It has been almost exactly one month since the Boston Red Sox fired chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom. They have yet to hire a replacement, and while it is not uncommon for these searches to take several weeks, we've heard basically nothing about potential candidates or the interview process. There should be more smoke coming from this fire.
According to MassLive.com, Boston's search for Bloom's replacement had been slowed by a number of rejections from candidates the Red Sox would like to interview. Part of the problem is self-inflicted: Boston's front office turnover is off-putting and speaks to a lack of stability. From MassLive.com:
According to multiple sources, the Red Sox have been been met with a number of rejections by some targeted candidates as they seek to find a replacement to replace Chaim Bloom, fired in September. Some of those prospective hires have been put off by the level of turnover that's taken place in the Baseball Operations department over the last dozen years or so. The new hire will be the fifth person in charge of the department since 2011.
And increasingly, sources add, there's concern about the surrounding infrastructure. The new hire will not only be inheriting manager Alex Cora, whose job has been guaranteed by ownership for at least 2024, but also, a front office that includes several executives who've been part of the organization for more than two decades, along with various other department heads who come with the job.
Michael Hill, longtime general manager of the Miami Marlins and currently MLB's senior vice president of baseball operations, is on the Red Sox's radar, according to MassLive.com. It's unclear whether he has interviewed or is even interested in the role, however. Assistant GM Eddie Romero has completed an interview, the outlet reported Friday.
Boston's front office turnover is largely the result of an ownership group that seems to change its stated goal on a whim. Dave Dombrowski was hired to win a World Series and he did that while trading prospects and spending money (which is his M.O.), then he was fired because the organization had a thin farm system and a bloated payroll. Bloom was hired to build up the system and put the Red Sox in a better place long-term. He did that, then was let go because ownership wants to win now. What will ownership want in a year or two?
The Red Sox are not the first team to have trouble even interviewing the best candidates in recent years. The New York Mets, under new owner Steve Cohen, had several candidates respectfully decline to interview for their general manager and president of baseball operations jobs in his first year, reportedly because Cohen was seen as too demanding. For the Red Sox, their issue is unpredictability. It doesn't help that the new baseball operations person will have a manager and several front office folks forced on them.
There are only 30 of these jobs and the Red Sox will find someone to take theirs soon, likely before October ends and the offseason begins. Clearly though, they are meeting resistance from who they consider the best candidates. They have no one to blame but themselves for that. Red Sox ownership is too unpredictable and history suggests the job will come with a lack of stability.
