I, too, have pulled out of the search due to family considerations.
So....who is the new GM/head of baseball ops?
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My point is that you're just doing a lot of guessing and postulating as a way of laundering your opinion into fact.
More of a don't hate the player, hate the game thing, but yeah I think his employer and the whole online sports betting project is a malevolent societal force. To each their own, but the way I see it, that industry benefits from fracturing community/regional fan interest and redirecting it to the personal/individual interests of the gambler. So I don't really trust anything Carrabis does.
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Was thrilled to realize I could just block him on Twitter years back, have been very happy with that decision.
With an extremely limited number of organizations you never know if the opportunity will come again. Just because you can cherry-pick a few cases of the best of the best that will get multiple offers doesn't dispute my point: many more people want to be GMs than there are GM slots.
But yes, to your point, I also don't think this is a bad job. Solid system and presumably a lot of flexibility with spending the next few offseasons.
If that was the point, it was certainly an interesting way of expressing it. I never would have guessed in a million years that’s what you were trying to get across, especially since one of your main points in that post, I never once brought up (it also made no sense in the context you brought it up in, especially related to the post you were responding to)
And I’m not attempting to “launder” my opinion as fact. All of these posts are opinions, some of them we believe in stronger than others.
So, how do you decide which media members you trust? Based on all of your posts somehow relating everything negative to the media and fans, how do you trust this is real and not a plant to get the fanbase talking? Any other report triggers you but this one you choose to believe and report as fact?
That’s because you presumably have zero chance of ever getting a better baseball job than those, the candidates who are passing on this obviously think they do.
Is it? Or is it speculation that's been repeated so enough it's just assumed to be fact at this point?
All I've seen that even suggests it might be possible is Cora saying that a front office gig is something he might like to do eventually. Not that it will definitely happen or even happen with the Red Sox, just that it is something he might want in the future. Right now, the team itself doesn't appear committed to him beyond managing next year.
The tepid interest in the job speaks to the administrative disfunction the person would step into. But let’s also recognize that it speaks to the status of the rebuild Bloom was undertaking. If his supporters are to be believed, Bloom did the hard part and was just about to reap the rewards when he was unfairly fired.
plainly a new GM would be more than happy to step into such a poised success, even if the structure is less than desirable. That so many are declining to interview tells me not only that the job may be structurally undesirable, but also that the industry believes that the on the field rebuild still has many, many miles to go,
plainly a new GM would be more than happy to step into such a poised success, even if the structure is less than desirable. That so many are declining to interview tells me not only that the job may be structurally undesirable, but also that the industry believes that the on the field rebuild still has many, many miles to go,
Maybe, maybe not. Does getting a corner office and heading up a team of excellent employees outweigh having to work for unpredictable bosses who are inclined to fire you even when you meet their expectations?
So, is it possible that Bloom has a lot of respect around the leagues’ FO? Could it be that potential candidates give him a ring and he describes the existing culture and ethos and the prospective candidate then decides it’s not a good fit? If I were in the short list , I would probably call him to discuss it. Can’t believe he would have had a contractural gag order of sorts that would prevent this.
To me, this is something to consider.
I also wonder what DD would say if asked. He has a bunch of data points to compare it to.
If this is true, why not make that move and announcement now?
Have the Red Sox come out and said that Cora will be kicked up to the front office when he’s done with managing? No. But no one has had a chance to ask that question because Sox ownership has decided to go all Ted Williams on the public in that gods don’t answer letters.
But there are enough dots here that, unless something extreme happens where Sox ownership loses faith in Cora, he pretty much has a seat in the FO. Everyone seems to know that.
For whatever reason he has ownership’s ear. They brought him back after an embarrassing suspension and pretty much made Bloom hire him. Then he was publicly petulant this past summer which didn’t lead to a rebuke but lead to Bloom getting canned. He’s outlast two PoBOs.
if that doesn’t add to job for life, I’m not sure what does. So unless Henry decides to talk to someone, yeah I suppose you could think that is some sort of media narrative
My guess is because the last time the Sox only interviewed one person for the job and got it wrong. I think that the Sox are trying to cast a wide net so that they don’t make that mistake again.
Since ownership doesn’t talk, this is conjecture.
The Cubs writer for The Athletic does NOT believe Breslow would come onboard for anything less than the #1 job. That is just one man's opinion, but he believes the Cubs have given him a lot of freedom and opportunities, so he would not leave to be the #2 in Boston. He currently is the #3 in Chicago.
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vYmFzZWJhbGwtaXNudC1ib3Jpbmc/episode/YzUzZmQ3NGUtNTU1OS0xMWVkLWE0YzEtYzMyNjJiZmE5N2M2?ep=14
The number of rejections for this job (both outright and after interview) is startling.
This is a big market high profile job with a good farm system and supposedly money to spend. Yet it's been hard to get top candidates to even consider it, even though it would be a clear promotion. Absolutely stunning.
No other conclusion I can see other than something is rotten in the state of Denmark. I don't know if it's ownership itself, the bizarre mandatory asistant GM holdover situation, or something else. But clearly the word is out that this is a toxic job, and Henry/Werner would be wise to have some genuine introspection about why that is the case.
