Red Sox Hire Chaim Bloom As Chief Baseball Officer

67YAZ

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Beane has an ownership stake with the A's...right?
A 2013 LA Times piece says Beane has a 4% stake. That’s a helluva buyout; Forbes values the team at $1.1b.

Henry does have an ace up the sleeve, though - he could dangle a stake in Liverpool and maybe even some kind of advising role there. Beane currently owns 10% of Barnsley FC, and the club is doing well. This season they were promoted to the Championship, England’s second tier and one of the best attended soccer leagues in the world. Barnsley are currently 3rd from the bottom with the fewest goals scored but, actually, are middle-of-the-pack in goals allowed. Anyway, getting involved with Liverpool would be climbing to the top of the profession.

Edit: Forbes pegs the Sox at $3.2b, and Liverpool was approached by a consortium valuing the club at $2b back in January. So a 1% stake in each club would surpass the value of Beane’s combined A’s and Barnsley positions. But again, that’s a helluva buyout.
 
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JimD

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Do you follow other systems closely to compare them? Fangraphs has BOS ranked #30 of 30 currently in their new ranking system that assigns a monetary value to each ranked prospect depending on their FV value, but maybe more importantly they deem only 33 BOS prospects worth paying attention to currently. Other AL East teams by comparison: TB has 59, NYY 58, TOR 39, BAL 34.

https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2019-in-season-prospect-list/farm-ranking?sort=0,-1&type=100&filter=&pos=&team=
The 2015-16 international bonus fiasco and the tragic loss of Daniel Flores certainly must be a factor in this ranking.
 

Gambler7

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Red(s)HawksFan

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That doesn't seem like the strongest rebuttal to the story does it?
What do you need for it to be stronger?

He explicitly says there's nothing to the rumor and he's invested in the future of the Cubs. Did he need to strenuously object to the rumors?
 

jimv

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Didn't Theo say something very similar back in 2011 when rumors the Cubs rumors surfaced? Couldn't find the quote but somone with better google skills might.......
 

Gambler7

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Didn't Theo say something very similar back in 2011 when rumors the Cubs rumors surfaced? Couldn't find the quote but somone with better google skills might.......
Epstein is under contract for one more year, and the Sox could always deny the Cubs permission to speak to him. Sox chairman Tom Werner called the Cubs speculation was “a non-story.’’
Yesterday, Epstein spoke to reporters for the first time on the subject.
“I try to avoid commenting on things that are so speculative,’’ he said. “I know there are a couple of articles which have appeared, but I’m completely focused on the Red Sox of 2011, first and foremost, and what potentially lies ahead for this club.
“We’re trying to get to the postseason and win the World Series, and I spend all my time working with my staff to make this the organization we want it to be for now and in the future. That’s where my exclusive focus is.’’
When reporters persisted, he said, “Something like that, I can’t even contemplate it long enough to comment on it. I’m all Red Sox, all the time.’’
Asked if he was happy to be with the Red Sox, he said, “I’m really happy to be with the Red Sox. I’m really happy to have the ability to come to work to a place like this.
“We spend all of our time trying to make this the organization we want it to be, building for the future, maximizing competitiveness for this year. Anyone associated with the Red Sox would be happy to work here, and I am.’’
http://archive.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2011/09/01/theo_epstein_addresses_cubs_rumors/
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
What do you need for it to be stronger?

He explicitly says there's nothing to the rumor and he's invested in the future of the Cubs. Did he need to strenuously object to the rumors?
Yeah, "There's nothing to that story" is closer to a denial than a deflection. If you read the comments from 2011 that Gambler7 just posted, the contrast is pretty clear.
 

chawson

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Yeah, "There's nothing to that story" is closer to a denial than a deflection. If you read the comments from 2011 that Gambler7 just posted, the contrast is pretty clear.
There’s a heavy crystal ball effect here, but I agree with you. The thing to say if you’re under contract and want to stay is “I am going to stay.” The present tense “I’m here” reads to me like a mere statement of fact.
 

