Evaluating Chaim Bloom
How should Red Sox fans feel about our President of Baseball Ops 2.5 seasons into his tenure?
I remember exactly where I was standing at Patriot Place. Present for Tom Brady’s highly anticipated return to Gillette Stadium later that night, the crowd’s immediate focus was on the Red Sox.
More specifically, this was a matchup against the Nationals that would determine whether or not Boston qualified for postseason play. 4 teams entered the day in contention for 2 Wild Card berths. Once the dust settled, the Red Sox were in, set to face the Yankees in a win-or-go-home affair that turned out to be one of the most electric Fenway atmospheres I can remember.
Suddenly, Chaim Bloom’s Red Sox made quick work of the Yankees and Rays, and were up 2 games to 1 in a best of 7 ALCS against the Astros. Houston, impressive as ever, quickly rebounded to advance to the World Series. Still, the year as a whole was hugely successful for Boston.
This was just one season after the club finished with the 4th worst record in all of baseball. Sure, Bloom had traded Mookie Betts and at times throughout 2021 the vision wasn’t fully clear. Winning cures all, though. The Red Sox were 2 games away from a 5th championship appearance in 18 years. All was right in the world again.
But is that the correct way to view 2021?
Glass Half Empty
Postseason baseball can be tricky to evaluate. The sample size is just so damn small, but it’s where the results matter most. Did Boston’s playoff success prove they were one of the two best teams in the American League, despite a 162-game sample that compared them to Seattle and Toronto? Or were the Red Sox simply lucky to get in at all, and even luckier to get hot at the exact right time?
How you answer those questions might reveal your thoughts on the early portion of Bloom’s time in Boston. The discourse surrounding his moves to-date is already so negative that it’s alarming to imagine the fanbase’s view had the Sox dropped that regular season finale to the Nats last October. We never would’ve had that truly memorable month of postseason games.
And less than 12 months after earning all that goodwill from Sox Nation, Bloom is firmly in the crosshairs of seemingly everyone. Even his most ardent defenders have begun noticing some flaws in his methods.
The conversation surrounding his resume thus far, and whether or not he’s the right person for the role moving forward, isn’t straightforward. It’s nuanced. It needs to be contextualized. And it’s tough for any true Red Sox fan to do this without getting worked up.
I’ll try anyways, though. Below is my evaluation of Chaim Bloom less than a week before the 2022 trade deadline - the good, the bad, and the future. Let’s dive in.
The Good
I generally consider myself an optimist, which might explain why I’ve been defending Bloom lately in all my Red Sox group chats. But we’ll start with his success stories.
First of all, the team made the ALCS last year! Even if we attribute some of that to fluky postseason play, the roster was good enough to claim a Wild Card spot and then advance multiple rounds. Furthermore, several of Bloom’s additions were featured in that playoff run last fall.
Kiké Hernandez was brought in on a two-year, $14 million prior to 2021. A former utility man who quickly took to full-time center field duties, Kiké played extremely strong defense for Boston last season. He then batted .408 with 5 homers in 11 postseason games.
Another low-cost move that has already provided plenty of surplus value is the decision to sign Hunter Renfroe for $3 million entering last year. The veteran outfielder popped 31 homers with a 112 OPS+ and was then flipped to Milwaukee for two prospects this past winter (though Boston had to take on the final year of Jackie Bradley Jr.’s contract). The 2022 club could have used Renfroe’s services, but long-term this trade helped build the minor league depth and was a worthwhile “sell high.”
It was a seller’s market at the 2021 trade deadline, which likely irked Bloom after years of witnessing a buyer’s market. Still, he was able to acquire Kyle Schwarber from the Nationals for minor leaguer Aldo Ramirez. Schwarber missed the first few weeks of his Red Sox tenure due to a hamstring issue, but once healthy he helped balance a righty-dominant lineup. “Kyle from Waltham” became a fan favorite down the stretch, hitting .291 with 7 homers and a .957 OPS.
Speaking of trade deadlines, there’s a case to be made that Bloom is at his best when selling. This was the case in 2020 when he shipped Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree to the Phillies in exchange for Nick Pivetta and Connor Seabold. While neither Pivetta nor Seabold are superstars, the point of the deal was receiving cost-controlled arms. Pivetta is signed through 2024 while Seabold has yet to accrue much major league service time.
When I think of what Bloom’s former team does well, the first thought that comes to mind is how the Rays unearth usable big league relievers seemingly out of nowhere. And so if Bloom isn’t ready to start shelling out massive, long-term contracts to stars, we should at least expect these “out of nowhere” arms to begin popping up.
Without a doubt, his two best moves have been acquiring Garrett Whitlock and John Schreiber basically for free. Whitlock was taken in the Rule 5 draft from the Yankees last offseason while Schreiber was claimed off waivers from the Tigers.