There have to be a lot of below the surface rumblings from Bloom, DD, et al that this place is so bad to work it's not even worth a higher salary, promotion, and legitimate chance at a World Series. It must be REALLY bad.
This is a big market high profile job with a good farm system and supposedly money to spend. Yet it's been hard to get top candidates to even consider it, even though it would be a clear promotion. Absolutely stunning.
No other conclusion I can see other than something is rotten in the state of Denmark. I don't know if it's ownership itself, the bizarre mandatory asistant GM holdover situation, or something else. But clearly the word is out that this is a toxic job, and Henry/Werner would be wise to have some genuine introspection about why that is the case.
There have to be a lot of below the surface rumblings from Bloom, DD, et al that this place is so bad to work it's not even worth a higher salary, promotion, and legitimate chance at a World Series. It must be REALLY bad.
Well, now it's more than one man's opinion. Chad Jennings weighed in with the latest this morning, including the idea that there are additional mystery candidates (plural):
"A person close to Breslow, and another close to Levine, described each as a strong candidate getting serious consideration. Breslow is said to be uninterested in a potential No. 2 job with the Red Sox. If he’s not selected for the top job, he seems more likely to stay with the Cubs than to accept a supporting role with the Red Sox.
Some in the industry believe other candidates whose identities are not yet known are also involved in the search process."
https://theathletic.com/4982457/2023/10/21/red-sox-baseball-operations-gabe-kapler?source=user-shared-article
I'm sure that people are asking around, and some are undoubtedly uncomfortable with the Cora situation, etc. But there are also undeniable facts--the past 3 leaders have been let go(or in Cherington's case, had authority reduced) after very short tenures. Two had recently won a World Series and one had seemingly rebuilt the farm system. This says more about the reality of the work environment than anything anyone tells them.
To me, that reduces this job to attractive to first timers, to get into the club, but not for experienced GM+ types.
To me, that reduces this job to attractive to first timers, to get into the club, but not for experienced GM+ types.
They are getting rejected by all types of candidates.... first timers, experienced GMs, everything in between. That's the even more confusing/telling thing.
The fact that there are literally 2 #1 openings in baseball (us & the Marlins, unless I'm missing something), & unemployed people won't even interview with us is pretty yikes.
People who are already #1s where they are like Falvey & Hazen seem like non-starters on several levels & don't really say much about the desirability of the job. But when people who are consulting in different places, aren't even top 2 in their org, or just got let go by the only other team with an opening won't interview, it's definitely alarm bells & time to rethink what you're doing.
People who are already #1s where they are like Falvey & Hazen seem like non-starters on several levels & don't really say much about the desirability of the job. But when people who are consulting in different places, aren't even top 2 in their org, or just got let go by the only other team with an opening won't interview, it's definitely alarm bells & time to rethink what you're doing.
Has there actually been confirmation that ownership is willing to go over the threshold this winter? I think we've all been assuming they would, but if not, that's the type of thing I could see killing interest in the job more than "you have to work with Cora."
Maybe she knows something about Brian Cashman's future plans that hasn't been made public? I could see Ng being viewed as a worthy successor, returning 'home' to the Yankees, so to speak. Otherwise, conventional wisdom would suggest that her profile has never been higher than it is right now, coming off the success she had with the Marlins, and the time to capitalize is now.
Cashman’s contract goes through 2026.
The Ng thing seems really simple to me, she’s coming from a situation where she had to deal with complicated internal politics as much as the actual job and she doesn’t want to jump into another of those.
The Ng thing seems really simple to me, she’s coming from a situation where she had to deal with complicated internal politics as much as the actual job and she doesn’t want to jump into another of those.
If they're not willing to pay purely monetary taxes to improve the team in the Boston market with those ticket prices, they should sell the team immediately.
I think Levine’s a great candidate, and I’m pulling for him.
Here’s a puff piece the Pi Press did on him when the Twins hired him away from the Rangers.
Here’s a feature from the Athletic about how instrumental Levine was in getting Buxton signed long-term. And one from 2022 on his and Falvey’s work on Correa.
Levine seems warm, witty and thoughtful. The broad perception of Bloom was that he was too cold and analytical. (That always seemed like a false narrative to me about him as a person, but may have been applicable in terms of him as an executive.) I think Levine’s experience getting these two mega stars at relatively discounted rates is a big plus.
It’s notable that Levine took himself out of the running for the Phillies GM opening in 2020 (a job that went to DD). Philadelphia considered him “a significant player,” but he preferred to stay in Minnesota.
Here’s a puff piece the Pi Press did on him when the Twins hired him away from the Rangers.
Here’s a feature from the Athletic about how instrumental Levine was in getting Buxton signed long-term. And one from 2022 on his and Falvey’s work on Correa.
Levine seems warm, witty and thoughtful. The broad perception of Bloom was that he was too cold and analytical. (That always seemed like a false narrative to me about him as a person, but may have been applicable in terms of him as an executive.) I think Levine’s experience getting these two mega stars at relatively discounted rates is a big plus.
