You will struggle to find a modern Boston Red Sox figure that Red Sox fans have as strong opinions about than Chaim Bloom. Bloom was charged to decrease payroll and reload Boston's farm system and, to be honest, he did just that.
However, he was also the decision-maker that let stars Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts walk in free agency and who decided that the 2023 Red Sox weren't worth pushing his chips in on despite being very much in the hunt for a playoff spot at the trade deadline this year.
Before the season, Bloom got a vote of confidence from president and CEO Sam Kennedy, but clearly things have changed and the Red Sox are going in a different direction.
The Boston Red Sox fired chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 14, 2023
Red Sox fire Chaim Bloom, so what's next?
Speculation was rampant earlier today that the Red Sox were ready to move on from Bloom. For many fans, this decision has been a long time coming as Boston has gone from borderline title contender to a .500 ball club in just a few years. The expectations are always high in a market like Boston and many, but not all, wanted a new face in charge of the franchise going forward.
Bloom's tenure will ultimately be graded in the long-term by how well the prospects he helped bring into the organization even if the short-term results were, at best, bad optics for an organization used to competing at the highest level. If guys like Ceddanne Rafaela, Kyle Teel, Marcelo Mayer, and Nick Yorke pan out, fans may end up looking back and realizing that there was a plan in place even if Bloom couldn't survive in the job long enough to see it through.
For the moment, though, the real question is who is going to be making the decisions for the Red Sox going into what could be a very high stakes offseason for the organization. Boston won't have to worry about the luxury tax and have tons of prospect capital to make big moves if they want to. It now all comes down to whether or not Boston hires someone that is going to be willing to be aggressive and try to return the team to glory. It does seem like general manager Brian O'Halloran remains in the good graces of the powers that be as he is being offered a new senior leadership position in the baseball ops department.