Eh, I don't know that I agree with Passan here. He seems to like Bloom a lot.what he was asked to do was essentially rebuild the farm system and win at the same time while staying under the CBT threshold. Two of those things at once are pretty tough. All three of them, it's damn near impossible to do at the same time.
Their farm system is really good now. I don't think people outside of the industry appreciate how strong it is and how Orioles-like it is like in terms of the position players they've got, but they've got a lot of guys who are going to be dudes...Their lineup is going to be scary in a little while. Pitching-wise they're not great—but how many organizations are? Developing pitching is one of the hardest things to do.
- You don't think Henry et al knows that winning and rebuilding at the same time is hard?
- Their farm system improved but not dramatically and it's not like Bloom nailed a whole lot of deep cuts. They are still WELL behind the Orioles, Fangraphs has them at 3 but likes them much more than other rankings, and a number of the young guys including Rafaela and Casas predate Bloom anyway. A whole like of their ranking rides on Meyer which was a no-brainer at the time.
- He didn't stay under the CBT threshold in 2022, famously?
I can see those being the criteria for success and still thinking Bloom didn't do a great job at any of them.