Red Sox Fire Chaim Bloom As Chief Baseball Officer

The Red Sox fired Chaim Bloom as the team's chief baseball officer last Thursday. Bloom, who was hired in the 2019-20 off-season, had one year remaining on his five-year contract.

While the timing of the announcement may have been unexpected, the decision "did not come as a surprise", according to Alex Speier of the Globe. Under Bloom's direction, the Red Sox were little better than a .500 team (267-262, ranking 15th among 30 teams since 2020) and have a solid chance to finish in the AL East basement in three of Bloom's four seasons. 

They finished last in 2020 (a COVID-compressed, 60-game campaign) and 2022, and [are currently in last place, two games behind the fourth-place Yankees].

The Red Sox enjoyed a joyride in 2021, qualifying for the playoffs on the last day of the season and coming within two wins of a World Series berth. . . .

Bloom was hired in October 2019 at a time when the franchise recognized it would have to endure a period of pain. . . . The Red Sox farm system had been depleted, with no impactful major leaguers on the immediate horizon. . . .

In Bloom, the Red Sox sought a leader to help rebuild the farm system and player development infrastructure, and who also possessed the creativity to build a winning major league roster while pursuing those long-term goals. . . .

The 2021 season, however, seemed to signal a new direction. A number of players acquired in the offseason emerged as key contributors as the Red Sox made a run deep into October. The farm system had improved, and the Sox thought a window could be opening.

Instead, the last-place finish in 2022 and the possibility of another one in 2023 convinced owners to change course. Despite an impressive group of young players in the big leagues (Triston Casas, Brayan Bello, and Jarren Duran) as well as an improving farm system with potentially elite talents (shortstop Marcelo Mayer and outfielder Roman Anthony), the Red Sox are seeking a leader to make bold moves to jump-start contention. Bloom's methodical approach became an imperfect fit.

So, what now?

The baseball operations department will be overseen by O'Halloran and assistant GMs Eddie Romero, Raquel Ferreira, and Michael Groopman. Kennedy said the team will commence an immediate search for Bloom's replacement. . . .

[President/CEO Sam] Kennedy also said the Red Sox will not rush to replace Bloom at the expense of finding the right fit. He described the team as open-minded on questions of backgrounds, prior experience running a baseball operations department, and whether the hire will be internal or external. . . .

Whoever takes over for Bloom will arrive with an obvious sense of urgency to return to the postseason — something that could be extremely alluring, particularly given the Red Sox' considerable resources, and daunting given that Bloom is the third straight head of baseball operations to be fired in the middle of his fourth year in the job.