Gambler7

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What do you need for it to be stronger?

He explicitly says there's nothing to the rumor and he's invested in the future of the Cubs. Did he need to strenuously object to the rumors?
I would need him to say semething similar to "I am not interested in leaving or in that position". He didn't. I just don't think the door is necessarily shut yet. Shaughnessy (I know) is on 98.5 right now and said to his knowledge the Red Sox have not called Chicago yet. Therefore, Theo's statement yesterday would be true, there is nothing to the story. If they call, things could change.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
There’s a heavy crystal ball effect here, but I agree with you. The thing to say if you’re under contract and want to stay is “I am going to stay.” The present tense “I’m here” reads to me like a mere statement of fact.
It's certainly one step short of "I have no intention of leaving the Cubs." But several steps beyond "I try to avoid commenting on things that are so speculative."

It strikes me as what you say if you don't want to shut the door to something, but you're not actively pursuing it either.
 

jon abbey

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Another piece about why this search might be difficult for BOS, from Ken Rosenthal in The Athletic (pay only), with a bunch of interesting stuff:

"• The esteem for Cherington throughout the industry.

Cherington, 45, is from the same generation as many of the prospective candidates, and virtually all of them respect him greatly. The younger execs admire the accomplishments of Dombrowski, 63. But with Cherington, the connection is deeper, the concern over the Red Sox’s treatment of him greater.

Cherington, now the Blue Jays’ vice-president of baseball operations, was not a perfect GM. But he was practically a Red Sox lifer, spending 16 years with the club, contributing to three World Series champions and helping build the farm system that Dombrowski later used to his advantage in trades. Friends describe him as fair and level-headed, a portrait of equanimity. And yet, even Cherington grew especially stressed out running the Red Sox.

Never extroverted, Cherington became occasionally reclusive. And while the Sox gave Cherington a chance to stay after hiring Dombrowski in August 2015, they did so only after humiliating him, casting him aside as if he was a recently hired temp.

Which leads prospective candidates to wonder: “If Ben couldn’t survive, how would I?”"

https://theathletic.com/1243402/2019/09/26/rosenthal-the-many-reasons-the-red-sox-head-of-baseball-operations-job-is-a-difficult-one-to-fill/
 

JimD

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Two points I'd make about the Rosenthal piece:

1. If the availability of top candidates is truly limited, then those elite executives who do meet with the team are going to have tremendous leverage in terms of the job scope and freedom, money and contract length they can demand. I doubt they are worrying about getting canned too soon.

2. His profile of Cherington being stressed and turning reclusive sure seems like an argument in favor of Henry's decision to bring in Dombrowski. It paints Ben as being in over his head IMO.
 

dano7594

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I am not saying its going to be Theo, but for those saying he is out because of what he said yesterday, did you expect him to say anything different? There were 5 days to go, is he gonna say yeah I am running the Cubs now, but I will go back to Boston if they call.

Call me naïve but I have confidence they will be bringing in a top executive. Regardless of the sky is falling community, this is still a top 5 job in baseball.
 

lexrageorge

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I don't think it makes sense to over-parse Theo's words. For now, he's with the Cubs, has a year to go on his contract, and isn't going to say anything to fuel any further speculation. He's also never going to say "I have zero interest in working for the Red Sox" or any other statement that could burn bridges (it's a very small industry).

I think we all know that being the Red Sox GM is a high pressure job. Not sure if it's Henry's management style; Lucchino is on record as saying micromanagement is underrated. Media attention, pressure from the limited partners and others in the organization, or the constant "what have you done for me lately" reaction among many that inevitably happens 2 days after winning the World Series.

Cherington was asked to preside over a retool and rebuild via the prospect pipeline. He won a World Series, drafted well, held on to the team's key prospects until they were either ready to reach the majors or have enough trade value, and then gets unceremoniously dumped for Dombrowski. It would be interesting to find out the real story behind the Hanley and Pablo signings.

