Chaim Bloom will be named the next top Red Sox baseball executive.
The New York Post reported Friday that Boston will hire Tampa Bay's vice president of baseball operations to replace Dave Dombrowski. The 36-year-old Bloom served directly under Rays senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager Erik Neander. MLB.com reported Bloom was the lone external candidate interviewed by the Red Sox.
With the exception of Dombrowski, Bloom fits the mold of previous top Boston baseball executives under principal owner John Henry. Theo Epstein became the youngest general manager in the game's history when he was hired in November 2002 at just 28. Ben Cherington and Jed Hoyer were each in their 30s when they held the title at various times during the 2000s and 2010s.
Bloom helped build and develop a pair of 90-game winners over the past two seasons with Tampa Bay. The Rays opened 2019 with the lowest payroll in baseball and still reached the playoffs thanks to 96 victories _ an average of $626,000 spent per win. The Red Sox staggered in defense of their latest World Series title, missing out on October despite the game's highest payroll _ they spent $2.81 million per win.
Tampa Bay counts just four players under long-term contract entering the 2020 season, and three of them _ pitcher Blake Snell, infielder Brandon Lowe and outfielder Kevin Kiermaier _ had several arbitration years discarded by the club in exchange for extended deals. The Rays made a series of bargain signings and successful trades that yielded an effective roster. Tampa Bay was 8-1 at Fenway Park in 2019, the first visiting team since the Orioles in 1966 to win as many as eight games in the Back Bay.
Dombrowski had one year remaining on his contract and was pushing for an extension when Boston opted to change course. The roster he assembled to win a team-record 108 games in 2018 fell apart the following season, with top starting pitchers Chris Sale, David Price and Nathan Eovaldi all spending extended periods on the injured list. Those three players were signed by Dombrowski to contracts totaling $430 million, and all three could carry significant questions about their health into the 2020 season.
Bloom's opportunity to take over his own baseball operation nearly came after the 2018 season. He was a finalist for the Mets general manager job that ultimately went to former agent Brodie Van Wagenen. Bloom was left to return to a Tampa Bay organization where he started as an intern in 2005.
Like Epstein, Bloom is a Yale graduate _ he earned a bachelor's degree in classics in 2004. His last promotion to his current position with the Rays came in 2016. Bloom was among the stable of Tampa Bay executives working under Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers president of baseball operations who was believed to be Boston's dream target.
Eddie Romero, Brian O'Halloran, Zack Scott and Raquel Ferreira have presided over day-to-day operations with the Red Sox since Dombrowski's firing in early September. Their personnel moves have included releasing Steven Wright and outrighting Gorkys Hernandez and Josh Smith to Triple-A Pawtucket. Hernandez and Smith both elected free agency instead of accepting their respective assignments.
Bloom's immediate decisions will be far more consequential to Boston's future, be it long-term or immediate. The Red Sox owe a projected $48.2 million to Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Eduardo Rodriguez in arbitration, and both Betts and Bradley will be free agents following the 2020 season. Boston also houses a farm system ranked in baseball's bottom third, a stark contrast to a robust Rays system that sits at No. 2 per MLB.com.
