8 moves that led to Chaim Bloom’s eventual firing from the Red Sox

[CCard]

Some of you think he's the next messiah

Goofy thing to say.

Why does anyone’s optimism bother you when they are moving on from a guy who torpedoed the franchise and moving to one of the brighter and more analytically inclined minds in the game?

Personally I think Mo gets savaged too much. He is the scapegoat when ownership is really to blame. That being said, there are many who gleefully proclaim that Bloom is the answer to all our prayers. I'm merely saying "show me".

[Banner29]

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-re ... -bogaerts/


Some of you think he's some kind of savior. He failed in Boston, let's see if he can be any better in St Louis. I'm hoping he is but betting that he isn't. If Dewitt loosens the purse strings then maybe he can succeed.

The first one was a dumb criticism he had to dump payroll and had to attach price to betts in order to get rid of him which hurt the return

Most of it is dumb. It mentions missing out on a guy like Dansby Swanson for starters. Not a bad player but not exactly a world beater here. Trading Hunter Renfroe(lol) not keeping Benintendi(lol) and even Xander Bogaerts hasn’t been a world beater here, after a strong first season in SD his next 2 years there have been very pedestrian and he’s 32 with plenty more years left on that deal. None of those guys would be moving the needle much now with the Sox nor have they years prior. Not to mention multiple times in this article it was mentioned he was hamstrung by higher ups.

Bloom made his mistakes, nobody has ever questioned that. But he left that organization in terrific shape farm system wise. He was thrown to the wolves immediately with the Betts fiasco, was expected to turn things around quickly and arguably the most unforgiving and high pressure city in all of sports. In a routinely juggernaut division.

The guy has a clear knack for developing young talent and people just want to dig up 2 year old articles to protect Mo.

It’s sad

Some of you think he's the next messiah and that clearly isn't the case. He might be great, I don't know but clearly he's saddled with the same constraints that got him fired in Boston. As you all have pointed out, he was directed to trade Betts and he got fired for it among other reasons. Now, years later, he's going to be faced with an even smaller payroll even as contracts spiral upward. Listen, I hope he works miracles, and maybe he will. He certainly will get a chance to. It's just that you all in all probability are setting yourselves up for disappointment. Ownership will make the difference. He Dewitt loosens the purse strings things will get significantly better. If he doesn't? I predict in a few years the same people that are championing him as the next Branch Rickey will be calling him names and wanting his head on a spike.

Nobody has thought that. Not once. What people have thought is that he possesses some solid qualities that give us some hope again, with the most important one not being the bow tied ret*rd that flat out dismantled this team into complete irrelevance

Maybe he succeeds, maybe he doesn’t. But for the first time in a few years there’s reason to be optimistic about the team going forward and that for some reason really bothers the Mo cult.

It’s weird

How many championships has he won. How many has Mo won? Hmmm.... Merely reiterating that the grass isn't always greener.

You’re grasping at anything you can at this point. TLR was the architect for that championship, not Mo. which clearly bothered him. There’s a reason the managers he’s hired since total have a combined 0 games managed.

[sdaltons]

Bloom will very likely be forced to operate under the same set of restrictions, but at least he will do so with a fresh set of eyes.

Also, as I mentioned in another thread, when DeWitt has loosened the purse strings and let Mo spend, Mo has done a really, really bad job at spending the money. Not out of the question that this has caused some distrust and maybe DeWitt has cut back on spending because of it.

So maybe Bloom gets an opportunity to show he can spend a little wiser than Mo could.

[rockondlouie]

[CCard]

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-re ... -bogaerts/


Some of you think he's some kind of savior. He failed in Boston, let's see if he can be any better in St Louis. I'm hoping he is but betting that he isn't. If Dewitt loosens the purse strings then maybe he can succeed.