Dombrowski trades prospects to get the players needed to win a World Series, and gets crucified for having a barren farm system. And now there are rumors that the team wants to shop Betts solely as a salary dump, despite the team not really needing that money. So an experienced executive may indeed think twice before jumping in. At the very least, it would not surprise if there were at least some candidates in the GM pool that would not jump at the chance.

The internal candidates certainly would jump at it. The job certainly enhanced Theo's and Cherington's careers (which is why I laughed at the suggestion that Cherington would never find a baseball front office job again after leaving Boston). And that may be the best choice for the team at this point.
 

The Gray Eagle

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Cherington doesn't say anything bad about the Red Sox, and more power to him for that, but frankly he should be bitter about the way things went here. He tried to hire a manager, and then had Lucky Lucchino and the other owners force Bobby Valentine on him. That alone is ridiculous. That farce would leave scar on anyone it happened to.

Then ownership made it no secret that they wanted a "marketable star" like Panda, so Cherington signed him-- and no way was that decision his alone, that contract was an ownership decision. We will STILL be paying Sandoval his $5 million buyout NEXT year. That was a horrendous decision that still hurts to this day, and ownership was behind it, at least partially if not totally. But they will soon be on their third GM/CEO who will be hamstrung at least a bit by that awful contract.

Cherington built the farm system into a machine, then had Dombrowski brought in over him. I think bringing in Dombrowski was the right move, and it paid off in a big way, so no regrets from my perspective, But it must have galled Cherington to have been in charge of the farm system that produced valuable prospects, then to see Dombrowski flip a lot of those valuable prospects in good trades that brought in Sale and Kimbrel.

I think Red Sox ownership did Cherington wrong in some ways, and I would expect him to be a little bitter. I also think moving on from him to Dombrowski was the right move at the time. And that worked as well as could be hoped for.

Maybe moving on from Dombrowski will work out great too. But it's on ownership now to bring in someone good. If they do, then it was right to move on. If they botch this like they did with Valentine, then the problems will last far longer than they did under Valentine and it will all be the fault of the owners. They had every right to move on from Dombrowski, but doing so when they did puts all the onus on them to get the next hire right.
 

dano7594

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Ok I need to know! First, Friedman would be a great choice, he has been creative and done a magnificent job in LA. But why would he leave, and what connection does he have here?
 

dano7594

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Its been almost a week since the regular season ended and nothing has been leaked as far as any interviews. Is it safe to assume that the targets(s) are still in postseason play?
 

RedOctober3829

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Its been almost a week since the regular season ended and nothing has been leaked as far as any interviews. Is it safe to assume that the targets(s) are still in postseason play?
Friedman has a contract that expires after the WS, so he may be the main target.

LATimes
 

JimD

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PeteAbe floated Andrew Friedman and Chaim Bloom out there and also mentioned Allard Baird and Jared Porter. He also mentioned they don't know if they want to hire a POBO and a GM or just a GM.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2019/10/05/red-sox-willing-take-their-time-replacing-dave-dombrowski/D6x1uyQLU3radgq2tdEDGO/story.html?fbclid=IwAR3Yr6MaV9i9joWl4PB4eOOB_ep1hhLohowII7pIWDuvTbWDTqK73Oc1LOg
If this process ends up with Allard Baird as GM, I will have to seriously consider why I even give a crap about this team.
 

chawson

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Yeah Baird would be an ownership puppet. Go big or go home with Friedman.
I’m not him, but why would Friedman be lured away? He’s a 42-year-old man with a family, two young kids, living in Los Angeles. Maybe the Sox offer substantially more, but it’s not like GM of the Red Sox offers any more prestige than GM of the Dodgers.

Elevating someone like Bloom makes a lot more sense.
 

