Since I can't invent being stunned when I'm not, I'm coming around to the idea that nothing in sports stuns me anymore.
The Red Sox have fired Chaim Bloom
- Thread starter Smiling Joe Hesketh
- Start date
I buy this.
I completely and 100% agree with this.
No need to rehash Mookie, but I totally agree that the Red Sox ownership has blown their own foot off with several bad decisions over the last couple years. If they were winning shit loads of games then great, but a mediocre and boring product and a losing team is a recipe for disinterest.
I'm not surprised in the least. You are what your record says you are. We'll never know whether Bloom was doing Henry's bidding and this is totally unfair or if Henry agreed with the direction overall and was being deferential to Bloom.
I saw a guy who was often indecisive and inconsistent, and who made many decisions that I disagreed with. I'm glad the farm system seems to be in better shape and am even more glad that someone else will take the reigns.
This is the best Red Sox news I've heard in a very long time.
I saw a guy who was often indecisive and inconsistent, and who made many decisions that I disagreed with. I'm glad the farm system seems to be in better shape and am even more glad that someone else will take the reigns.
This is the best Red Sox news I've heard in a very long time.
Yeah, please don't hire a win now/trade the farn Dombrowski type,
They have a core of young players coming up and money to spend.
Agreed. But at least get someone who knows and understands the value of the far system. Not someone who will pick up the phone and trade Mayer for someone in order to shoot for the WS in 2024.
BTW, this team almost went to the WS in 2021 and lookes like a playoff team for significant parts of the season with some duck tape.
Surprised but not shocked.
I always thought it was incredibly stupid and head in the clouds for posters here to legitimately think that Henry was ok with last place finishes and mediocrity at the big league level
I think he did an ok job. Personally, I would have let him have another year. But I also think that he’s nowhere near as good as a lot of the people on this board
I always thought it was incredibly stupid and head in the clouds for posters here to legitimately think that Henry was ok with last place finishes and mediocrity at the big league level
I think he did an ok job. Personally, I would have let him have another year. But I also think that he’s nowhere near as good as a lot of the people on this board
I figured he would get 2024, but I'm surprised that people are surprised. You dont get mulligans on putting together competitive teams over and over again.
He did improve the minor league system, but four years in and realistically its still really hard to see the path to winning 90+ games a year absent massive spending this offseason. Pretty fair to question whether hes the correct guy to execute on that.
He did improve the minor league system, but four years in and realistically its still really hard to see the path to winning 90+ games a year absent massive spending this offseason. Pretty fair to question whether hes the correct guy to execute on that.
I am very, very down on Bloom, but this makes no sense. To the extent he had a plan, next year was when it was going to come to fruition -- the young bucks were going to start rounding into form. Ownership saddled Bloom with the Sale contract and trading Mookie, then dispatched him just when his work was going to bear fruit. I don't get it.
Shocking that they are replacing Bloom with Dante from Clerks. (Jason Mewes would have been a more media-friendly choice.)
The whole pitching coordination philosophy and strategies throughout the entire organization need a long hard look. Hard to believe an internal hire will do that though.
What I wouldn't give for the Red Sox to find a way to bring in Kyle Snyder to take over the pitching.
I wonder if this means Cora is staying, since O'Halloran has been here a long time?
Theo coming back would be fantastic, but as was noted above, seems like a longshot.
Looks like Chaim is the fall guy for dropping TV ratings, attendance, and fan interest. Which of course is significant, but should have been expected when you try to build the farm for the future.
The Whiner Line group got their way, which is almost never a good thing.
I think Bloom is going to look a whole lot better in a few years when a lot of the AA guys are in the majors.
Especially if they start doing go-for-it-now moves that don't pay off.
The whole pitching coordination philosophy and strategies throughout the entire organization need a long hard look. Hard to believe an internal hire will do that though.
What I wouldn't give for the Red Sox to find a way to bring in Kyle Snyder to take over the pitching.
I wonder if this means Cora is staying, since O'Halloran has been here a long time?
Theo coming back would be fantastic, but as was noted above, seems like a longshot.
Looks like Chaim is the fall guy for dropping TV ratings, attendance, and fan interest. Which of course is significant, but should have been expected when you try to build the farm for the future.
The Whiner Line group got their way, which is almost never a good thing.
I think Bloom is going to look a whole lot better in a few years when a lot of the AA guys are in the majors.
Especially if they start doing go-for-it-now moves that don't pay off.
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Pile of crap seems a bit much. Devers, Betts, Bogaerts, Sale, Eovaldi, Eduardo Rodriguez, Benintendi, Vazquez were decent players.
At least Bloom brought us the current core- guys like Casas, Bello, Houck, Duran, and Rafaela.
oh wait…..
I can’t believe they actually pulled the trigger. Maybe they agreed with Pete Abe’s column today at
I reckon the Sox thought by hiring Bloom they could get in on the pitching development that has worked so well for the Rays. Whereas, he just brought in some broken pitchers to add to the broken Sale. Pitching is the Sox bete noir, no matter how well they may have pitched well on any occasion.
He didn't prop it up, he basically rebuilt it. Gonna be fun watching some GM take credit for a ring with a team stocked with Bloom's picks.
I don't think Bloom was dealt a great hand when he got here, and he has done some good things. But at the end of the day I think you are right about the Peter Principle.
His bad hand:
- He took over a farm system that was an absolute embarassmant.