The first one was a dumb criticism he had to dump payroll and had to attach price to betts in order to get rid of him which hurt the return

Most of it is dumb. It mentions missing out on a guy like Dansby Swanson for starters. Not a bad player but not exactly a world beater here. Trading Hunter Renfroe(lol) not keeping Benintendi(lol) and even Xander Bogaerts hasn’t been a world beater here, after a strong first season in SD his next 2 years there have been very pedestrian and he’s 32 with plenty more years left on that deal. None of those guys would be moving the needle much now with the Sox nor have they years prior. Not to mention multiple times in this article it was mentioned he was hamstrung by higher ups.

Bloom made his mistakes, nobody has ever questioned that. But he left that organization in terrific shape farm system wise. He was thrown to the wolves immediately with the Betts fiasco, was expected to turn things around quickly and arguably the most unforgiving and high pressure city in all of sports. In a routinely juggernaut division.

The guy has a clear knack for developing young talent and people just want to dig up 2 year old articles to protect Mo.

It’s sad

Some of you think he's the next messiah and that clearly isn't the case. He might be great, I don't know but clearly he's saddled with the same constraints that got him fired in Boston. As you all have pointed out, he was directed to trade Betts and he got fired for it among other reasons. Now, years later, he's going to be faced with an even smaller payroll even as contracts spiral upward. Listen, I hope he works miracles, and maybe he will. He certainly will get a chance to. It's just that you all in all probability are setting yourselves up for disappointment. Ownership will make the difference. He Dewitt loosens the purse strings things will get significantly better. If he doesn't? I predict in a few years the same people that are championing him as the next Branch Rickey will be calling him names and wanting his head on a spike.

Nobody has thought that. Not once. What people have thought is that he possesses some solid qualities that give us some hope again, with the most important one not being the bow tied ret*rd that flat out dismantled this team into complete irrelevance

Maybe he succeeds, maybe he doesn’t. But for the first time in a few years there’s reason to be optimistic about the team going forward and that for some reason really bothers the Mo cult.

It’s weird

How many championships has he won. How many has Mo won? Hmmm.... Merely reiterating that the grass isn't always greener.

You’re grasping at anything you can at this point. TLR was the architect for that championship, not Mo. which clearly bothered him. There’s a reason the managers he’s hired since total have a combined 0 games managed.

LOL....TLR, the on field manager was the architect for the championship. You're funny.

[rockondlouie]

From Bernie:

I’m sure many Cardinals fans are wondering why Bloom lost his job in Boston. Here’s my somewhat flippant answer: I don’t know but you could ask Theo Epstein, Ben Cherington and Dave Dombrowski. All were either run off (Epstein) or fired (Cherington and Dombrowski) by Boston’s tempestuous and fickle ownership group led by John Henry.

That’s quite remarkable considering that the Red Sox won multiple World Series with Epstein, Cherington and Dombrowski in charge of baseball ops. Bloom was hired to lead the baseball department in October of 2019 and lasted until his firing on Sept. 14 of the 2023 season.

Henry wanted to create the New England version of the Tampa Bay Rays – a model of superb player development, a lower payroll, and highly efficient roster construction. Bloom was the ideal choice. He had built a low-payroll hellion at Tampa Bay.

“He possesses the essential qualities to establish a sustainable baseball operation throughout the organization with an emphasis on long-term success at the major league level,” Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said at the time of Bloom’s appointment.

Bloom soon discovered that he was working for an owner who changed his mind depending on the way the wind was blowing at Fenway Park. That includes the hot air directed at him by yapping fans and media.

Bloom inherited a barren Boston farm system that ranked near the bottom of the MLB rankings and improved it to 15th by the time of his dismissal.

Ownership wanted to reduce payroll to avoid higher financial penalties in luxury-tax prison. When Bloom took over, he had to deal with a payroll clogged by some $550 million in long-term commitments to pitchers David Price, Nathan Eovaldi and Chris Sale plus designated hitter J.D. Martinez.

Bloom attempted to keep outfielder Mookie Betts in Boston with a generous contract extension, but Mookie declined. This did not go over well with the owners. Bloom traded Betts to the Dodgers in a deal that turned into an embarrassment for the Red Sox. Bloom got the blame, but it isn’t that simple.