I profiled Schreiber more in-depth in this piece for Underdog Network.
The Bad
As I was typing out all the “good”, I started realizing that it was all coming from 2021. Meanwhile, a lot of the “bad” is from this most current season. That’s what happens when you go from the ALCS to the basement of your division…behind the Orioles.
Before we focus on 2022, let’s briefly touch on 2020. Yeah, the Red Sox were awful in the shortened season, but it was also the perfect time for that sort of reset. We ended up getting the No. 4 overall pick, which was used on Marcelo Mayer (good). Also, if there was a period for your fan base to be disinterested, it was during the pandemic season.
We should also mention the Mookie Betts trade in this section. No, the decision to trade him wasn’t solely on Bloom. The organization had been low-balling him under Dombrowski too, and he truly seemed dead set on reaching free agency. Boston was coming off a disappointing 84-win campaign in 2019 and was about to have several extensions to get done. Enter Bloom, whose goal was to get as much as possible for the 2018 AL MVP and World Series champ.
If there’s an area to criticize Bloom when it comes to Mookie, we can discuss the return he got - Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs, and Connor Wong - but we won’t pin the decision on him.
Verdugo isn’t a star, but he’s a productive player signed through 2024. At the time we received his services for at least 5 seasons. Downs has been the big disappointment and has seen his prospect value crumble since the move. Wong seems likely to open ‘23 as the backup catcher for the big league team. Sick.
As for 2022, let’s review all of Bloom’s offseason moves in one place:
Exercised Christian Vazquez’s 2022 club option.
Added Rob Refsnyder on a minor-league contract.
Signed Rich Hill to a 1-year deal.
Signed Michael Wacha to a 1-year deal.
Signed James Paxton to a 1-year deal with 2 club options.
Traded Renfroe to Milwaukee for JBJ and 2 minor leaguers.
Signed Matt Strahm to a 1-year deal.
Signed Jake Diekman to a 2-year deal.
Signed Trevor Story to a 6-year deal.
Meanwhile, we didn’t bring back Eduardo Rodriguez, Kyle Schwarber, and Adam Ottavino, among others.
Soooo that’s a lot of slop. Even the Story deal was frustrating because it came at the tail end of spring training 2.0, which likely contributed to the former Rockie getting off to an incredibly slow start. There was later an ESPN report suggesting a “growing wave of discontent in some parts of the front office about Bloom's lack of willingness to invest significant amounts of money in free agency.”
Per Joon Lee: “The signing of Story calmed any front-office tension about the willingness of baseball operations leadership to invest in star players, sources said.” It sounds as if he really had to be talked into this one.
Swapping Renfroe for JBJ looks really bad on paper, but I’ve constantly found myself reminding fans that the trade wasn’t for JBJ. It was for the prospects and taking on Bradley’s deal was part of the acquisition cost.
The Diekman contract has been disastrous. Hill and Wacha have been “fine” but uninspiring. Strahm has been serviceable.
The biggest issue, however, hasn’t been Bloom giving out a bad deal that cripples the budget. He goes very far out of his way not to do that. Aside from Story, all of his signings entering ‘21 and ‘22 have been short-term veteran contracts. But by not identifying the right veterans this year, he has failed the team.
Bloom’s overall philosophy makes sense to me, and it’s worth defending. He didn’t want to arrive in Boston, build a playoff contender for a couple of seasons, and then be stuck with expensive contracts and no farm system. Look at the Phillies right now, who brought in Dombrowski after his Red Sox tenure ended. Their short-to-long-term outlook is pretty rough right now - not good enough to truly contend in the present and without enough system depth to make meaningful moves down the road.
Bloom’s strategy of building up the minors to become the next Dodgers is ambitious, bold, and worthy of respect. Explained correctly, I can’t imagine a Red Sox fan who wouldn’t be on board with the plan. The issue is that Bloom is failing to make low-cost, short-term moves that keep the big league squad competitive.
The 2022 team desperately needed a first baseman six weeks ago. Then Carlos Santana became available. The Mariners also needed a first baseman, pounced, have seen Santana rake, and now own a Wild Card spot. Meanwhile Bobby Dalbec and Franchy Cordero’s days in the organization could be numbered. Bloom isn’t a reactionary executive. He wasn’t going to move on from Dalbec after April. I like that about him. The idea of 2 months to assess your own team, 2 months to upgrade it, and 2 months to let it play out is a good one. But Bloom is seemingly skipping the midseason upgrade section.
Consider the 2013 Red Sox, who similar to the current club, had superstars ready to win in the present. Then GM Ben Cherington placed a priority on clubhouse leaders and role players. Mike Napoli, Jonny Gomes, David Ross, and Shane Victorino were the exact additions needed to supplement that core.
