Do the Red Sox have too many positional log-jams in the minor leagues?

When Chaim Bloom was brought in in 2020 to be the chief baseball officer for the Boston Red Sox, he was brought in, first and foremost, to build up the Red Sox farm system and bring it back to its former glory.

His first move, one that fans in Boston will not soon forget, was a memorable one. Bloom traded long-time Boston outfielder Mookie Betts and left-handed pitcher David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong, and Jeter Downs.

This was just the start of building the farm system, and he's done a very good job of it since then, with the farm system now ranked at No. 5 in the big leagues, according to Baseball America.

With all the positional log-jams in the minors, and leading up to the MLB, has Bloom gone too far?

With all the prospects that Bloom has collected in the four years he has been in Boston, the problem now becomes is that it's almost gotten to be too saturated in the upper echelon of the minor leagues, with some of it even spilling into the majors.

Take for example, Wilyer Abreu who was acquired in the trade for Christian Vazquez. The only reason Abreu was able to be called up from Triple-A this year is due to an injury to Jarren Duran. On top of that, the only reason that Duran was in the majors was due to an injury to Adam Duvall.

Elsewhere in the minor leagues there are log-jams all over the infield, especially at first base and catcher now with the emergence of Kyle Teel and Roman Anthony.

It's almost as if at every productive position this year, there has been someone above them blocking them whether that is Chase Meidroth blocking playing time for Blaze Jordan, Christian Arroyo blocking the promotion of Nick Yorke, and (when he was playing affiliated ball) Marcelo Mayer being blocked by David Hamilton.

While it's a good problem to have when you have too many promising prospects, at least in terms of depth and potential trades in the future, when you have an owner like John Henry who is in a win-now kind of mode and has no desire to dilly-dally.

Jordan is having a monster season, and was a force to be reckoned with early on the season, but has his position blocked by Meidroth, who has been there for longer. Now, Yorke is a bit of a different situation in that Arroyo is not on the 40-man roster, but it still has to be frustrating to Yorke to be in Double-A when he could easily be on the precipice of the major leagues.

Then there's Mayer. the darling boy of Bloom's existence in Boston. If it were not for his shoulder problems, Mayer would likely be giving Hamilton a run for his money in Triple-A. Instead, he is down in Fort Myers rehabbing his shoulder.

It's too soon to say if Bloom has gone too far with collecting the depth of the prospects, as he is about to enter his fifth off-season at the helm of the Red Sox. If he is able to leverage some of the players he has coveted for big time players, then it was all worth it. If not, and he continues to stash, it might be time to revisit decisions at a management level.