Betts signed a 12-year, $365-million contract to stay with the Dodgers. Do we really think Boston’s owners wanted to spend that much? Bloom was hardly an independent lone wolf who made the decision all by himself.

But Bloom constantly received mixed messages from the owner. Spend. Cut payroll. Spend. Cut payroll. Spend. No. Wait. Cut Payroll. Go spend. Make trades and go all-in. No. Hold on. Don’t do that. Don’t spend.

Esteemed baseball analyst Joe Sheehan wrote about Boston’s toxic ownership style in a recent newsletter filing.

“Boston’s four titles in 15 years have served to mask considerable instability and even chaos in how the Sox have been run under John Henry,” Sheehan wrote. “Theo Epstein was more or less run out of town by ownership after 2011, and manager Terry Francona was let go with him, despite two World Series in eight years together. Ben Cherington inherited the GM job and lost a season to ownership’s foisting Bobby Valentine on him. In Cherington’s second year, with John Farrell managing, the Sox won the World Series. Not two years after that, though, Cherington was let go, and then Farrell followed after the 2017 season.

“Now, not a year after winning a World Series title, Dombrowski (was) gone. I understand the argument that it’s worked, given the 2013 and 2018 championships, but we don’t talk about John Henry like he’s a lost Steinbrenner cousin, and maybe we should.

“Henry moved quickly to replace Dombrowski with Bloom … in the way that swapping out Cherington for Dombrowski was a statement about what Henry wanted the Red Sox to be, swapping out Dombrowski for Bloom — after two years of $240 million competitive balance tax payrolls — was much the same.

“There are many who deem Bloom’s time in Boston to be a failure. Not only am I not one of them, I think Henry should be embarrassed by not having the courage of his convictions.”

Sheehan added: “Bloom inherited a team that had the highest payroll in the sport and an owner that didn’t want that to be the case any more. The Red Sox had been unable to sign Mookie Betts to an extension, leaving Bloom with an impossible task while he was still figuring out where the bathrooms were.”

R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports noted the difficulty of Bloom’s assignment at Fenway. “League sources who have spoke to CBS Sports noted that (Bloom) had to deal with some rough circumstances, including inheriting outdated infrastructure and a cabal of tenured assistant general managers.”

(Translation: back stabbers.)

[sdaltons]

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-re ... -bogaerts/


Some of you think he's some kind of savior. He failed in Boston, let's see if he can be any better in St Louis. I'm hoping he is but betting that he isn't. If Dewitt loosens the purse strings then maybe he can succeed.

The first one was a dumb criticism he had to dump payroll and had to attach price to betts in order to get rid of him which hurt the return

Most of it is dumb. It mentions missing out on a guy like Dansby Swanson for starters. Not a bad player but not exactly a world beater here. Trading Hunter Renfroe(lol) not keeping Benintendi(lol) and even Xander Bogaerts hasn’t been a world beater here, after a strong first season in SD his next 2 years there have been very pedestrian and he’s 32 with plenty more years left on that deal. None of those guys would be moving the needle much now with the Sox nor have they years prior. Not to mention multiple times in this article it was mentioned he was hamstrung by higher ups.

Bloom made his mistakes, nobody has ever questioned that. But he left that organization in terrific shape farm system wise. He was thrown to the wolves immediately with the Betts fiasco, was expected to turn things around quickly and arguably the most unforgiving and high pressure city in all of sports. In a routinely juggernaut division.

The guy has a clear knack for developing young talent and people just want to dig up 2 year old articles to protect Mo.

It’s sad

Some of you think he's the next messiah and that clearly isn't the case. He might be great, I don't know but clearly he's saddled with the same constraints that got him fired in Boston. As you all have pointed out, he was directed to trade Betts and he got fired for it among other reasons. Now, years later, he's going to be faced with an even smaller payroll even as contracts spiral upward. Listen, I hope he works miracles, and maybe he will. He certainly will get a chance to. It's just that you all in all probability are setting yourselves up for disappointment. Ownership will make the difference. He Dewitt loosens the purse strings things will get significantly better. If he doesn't? I predict in a few years the same people that are championing him as the next Branch Rickey will be calling him names and wanting his head on a spike.