JimD

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Crazy thought (maybe) - if Daryl Morey gets canned as the GM of the Houston Rockets because of the HK-China issue, should the Sox reach out to him to see if he's be interested in switching sports?
 

IpswichSox

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Elevating someone like Bloom makes a lot more sense.
The thing with Bloom, I get the decision to hire outside the organization and someone with experience running a front office. But Bloom is 36 years old. Wouldn't all four of the current internal contenders, especially Eddie Romero, leave if they hired Bloom?
 

chrisfont9

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Crazy thought (maybe) - if Daryl Morey gets canned as the GM of the Houston Rockets because of the HK-China issue, should the Sox reach out to him to see if he's be interested in switching sports?
Was just wondering... I have no idea what he knows about baseball. He did live in Boston, and I can't think of a reason why MLB would care about China, except that like any other big business in the US you can count on a lot of people to be super greedy and dreaming of Chinese cash.

In terms of baseball, it'd be a bold move, but since he has no background in the sport it might be ridiculous. Depends on what they see the person in this job actually doing. Obviously the rest of the staff is already steeped in baseball: data, connections, history, scouting etc.
 

BJBossman

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The thing with Bloom, I get the decision to hire outside the organization and someone with experience running a front office. But Bloom is 36 years old. Wouldn't all four of the current internal contenders, especially Eddie Romero, leave if they hired Bloom?
You think all 4 will stay if they get passed over for someone else internally?

It could happen, but is that the most likely outcome?
 

dano7594

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Does the Dodgers early exit increase the possibility that Friedman is available?
I was wondering the same thing. I am stunned the Dodgers have not signed him, because at this point he has the Red Sox he can use to drive up his price.

This is about to get interesting I believe, if the Rays lose tonight Bloom then is in the conversation.
 

chrisfont9

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I was wondering the same thing. I am stunned the Dodgers have not signed him, because at this point he has the Red Sox he can use to drive up his price.

This is about to get interesting I believe, if the Rays lose tonight Bloom then is in the conversation.
Well Friedman and Bloom are both in offseason mode, so here we go. The Globe is playing up Friedman, though there are a couple sources saying he's definitely not leaving LA.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2019/10/11/could-red-sox-lure-andrew-friedman-from-dodgers/N0UAvv9HLyXQHTgeX1TVnK/story.html
 

ponch73

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Well Friedman and Bloom are both in offseason mode, so here we go. The Globe is playing up Friedman, though there are a couple sources saying he's definitely not leaving LA.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2019/10/11/could-red-sox-lure-andrew-friedman-from-dodgers/N0UAvv9HLyXQHTgeX1TVnK/story.html
As a rule, the Red Sox need to shift their focus and precious resources away from the free agent market and more toward long-term development.

In keeping with that spirit, wouldn't the Red Sox be better served by finding the next Andrew Friedman instead of paying through the nose for the current one? Just as they did in November 2002 when they found the next Billy Beane. Not sure that Chaim Bloom could be that guy or not.

I also have some nagging doubts about a guy (Friedman) who ostensibly prioritized the stellar, relatively-small sample 2018 postseason over the highly-dubious, larger-sample July 2014-September 2018 track record in giving Joe Kelly 3 years and $25M guaranteed. That statement probably reeks of hindsight bias, but I was honestly thrilled that the Red Sox didn't resign Kelly after watching him throw straight fastballs for 4+ years in Boston (in the spirit of full disclosure, I was thrilled that they resigned Steve Pearce and Nathan Eovaldi last offseason, so what the heck do I know?).
 

bosockboy

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I think every GM whiffs on relievers. I can live with one of those for a GM that consistently produces Dustin May types. We need to start producing pitching, period.
 

RedOctober3829

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As a rule, the Red Sox need to shift their focus and precious resources away from the free agent market and more toward long-term development.

