One of the positive outfalls of discussing Chaim Bloom of the Boston Red Sox is I get to use the word vitriol. I could also use another common term, and that is cult. Both words describe a nation divided. In Lincolnesque terms, a "house divided," but (thankfully) only in a baseball sense.
Bloom is finishing off year four of his five-year contract, and the results are mixed. If I were to create a balance sheet of negatives and positives in a purely subjective sense, Bloom deserves to finish his mission.
Senior management seeks youth in leadership roles, such as Bloom. Theo Epstein, Ben Cherrington, and now Bloom were all executive youngins, except for Dave Dombrowski, who was sent to the U-Haul office less than a year after winning a title.
A common thread connects the former GMs or presidents of baseball operations or fetchers of coffee (no cream) for principal owner John Henry -- they all won a championship.
Bloom's mission was threefold: The first was to cut payroll, the second was to build up the farm system, and the last was to win a championship. Evaluation check marks are by the first two, and the third is the most important. To the anti-Bloom forces, every move is dismissed, minimized, and laughed at.
Conversely, the pro-Bloom sentiment is the mirror opposite, taking on all the enthusiasm of a cult of loyalty that tests reality. Sometimes, some must be sent to a camp to be reprogrammed. I have fluctuated along the media battlefield between both.
Thankfully, this is where the Bloom train wreck or Unicorn Festival comes to a halt, and if you think this is not good, think about these teams is now front and center. The following make Bloom and John Henry look good.