Nobody has thought that. Not once. What people have thought is that he possesses some solid qualities that give us some hope again, with the most important one not being the bow tied ret*rd that flat out dismantled this team into complete irrelevance

Maybe he succeeds, maybe he doesn’t. But for the first time in a few years there’s reason to be optimistic about the team going forward and that for some reason really bothers the Mo cult.

It’s weird

How many championships has he won. How many has Mo won? Hmmm.... Merely reiterating that the grass isn't always greener.

You’re grasping at anything you can at this point. TLR was the architect for that championship, not Mo. which clearly bothered him. There’s a reason the managers he’s hired since total have a combined 0 games managed.

LOL....TLR, the on field manager was the architect for the championship. You're funny.

Do you actually not know what happened that year or are you just trolling?

[hugeCardfan]

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-re ... -bogaerts/


Some of you think he's some kind of savior. He failed in Boston, let's see if he can be any better in St Louis. I'm hoping he is but betting that he isn't. If Dewitt loosens the purse strings then maybe he can succeed.

I suspect he will have learned much from his first experience. The only real mistake I saw in the 6 items was paying Story $140M.

[MIDMOBIRDTWO]

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-re ... -bogaerts/


Some of you think he's some kind of savior. He failed in Boston, let's see if he can be any better in St Louis. I'm hoping he is but betting that he isn't. If Dewitt loosens the purse strings then maybe he can succeed.

LOL

[CCard]

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-re ... -bogaerts/


Some of you think he's some kind of savior. He failed in Boston, let's see if he can be any better in St Louis. I'm hoping he is but betting that he isn't. If Dewitt loosens the purse strings then maybe he can succeed.

I suspect he will have learned much from his first experience. The only real mistake I saw in the 6 items was paying Story $140M.

Trading Betts was a mistake, I'd argue. Maybe he could have petitioned ownership to keep Betts more forcefully. I don't know the entire situation so I really can't speak to it, but looking at Betts talent, there are some players you just don't trade. Maybe it wasn't his fault

[CCard]

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-re ... -bogaerts/


Some of you think he's some kind of savior. He failed in Boston, let's see if he can be any better in St Louis. I'm hoping he is but betting that he isn't. If Dewitt loosens the purse strings then maybe he can succeed.

The first one was a dumb criticism he had to dump payroll and had to attach price to betts in order to get rid of him which hurt the return

Most of it is dumb. It mentions missing out on a guy like Dansby Swanson for starters. Not a bad player but not exactly a world beater here. Trading Hunter Renfroe(lol) not keeping Benintendi(lol) and even Xander Bogaerts hasn’t been a world beater here, after a strong first season in SD his next 2 years there have been very pedestrian and he’s 32 with plenty more years left on that deal. None of those guys would be moving the needle much now with the Sox nor have they years prior. Not to mention multiple times in this article it was mentioned he was hamstrung by higher ups.

Bloom made his mistakes, nobody has ever questioned that. But he left that organization in terrific shape farm system wise. He was thrown to the wolves immediately with the Betts fiasco, was expected to turn things around quickly and arguably the most unforgiving and high pressure city in all of sports. In a routinely juggernaut division.

The guy has a clear knack for developing young talent and people just want to dig up 2 year old articles to protect Mo.

It’s sad

Some of you think he's the next messiah and that clearly isn't the case. He might be great, I don't know but clearly he's saddled with the same constraints that got him fired in Boston. As you all have pointed out, he was directed to trade Betts and he got fired for it among other reasons. Now, years later, he's going to be faced with an even smaller payroll even as contracts spiral upward. Listen, I hope he works miracles, and maybe he will. He certainly will get a chance to. It's just that you all in all probability are setting yourselves up for disappointment. Ownership will make the difference. He Dewitt loosens the purse strings things will get significantly better. If he doesn't? I predict in a few years the same people that are championing him as the next Branch Rickey will be calling him names and wanting his head on a spike.