Maddeningly, Bloom had that in 2021, kind of. Kiké, Renfroe, Whitlock, and Pivetta all played inspired baseball as complimentary players. And some of what has happened in 2022 hasn’t been our President of Baseball Operation’s fault. But we entered the season relying on Bradley Jr., Dalbec, Matt Barnes, and a generally overmatched pitching staff. The backup options - Jarren Duran, Franchy, Diekman, Hill, etc. haven’t moved the needle.
Bloom’s biggest failure isn’t the absence of superstar contracts. It has been failing to bring in the right bridge players as we await the Next Great Red Sox Team.
The Future
Here’s a thought: this year’s trade deadline combined with the upcoming offseason is going to be the defining stretch of time for Bloom in Boston.
As discussed, he hasn’t really taken his “big swing” yet. The Mookie trade was a foregone conclusion. The Story contract isn’t crippling from a long-term budget perspective. It’s like when a new GM takes over in the NFL - rarely do they move quickly on acquiring a quarterback. Instead, they install their systems and philosophies for a year or two before striking.
That’s where Chaim Bloom is right now. He has laid his foundation as best as possible in order to give himself the best chance of succeeding long term.
The Dodgers are baseball’s model franchise over the past decade and there’s no reason that the Red Sox shouldn’t be in that conversation. Yet not even this modern version of the Dodgers became a juggernaut right away. Once new ownership took over they invested in the Adrian Gonzalez trade and from there they built the farm. Of course, they also won between 92-94 games from 2013-15. That helps keep a fan base happy and occupied.
Many of us feel the 2022 club had a chance to be that version of LA, but Bloom kicked the can down the road one more time. Now, there are decision that need to be made.
Everyone - Bloom admirers and detractors alike - mostly think we should sell at the deadline. I know I do. It’s what Bloom is “best” at and at this point too much of ‘22 is lost. I’d rather be great from 2023-25. Whether or not you agree with Bloom’s tactics thus far, the truth is that’s his goal too.
So how does he get there? Assuming we sell at the deadline, how quickly can we load back up to compete? Because I can’t imagine another year like this will fly with Red Sox fans.
Does Bloom re-sign Bogaerts? He can’t trade him, right? What about Devers? Would he trade him? I hope note. Bogaerts and Devers are the definition of building blocks - both as players and as people. They’ve won here. They know how to win again. They’re team leaders.
Who else is brought in to supplement them? Or, gulp, replace them? Can we get anything for Jarren Duran? What about Bobby Dalbec, Jackie Bradley Jr., Franchy Cordero, Kevin Plawecki, Rich Hill, or Michael Wacha? Once we go into sell mode, let’s play as many young guys as possible, just to see what we have. If nobody takes any of the above players, clear a spot on the big league roster for someone with club control. It’s more than justifiable to DFA JBJ at this point.
That leaves JDM, Eovaldi, Vazquez, and Strahm as our core trading chips, which sounds lighter than I thought it would. Still, it’s best to get what you can and clear the books for the big moves in 2023 and beyond. Let’s load up on the farm as strong as possible.
We’ll need as much ammunition as possible this winter. It’s a big one for Chaim Bloom. And we’ll evaluate him then.
I appreciate the objective analysis of what Bloom has done, it's fair and I largely agree with your points. And I was hopeful that Bloom would embrace the Dodgers/Friedman model over the pure TB experience, but 2+ years in it seems like we're more TB and less LA; in the early years Friedman and the Dodgers ownership weren't afraid to deploy their most valuable asset - money - in service of building and sustaining a championship-level team.
This is partly a criticism on ownership as well, but it seems the approach at Fenway is to aim for the intersection of wins and the best return on investment/value, rather than just The Most Wins.
This approach takes away one of the biggest advantages the Red Sox have, the financial resources to sign players (and star players), and absorb a bad contract on occasion in service of a Championship-caliber team each year. Dombrowski and Cherrington represent the far ends of the spectrum, respectively, and I fear Bloom and this current philosophy from ownership fall closer to the Cherrington end, rather than somewhere in the middle, like the Dodgers, Yankees, and Padres do. All three teams have substantial payrolls and investments in top-end talent, while also having at least one prospect in the top 50.
Perhaps Bloom and ownership are waiting for JD, Eovaldi, etc. to come off the books after this season before spending again, which to an extent is understandable, but there is little excuse for the Red Sox to ever be in last place. And if the team being in last place is because of injuries or player under-performance, it's a reflection of a flawed roster that had little-to-no margin for error. Franchy, Dalbec, JBJ, and Duran should not be on the Red Sox roster, let alone everyday "contributors," these are below replacement level players.
All of this is to say I think Bloom can be successful here, and hope that he is, but it's becoming increasingly hard to like this team, the organizational leadership, and the direction it's heading this year.