These threads have gotten wild, and I say that as someone who has actively been part of the anti-Bloom brigade. Here is my 2 cents on the whole tanking issue:
1. Unlike the NBA, where a good player (LeBron, DWade,) can make a team and whiffing on a draft pick (Kwame Brown, Olowokandi) can break one, drafting in MLB is subject to too many variables. Yes, generally speaking high draft picks do better, but there are plenty of first round flameouts and later round selections who develop into all-stars. A lot of that has to do with identifying and then actively developing that talent.
2. To that end, tanking or being crummy is generally not a winning strategy. The Rays, Yankees, and Dodgers don't tank and they are consistently good performers at the major league level and also arguably have solid farms behind them. The Pirates, Tigers and As have been awful for years and do not seem to be close to being powerhouses. Yeah, there are the Astros and Orioles (lately) sprinkled in there with full-on tank jobs, but those seem like both exceptions to the rule and evidence that those organizations can develop talent.
3. A good MLB team OR a good farm is not a mutually exclusive paradigm. They can both be good, even though typically one gets sacrificed for the good of the other (DD trading prospects for established talent, prospects being promoted, etc). Obviously that is no easy task, but it can certainly be done, especially when the development of those players is working.
4. Which leads me to Bloom - I just don't think he is the right guy for the job. Threading the needle is certainly possible, but nothing that Bloom has done (to me, obviously this is subjective) indicates that he is developing the players he has or acquiring potential talent in a way that projects a lot of future success. Not to say that the farm is bereft of talent - Mayer, Cedanne, etc. all look good and I hope they are more Mookie Betts than Lars Anderson (in terms of hype relative to performance). At the major league level, no, the team is not performing the way many fans would hope. 2021 was fun, but I don't understand how Bloom gets credit for that, but then the team sucks in 2022 and that's somehow not on Bloom.