Nobody has thought that. Not once. What people have thought is that he possesses some solid qualities that give us some hope again, with the most important one not being the bow tied ret*rd that flat out dismantled this team into complete irrelevance

Maybe he succeeds, maybe he doesn’t. But for the first time in a few years there’s reason to be optimistic about the team going forward and that for some reason really bothers the Mo cult.

It’s weird

How many championships has he won. How many has Mo won? Hmmm.... Merely reiterating that the grass isn't always greener.

You’re grasping at anything you can at this point. TLR was the architect for that championship, not Mo. which clearly bothered him. There’s a reason the managers he’s hired since total have a combined 0 games managed.

LOL....TLR, the on field manager was the architect for the championship. You're funny.

Do you actually not know what happened that year or are you just trolling?

I know a manager can advocate for a player to be traded or signed but they aren't in charge of it. The GM makes the choices (with the approval of ownership).

[vegascardsfan5890]

I have a friend whose a die hard Red Sox fan and he literally couldn't stop laughing when I told him we hired him

[hugeCardfan]

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-re ... -bogaerts/


Some of you think he's some kind of savior. He failed in Boston, let's see if he can be any better in St Louis. I'm hoping he is but betting that he isn't. If Dewitt loosens the purse strings then maybe he can succeed.

I suspect he will have learned much from his first experience. The only real mistake I saw in the 6 items was paying Story $140M.

Trading Betts was a mistake, I'd argue. Maybe he could have petitioned ownership to keep Betts more forcefully. I don't know the entire situation so I really can't speak to it, but looking at Betts talent, there are some players you just don't trade. Maybe it wasn't his fault

Nobody trades Betts unless ownership has sanctioned it.

[Banner29]

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-re ... -bogaerts/


Some of you think he's some kind of savior. He failed in Boston, let's see if he can be any better in St Louis. I'm hoping he is but betting that he isn't. If Dewitt loosens the purse strings then maybe he can succeed.

The first one was a dumb criticism he had to dump payroll and had to attach price to betts in order to get rid of him which hurt the return

Most of it is dumb. It mentions missing out on a guy like Dansby Swanson for starters. Not a bad player but not exactly a world beater here. Trading Hunter Renfroe(lol) not keeping Benintendi(lol) and even Xander Bogaerts hasn’t been a world beater here, after a strong first season in SD his next 2 years there have been very pedestrian and he’s 32 with plenty more years left on that deal. None of those guys would be moving the needle much now with the Sox nor have they years prior. Not to mention multiple times in this article it was mentioned he was hamstrung by higher ups.

Bloom made his mistakes, nobody has ever questioned that. But he left that organization in terrific shape farm system wise. He was thrown to the wolves immediately with the Betts fiasco, was expected to turn things around quickly and arguably the most unforgiving and high pressure city in all of sports. In a routinely juggernaut division.

The guy has a clear knack for developing young talent and people just want to dig up 2 year old articles to protect Mo.

It’s sad

Some of you think he's the next messiah and that clearly isn't the case. He might be great, I don't know but clearly he's saddled with the same constraints that got him fired in Boston. As you all have pointed out, he was directed to trade Betts and he got fired for it among other reasons. Now, years later, he's going to be faced with an even smaller payroll even as contracts spiral upward. Listen, I hope he works miracles, and maybe he will. He certainly will get a chance to. It's just that you all in all probability are setting yourselves up for disappointment. Ownership will make the difference. He Dewitt loosens the purse strings things will get significantly better. If he doesn't? I predict in a few years the same people that are championing him as the next Branch Rickey will be calling him names and wanting his head on a spike.

Nobody has thought that. Not once. What people have thought is that he possesses some solid qualities that give us some hope again, with the most important one not being the bow tied ret*rd that flat out dismantled this team into complete irrelevance

Maybe he succeeds, maybe he doesn’t. But for the first time in a few years there’s reason to be optimistic about the team going forward and that for some reason really bothers the Mo cult.