It’s notable that Levine took himself out of the running for the Phillies GM opening in 2020 (a job that went to DD). Philadelphia considered him “a significant player,” but he preferred to stay in Minnesota.
I don’t think anyone said that about Bloom. In fact one of the things that was written in the wake of his firing was how nice of a guy he was and how respectful he was of the media and how he knew everyone’s name in the organization. Even Dan Shaughnessy wrote this. Basically he seemed like the world’s nicest guy.
He just didn’t do a good job of being a Major League GM. His job isn’t to be Mr. Rogers though.
I saw the characterization of Bloom quite a lot, including this kind of folksy feature published in the Globe a few weeks ago.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/09/28/opinion/lackluster-red-sox-disappoint-lifelong-fan/
“Bloom and the Rays seemed possessed of an uncanny ability to locate winning players previously undervalued by other teams…This successful extracting of baseball diamonds from seams of coal made the Rays the true “Moneyball” exponents…
One effect of this strategic baseball revolution was to make the actual players seem somewhat fungible and, with publicly available banks of information (along with sophisticated algorithms to sort the data for predictive tendencies), to convert many fans into armchair general managers, analyzing along with the organization, scrutinizing its roster, its financial outlay.
….
Bloom was fired Sept. 14. Soon the Red Sox will hire his replacement. Then the serial Russian novel that is the Red Sox will be hers or his to cast with characters. Me? I’m hoping the person who gets the job is a humanist.”
I don’t know what to tell you man. Jennings, McCaffery, Abraham, McWilliams, Buckley, Carrabis and Shaughnessy all wrote or tweeted the same thing about Bloom being a really nice guy after he was canned. I think even Tony Massarotti said something similar on his nightly baseball show.
If you want to add another anti-media log to your bonfire, knock yourself out.
Edit: the person you cited Nick Dawidoff is not even a Boston media member. He wrote a terrific book, The Catcher was a Spy (seriously read this if you haven’t) but he’s not the person who should be speaking for the Boston media. He has absolutely no clue.
If you want to add another anti-media log to your bonfire, knock yourself out.
Edit: the person you cited Nick Dawidoff is not even a Boston media member. He wrote a terrific book, The Catcher was a Spy (seriously read this if you haven’t) but he’s not the person who should be speaking for the Boston media. He has absolutely no clue.
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Think we’re talking past each other here a bit. I’m not “anti-media” — I’ve been a journalist for most of my adult life. I’m critical of how these narratives get spun, crafted and spiral out of control, mostly on social media (often using hearsay), and how a lot of beat reporters for legacy papers are forced to compete by doing “soap opera” coverage (again, Rob Bradford’s term).
I think the perception among a lot of casual fans — a lot of my friends included — was that Bloom was too cold and analytical. (That’s probably the reputation that trading Mookie Betts will get you.) Or, on another plane — too “methodical, careful, indecisive, principled.”
I don’t think there’s a question whether he’s “nice.” It’s an extension of the criticisms about how he’s turning us into “Tampa North” or the “Rays stench” — an often-inscrutable numbers person; not a people person.
Or consider this framework from that infamous Globe story giving us Bloom’s realtime reaction after Xander signed:
The human side of Bloom’s often-shielded public persona took form inside San Diego International Airport Wednesday. He rubbed the corner of his lips as he peered out toward nothingness. He looked shell-shocked at times.
Was he considering how he could reset so his Sox can be competitive in a daunting division? Was he considering the backlash that will undoubtedly follow from a fan base that’s already gone cold on him? Was he embarrassed?
Bloom boarded the flight at gate 37A. He took his window seat in first class. He slouched. He nodded, gazing deep into his phone again, perhaps trying to distract himself from a reality that cut deep. A truth, perhaps, too much in its infancy. Too hard to bear on a 5½-hour flight.
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Byron Buxton, time between initial offer and finalized contract: 3/17/17 - 11/28/21, 1720 days
Ben Cherington GM tenure: 10/25/11-8/18/15, 1393 days
Dave Dombrowski PBO tenure: 8/18/15 - 9/9/19, 1483 days
Chaim Bloom PBO tenure: 10/25/19 - 9/14/23, 1450 days
Yer gonna have to work a little faster, Levine.
I’ve been saying this since August 2019
they either have to be more consistently competitive (just way too many last place finishes) or lower ticket prices
they have this opportunity to be the #1(or 2) team in town with the struggles in Foxboro and are fumbling it.
the 5 year buffer period has ended (with all apologies to Enrique in 2021 ALDS)
time to wake up
Pure speculation from me but I have been wondering if the firing had more to do with some not public facing aspect like possibly his negotiating skills? It seemed Bloom was building a solid foundation but it would make sense to me, heading into what is supposedly going to be a big off season scared off from the way this trade deadline (along with previous negotiations) played out.
The lack of a plan is concerning although there is precedence with Mike Port getting promoted for a season before moving back down when they hired Theo. But they had just purchased the team and if I remember correctly Duke was pretty toxic at the time.
OMG, this reference and usage is phenomenal. I've never heard this term used before.
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