- I think Covid and the restructring of MiLB had a negative impact on his ability to rebuild.
- Management wanted to slash payroll by trading stars (Betts) or letting them walk (Bogaerts)
On the other hand, the farm system seems finally to be rebuilt and players drafted under Bloom are getting close to the majors.
If they go out and hire another Ivy League unproven assistant GM-type, why make this move? They had better bring in a proven leader who can elevate the major league team while continuing to develop the minor leagues even further.
I wonder if the discussions between Bloom and ownership the last two trade deadlines are a piece of this—because they made a bad call each time. Whether that bad call is ownership saying “go for it” and Bloom resisting or the opposite will be interesting to see if we get insight into.
I was generally supportive of Bloom and also do wonder if he’s really a “B” exec rather than an “A” level guy. If that’s Henry’s assessment I’m all for going for an “A” to finish the job. I have not been impressed with the roster-building at MLB level and that matters a lot
I was generally supportive of Bloom and also do wonder if he’s really a “B” exec rather than an “A” level guy. If that’s Henry’s assessment I’m all for going for an “A” to finish the job. I have not been impressed with the roster-building at MLB level and that matters a lot
My guess:
Chaim was hired with a tough task of:
- Cut payroll to avoid penalties.
- Rebuild a farm that has been completely gutted
- Get the team to be a marginal contender that keeps fans interested by making value acquisitions.
He did #1. He did #2. In 2021 he got them to the Al Championship Series. Since then they have been terrible in 2022 and 2023.
The new objective is:
- We've cut payroll and can spend again
- The farm has been rebuilt and is an asset.
- Get the team to be a real contender, by spending money and trading for star quality assets with the farm surplus.
I can see why management would be happy with what he did, but not necessarily think he's the guy for the new objective.
Chaim was hired with a tough task of:
- Cut payroll to avoid penalties.
- Rebuild a farm that has been completely gutted
- Get the team to be a marginal contender that keeps fans interested by making value acquisitions.
He did #1. He did #2. In 2021 he got them to the Al Championship Series. Since then they have been terrible in 2022 and 2023.
The new objective is:
- We've cut payroll and can spend again
- The farm has been rebuilt and is an asset.
- Get the team to be a real contender, by spending money and trading for star quality assets with the farm surplus.
I can see why management would be happy with what he did, but not necessarily think he's the guy for the new objective.
Back in the preseason poll I voted he'd be fired by Labor Day, so not quite right.
https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/how-long-will-chaim-last.38359/
Looks like the $59 4 tickets/4 drinks/4 hot dogs packages this month were the exclamation point on top of the cratered NESN ad revenues and greatly diminished fandom mindshare for the club. The prospect of well under 20,000 fans showing up this afternoon put everything in high relief. The Bearclaw game probably was deeply disturbing for the ownership as well.
https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/how-long-will-chaim-last.38359/
Looks like the $59 4 tickets/4 drinks/4 hot dogs packages this month were the exclamation point on top of the cratered NESN ad revenues and greatly diminished fandom mindshare for the club. The prospect of well under 20,000 fans showing up this afternoon put everything in high relief. The Bearclaw game probably was deeply disturbing for the ownership as well.
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Sam Kennedy talking now at press conference. He keeps reiterating that they expected to contend this season and the team fell short of that.
If anything all the various 2024 roster/core posts around here have made clear, it's that the vaunted young depth that Bloom has been building since he took over still isn't ready to play a significant role. Four years of cycling through pitchers has resulted in one above-average starter in Bello and a bunch of guys who look like relievers or swingmen. Where is the Rays-esque pitching development that was part and parcel of hiring Bloom? The blame goes beyond him, but he simply wasn't delivering at the major league level, and I don't think there was much reason to expect better in 2024. Granted, that'll be a problem for the next guy, too, and this is where I hope that the plan isn't simply to hand the reigns off to O'Halloran and keep things status quo.
I am not sure about that. The FO may think that Cora was put in an awful position vis-a-vis the pitching options.
Maybe they were hoping Chaim would bring some Tampa Bay magic where they take a retread like Diekman and turn them into a good pitcher. That hasn't happened for the most part. Hope the new guy does better at this. Some organizations have reputations of being good at this.
When you're a GM for 4 seasons with one of the largest payrolls in baseball, finishing the season 16 games back on average isn't super awesome. Was he handed shit? Maybe. But someone has to be held accountable.
If this is the case then why are we pussyfooting around the fucking luxury tax threshold?
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Red Sox are pleased to announce their next Presdient of Baseball Operations...Mr. Brian Cashman
I don't love moving on from Bloom right now. Like others here, I figured he had one more year to prove it, before they moved on
This is a great post and this is what I am thinking (both paragraphs). I also buy into the idea that Bloom was too deliberate..to the point that nothing ended up being done
Does anybody think Alex Cora can actually run a baseball front office? Are there other recent examples of managers being able to make that jump? That seems like an offhand tweet and nothing more. I don't get this move at all, but I assume it had something to do with how the upcoming offseason was going to play out. Maybe a difference of opinion on direction there.
I think the new guy should be given the opportunity to make that decision. If Cora's his choice so be it, but not giving the new CBO that opportunity seems to be starting things off on the wrong foot.
In retrospect, not trading James Paxton may have sealed his fate. It's one thing to not compete for the playoffs, but quite another to lose a potentially valuable chit for nothing due to inaction.
