sox ... after making a significant mark on a Rays organization that earned widespread respect for emerging as a contender despite limited resources. While Bloom has technically worked under Rays GM Erik Neander in his current role, the lines of responsibility for the two were intentionally blurred to give both significant responsibility, with the two in near-constant communication about virtually every aspect of the organization.

Tampa Bay's ability to emerge as a surprise contender in 2018 and playoff team in 2019 — despite one of the lowest payrolls in the game — owed to success in several areas that will prove critical for the Red Sox as they move forward. The Rays' strong player development system yielded a steady supply of big league contributors in recent years — and it was in the farm system that Bloom in many ways cut his teeth while working under former Tampa Bay GM Andrew Friedman. Bloom was credited as the primary author of "The Rays Way," the team's player development manual, more than a decade ago.

The Rays also thrived in recent years thanks to a strong analytics department whose work was integrated well into game management as well as roster decisions. The team's use of information likewise helped guide Tampa Bay in a number of trades that, while requiring the team to make the painful decision to part with established stars, brought back young and inexpensive foundation pieces.

At a time when the Red Sox will have to make hard decisions about which core members will remain with the team as the organization tries to reduce payroll to reset its luxury-tax penalties, Bloom's work with the Rays carries intrigue in Boston.

Chris Cotillo, MassLive.com:

[Bloom] cut his teeth with the Padres and has worked in various capacities for the Rays since joining the organization in Feb. 2005. The Philadelphia native began working in player development for the Rays as their assistant director of minor league operations in 2008 ...

Bloom has worn a variety of hats in the Tampa Bay organization, working as an intern and full-time employee (2008), assistant director of minor league operations (2008-2011), director of baseball operations (2011-2014) and vice president of baseball operations (2014-2016) before being promoted to his current role in Nov. 2016. Though he is technically second-in-command behind general manager Erik Neander, the Rays have employed a dual-headed monster in their baseball operations decision-making and Bloom has had a large amount of power in the last three seasons. ...

Bloom is considered one of the top executives in all of baseball who has not yet gotten a chance to run his own baseball operations department.

The plusses in Bloom's resume are clear: his player development background and experience with Tampa Bay's low payroll will be very beneficial for a Red Sox team that is focusing on churning out homegrown talent -- especially on the pitching side -- and cutting payroll in the next calendar year. ...

Bloom has a bit of an unorthodox educational background, as his degree from Yale came in classics (Latin) before he began working as an intern with the Padres and Major League Baseball. He discussed all of that and more in a wide-ranging podcast interview with MLB.com's Mark Feinsand last September.