It’s weird

How many championships has he won. How many has Mo won? Hmmm.... Merely reiterating that the grass isn't always greener.

You’re grasping at anything you can at this point. TLR was the architect for that championship, not Mo. which clearly bothered him. There’s a reason the managers he’s hired since total have a combined 0 games managed.

LOL....TLR, the on field manager was the architect for the championship. You're funny.

Yes.

You think Mo made the decision to run Rasmus out of town?

You’re funny

[MIDMOBIRDTWO]

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-re ... -bogaerts/


Some of you think he's some kind of savior. He failed in Boston, let's see if he can be any better in St Louis. I'm hoping he is but betting that he isn't. If Dewitt loosens the purse strings then maybe he can succeed.
[/quote




































The first one was a dumb criticism he had to dump payroll and had to attach price to betts in order to get rid of him which hurt the return

Most of it is dumb. It mentions missing out on a guy like Dansby Swanson for starters. Not a bad player but not exactly a world beater here. Trading Hunter Renfroe(lol) not keeping Benintendi(lol) and even Xander Bogaerts hasn’t been a world beater here, after a strong first season in SD his next 2 years there have been very pedestrian and he’s 32 with plenty more years left on that deal. None of those guys would be moving the needle much now with the Sox nor have they years prior. Not to mention multiple times in this article it was mentioned he was hamstrung by higher ups.

Bloom made his mistakes, nobody has ever questioned that. But he left that organization in terrific shape farm system wise. He was thrown to the wolves immediately with the Betts fiasco, was expected to turn things around quickly and arguably the most unforgiving and high pressure city in all of sports. In a routinely juggernaut division.

The guy has a clear knack for developing young talent and people just want to dig up 2 year old articles to protect Mo.

It’s sad

Some of you think he's the next messiah and that clearly isn't the case. He might be great, I don't know but clearly he's saddled with the same constraints that got him fired in Boston. As you all have pointed out, he was directed to trade Betts and he got fired for it among other reasons. Now, years later, he's going to be faced with an even smaller payroll even as contracts spiral upward. Listen, I hope he works miracles, and maybe he will. He certainly will get a chance to. It's just that you all in all probability are setting yourselves up for disappointment. Ownership will make the difference. He Dewitt loosens the purse strings things will get significantly better. If he doesn't? I predict in a few years the same people that are championing him as the next Branch Rickey will be calling him names and wanting his head on a spike.

Nobody has thought that. Not once. What people have thought is that he possesses some solid qualities that give us some hope again, with the most important one not being the bow tied ret*rd that flat out dismantled this team into complete irrelevance

Maybe he succeeds, maybe he doesn’t. But for the first time in a few years there’s reason to be optimistic about the team going forward and that for some reason really bothers the Mo cult.

It’s weird

How many championships has he won. How many has Mo won? Hmmm.... Merely reiterating that the grass isn't always greener.

You’re grasping at anything you can at this point. TLR was the architect for that championship, not Mo. which clearly bothered him. There’s a reason the managers he’s hired since total have a combined 0 games managed.

LOL....TLR, the on field manager was the architect for the championship. You're funny.

LaRussa told him to trade the troubled outfielder Rasmus and orchestrated who he got back. Apparently that escaped your grasp cc.

[lordoffatness]

Some of you think he's the next messiah

Goofy thing to say.

Why does anyone’s optimism bother you when they are moving on from a guy who torpedoed the franchise and moving to one of the brighter and more analytically inclined minds in the game?

Personally I think Mo gets savaged too much. He is the scapegoat when ownership is really to blame. That being said, there are many who gleefully proclaim that Bloom is the answer to all our prayers. I'm merely saying "show me".

Maybe show us who they should have hired instead?

I don't think Bloom is the savior, but he posseses some qualities that our organization was very much lacking in. He's helped develop great farm systems in both Tampa and Boston. The Betts fiasco was him basically being handed a grenade with the pin pulled. You could argue he made other mistakes, and hopefully he's learned from them.

I'm more optimistic now than I've been in a few years. We'll see what happens over the next 3-5 years.