In keeping with that spirit, wouldn't the Red Sox be better served by finding the next Andrew Friedman instead of paying through the nose for the current one? Just as they did in November 2002 when they found the next Billy Beane. Not sure that Chaim Bloom could be that guy or not.

I also have some nagging doubts about a guy (Friedman) who ostensibly prioritized the stellar, relatively-small sample 2018 postseason over the highly-dubious, larger-sample July 2014-September 2018 track record in giving Joe Kelly 3 years and $25M guaranteed. That statement probably reeks of hindsight bias, but I was honestly thrilled that the Red Sox didn't resign Kelly after watching him throw straight fastballs for 4+ years in Boston (in the spirit of full disclosure, I was thrilled that they resigned Steve Pearce and Nathan Eovaldi last offseason, so what the heck do I know?).
Friedman is the perfect choice for the job. They need to revamp player development and pare down payroll. He did just that in LA.
 

Green Monster

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Friedman is the perfect choice for the job. They need to revamp player development and pare down payroll. He did just that in LA.
Make it happen Sam!!......Ironically if Friedman were to end up in Boston, Dombrowski would have to be given serious consideration to replace him in LA. His skill set is well aligned with their need to find the 1 or 2 pieces to push them over the top after falling short the last few years.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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That's a pretty horrible looking website. No "about us" and tries to make it look like it belongs to the team. Any idea who is behind this (I have a guess)?

BTW, Friedman is mentioned here in this thread quite a bit. Probably one of the top two choices among SoSHers
 

Spelunker

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Here is a perspective - Is Andrew Friedman the Answer?

https://redsox.website/is-andrew-friedman-the-answer/
That's a pretty horrible looking website. No "about us" and tries to make it look like it belongs to the team. Any idea who is behind this (I have a guess)?

BTW, Friedman is mentioned here in this thread quite a bit. Probably one of the top two choices among SoSHers
That site is laughably awful and shouldn't be linked here ever again.
 

JimD

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No surprise that Friedman appears to be returning to the Dodgers. I get that the Sox should be thorough and inquiring on all possible candidates regardless of availability, but the Boston job likely holds little challenge for Friedman over his current job, and arguably less given that the Dodgers are now going on 32 years since their last championship and he may want to 'finish the job'.

With so many of their likely leading candidates seemingly coming off the board (Friedman, Theo, Derek Falvey) and guys like Chris Antonetti likely unavailable, I think they have to go really hard after Chaim Bloom now.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I'm still convinced that given all the internal promotions and reshuffling they've done, they're not shopping outside the organization at all for a Dombrowski replacement. Unless they think that whomever they find is going to be good with overseeing a staff and organization not of his/her own making, it seems like they're setting themselves up to promote from within.
 

bosockboy

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I'm still convinced that given all the internal promotions and reshuffling they've done, they're not shopping outside the organization at all for a Dombrowski replacement. Unless they think that whomever they find is going to be good with overseeing a staff and organization not of his/her own making, it seems like they're setting themselves up to promote from within.
I believe at the presser they specifically used the phrase of “an experienced GM outside of the organization.”
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I believe at the presser they specifically used the phrase of “an experienced GM outside of the organization.”
They say a lot of things at pressers. I just find it hard to believe they're going to go out and hire a hot name (which is what most of the wishlist candidates brought up here would be) without giving them quite a bit of autonomy. Autonomy that would include structuring and staffing the scouting and development departments with at least some of their own hires.

Just not seeing how attractive the job will be to an up and coming exec if it's just coming in to oversee an already functioning operation without a lot of room to put one's own stamp on things.
 

jon abbey

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I think it would be disastrous (and hence I would be quite happy) if BOS doesn't hire a candidate from one of the organizations (LAD, HOU, TB, NYY) that has done a better job adapting to the current state of baseball. I said the day Dombrowski was fired that they should hire Chaim Bloom (and if that means some of the four internal candidates leave, I think that's ok although I am not so sure they will leave), I hope that doesn't happen as a Yankee fan but it should IMO.