Business has Bloomed

         


    On September 15th the Boston Red Sox officially announced they were parting ways with Chief of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom. After a couple days away from the event I am ready to blog on this with a real critical lens. The issue with the hire in the first place was it just looked like a kid that was in over his head. Don't get it twisted, Bloom has good character, and his philosophy has potential and it could work... in the right situation.  The Bloom method of exclusive farm focus can and probably will work in the right market. The Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins, are all examples of small market franchises where a tight budget constraint approach and prospect development is the only way to build a contender with a decade long time frame. Again with KC they were atrocious forever built a contender through the farm contended and won a world series in 2015 and are now in a total rebuild at the bottom again with Bobby Witt Jr. This works in Kansas City and its good for them. 

    The approach doesn't fly in Boston. Contending and winning championships are too important for the fans and the culture of the city. The biggest stars in Boston are not celebrities, there not actors or singers or chefs or politicians or what have you... They are the professional athletes of the New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, and Boston Celtics. When the product gets to the point that it did the fans will respond with their wallets. The fans in a big way expressed that what was going on was not acceptable. At winter weekend the fans were livid with Henry and Bloom and Kennedy and they expressed it directly to them. The Winter Classic the two bruins fans heckled Henry to pay Devers. Along with during the season when the product fell off a cliff again the fans responded once again with a unified boycott. 

    The optics surrounding the Boston Red Sox had fallen extremely far. The fans showed they were fed up and were done being led down a path of lies. When the New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros all came to Fenway Park their fans would outnumber the Red Sox fans every game. Each week after the trade deadline it looked like the Boston Red Sox had hit an new low, but that was just it, it would get lower and lower every time. Mookie Betts showing out in Fenway for the Dodgers, the Kyle Barraclough sacrifice...All the way until the Yankees came to town. Red Sox Yankees at Fenway Park. Historically one of the most expensive tickets in the history of sports. The biggest rivalry in the history of sports. The fans boycotted the marquee event of the Red Sox season. The Red Sox had dropped their prices all the way down to 1 dollar and they still couldn't get anybody to come. That was when the Red Sox knew they needed to make a change.

    The reality is that while it all looks like a great situation for a veteran GM to come in and fix the mess of the Bloom era. The truth is that this ownership looks extremely unstable. The chief of baseball ops position looks like a complete rotating door. Theo came in and broke the Bambino curse. There was Cherrington who totally flopped after Bobby Valentine, Dombrowski who forced and ultimatum and then the Bloom experiment. The position is a rotating door and the ownership will change its philosophy on the turn of a dime. The number 1 candidate of course would be Theo Epstein he is the only person I believe could fix the Red Sox and make them a respectable team. The truth is the only way you could get Theo to come fix this mess would be an ownership stake in the franchise and I don't know if that greedy man upstairs in King Henry would be willing to part with a minority stake of the franchise he holds hostage.

    Hopefully the Red Sox can find a candidate that is willing to operate to the demands of a big market and ownership will give the freedom to execute this aswell. Whether that candidate is in a perfect world Theo Epstein, or Eddie Romero being promoted, or Alex Cora goes upstairs the team needs a balance of cultivating the young controllable talent. Along with being willing to contend for championships and represent the city in a great light.   

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