5 Biggest Mistakes That Cost Chaim Bloom His Job
By Tyler Maher
Chaim Bloom was finally fired last week, and not a moment too soon in my opinion. He’s been steadily running the Red Sox into the ground over the last few years, and we needed to cut bait before he caused any more damage.
Bloom made a number of high-profile mistakes during his four years as Chief Baseball Officer that far outweighed his modest successes. In fact, he’s probably responsible for the franchise’s single worst personnel decision in the last 100 years.
So where did Bloom go wrong? Let’s recap the five biggest whiffs that cost him his job.
5 Biggest Chaim Bloom Mistakes
5. 2023 Trade Deadline
Since Bloom was canned last week, some have speculated that this year’s trade deadline may have been what finally did Bloom in.
It seems so long ago now, but the Red Sox were actually in contention for much of the summer. After a strong July, they entered the Aug. 1 trade deadline just a few games out of a playoff spot and with a roughly 30% chance of making the postseason. If Bloom felt like his job was in jeopardy, this was absolutely the time to do something to try to push his team into the playoffs.
Instead, he did virtually nothing. He traded away Enrique Hernandez for prospects after he’d become an absolute butcher at shortstop, and he added minor-league infielder Luis Urias. He did nothing to address the pitching staff, even though it was the team’s most glaring need and proved to be its fatal flaw.
Even the most ardent Chaim Bloom lover has to admit his Red Sox trade deadline management has been bad
— Red Sox Watcher (@WatcherSox) August 1, 2023
2022 was an unmitigated disaster. 2023 is bad.
There’s a case for buying, selling, or buying + selling. There’s absolutely no case to be made to do absolutely nothing at all
Coming on the heels of his disastrous 2022 trade deadline, Bloom failed to move the needle or meaningfully improve his roster for the second year in a row. He did not add to it to try to help it in the present, nor did he trade away impending free agents for prospects to help it in the future.
Sure enough, Bloom’s inactivity immediately backfired as Boston fell out of contention shortly after the trade deadline. The team’s lack of pitching depth came back to haunt them as the bullpen became overtaxed and Alex Cora simply ran out of arms.
If Bloom had done something substantial in either direction at the deadline, perhaps he’d still have his job. But once again, he proved he doesn’t have what it takes to make big moves when necessary.