Chaim Bloom is the new Chief Officer of baseball in Boston and I couldn’t be more excited. Bloom was the orchestrator of the Tampa Bay Rays that had the Houston Astros on the brink of elimination. Making the playoffs in the first place is an accomplishment for a team that has the financial resources that Tampa does. I was happy with the Bloom hiring. After watching the introductory press conference, I’m beyond thrilled. There’s no way this guy fails. Let’s break down the press conference piece by piece.
Bloom stressed on many occasions that building a sustainable winner is the number one priority. That’s what the Red Sox need right now. Dave Dombrowski bled this farm system to win the 2018 title. That’s fine. However, Dombrowski never replenished the system. He had a poor draft track record and it just felt like the Red Sox never developed any pitching. If Dombrowski didn’t go, the Red Sox would have looked like the current Detroit Tigers. He ran that puppy into the ground. I’m all for going for it but Dombrowski didn’t show he had any ability to build any sort of sustainable winner. Bloom can do just that. Just go look at the pitching the Rays have. Bloom is a player personnel guy at heart. It would be nice to have some homegrown talent that hasn’t come through Boston since Theo Epstein.
Here is the other thing that I like. There’s a real problem with nerds taking over baseball. Smart guys who are dumb in reality. Andrew Friedman comes to mind. I’m concerned that Bloom follows in Friedman’s footsteps and gets the Sox into the playoffs a bunch but never wins a title. Those concerns have been erased. Bloom is a smart guy who is a genius in reality. He gets the room. He has a sense of humor who isn’t a total robot. He threw a little dig at the Rays attendance issue. He understands the expectations in Boston. That tells me he has some nuts on him. He also has something about him that you just cannot hate. In a game where communication means everything, you can see Bloom is prepared to steer people in the right direction. Some of the words that come out his mouth blow me away. He’s prepared for every question. Just the overall rhetoric blows me away. All you have to do is hear him speak for 2 minutes and you know this guy is a genius. I’ll share this clip. Mike Francesa might be getting a little crazy in his old age but I absolutely believe this to be true. The Rays owner called Bloom the smartest guy he’s ever been around.
Bloom is the only guy the Red Sox interviewed for the position. That tells me this was an easy choice. Bloom seems like an honest guy who shoots shit straight. Very forthcoming. Bloom’s wife is from the Boston area. He graduated from Yale. He seems very creative which is something lacking with the Red Sox in the past. Bloom first came up with the use of openers for the Rays. He also put a coach in the dugout that really had no baseball experience. Just a numbers guy. Time will tell which innovations he brings to the Sox. There’s no way to watch the press conference and not be impressed. I’m ready for the offseason.
