I am not criticizing Bloom but so far all we have to evaluate his performance is a highly controversial salary dump.
The salary dump only makes sense if Bloom 1) gets the pitching 2 rebuilds the farm.
Supposedly Bloom's expertise is identifying and developing pitching. That's why he was hired and not some other guy. Until he does what he was hired to do, he is just another unproven whiz kid.
The difference between Boston and Tampa is in Boston the fans really really care and the media is a voracious watchdog. Bloom will get no free passes from either. So the pressure is building and the clock is ticking. How don't how much time either the fans and the media will give Bloom to show some results but I would say "Its later than you think" Declining attendance won't make his job any easier.
Unproven? Bloom had a pretty good track record in TB.
I think they are punting this season and trying to build something long term. I agree with others that they could be big sellers at the deadline even if they are above .500.
There's no pressure on this season. Nobody is going to be watching. They waved the white flag when they moved Betts.
He’s run Tampa. Declining attendance is a given.
The whole “Boston media is voracious” probably doesn’t have the impact you think it has. Too many Boston sportswriters did nothing but whine about each and every move regardless of how good it is. And for some of them, Chaim Bloom could singlehandedly extinguish a burning kindergarten classroom full of kids using nothing more than the contents of the sandbox, and all they would write about is how he destroyed one of their toys. As the saying goes on sports management, “don’t listen to the fans, or you’ll wind up sitting with them.”
The loss of ticket sales is probably expected, but Henry is letting Bloom do the long term thing. We’ll see if Henry learned anything from the way he cut Cherington’s long term vision off in favor of a quick fix..,
Baseball is a business. Bloom is unproven at being the Chief of Baseball Operations at a successful team. Tampa Bay is hardly successful, having never won a title, drawing only friends and relatives unless the Red Sox or Yankees are in town, playing in a filthy dump. They have so little community support they want to play half their games in Canada.
Either he builds a winner in Boston or he won't. What many need to recognize is that a decline in attendance can become precipitous and permanent.
When I first came to Baltimore Orioles regularly drew huge crowds. Then Peter Angelis took control of the team and Baltimore saw attendance collapse. Henry knows the same thing can happen in Boston unless Bloom can turn it around.
If the Red Sox get hit with substantial sanctions and loss of draft picks Bloom's job could become far more difficult then it already is. And the media won't be giving him any breaks.
People think the Red Sox will always be the darling of Boston sport fans but fans can be fickle even in Boston.
You can't expect a GM to win rings with a spending budget of $60-80M. He did a great job with what he was given. To say he was "hardly successful is a gross understatement. One could argue he did better than anyone in MLB within the context of the budgets and situations handed to him.
Sure, he still needs to prove himself, here. Dan D. had the same reputation coming to us from Montreal, and he never won a ring, but he did set Theo up nicely.
I'm having a hard time understanding all the gloom and doom on Henry on Bloom. I get the sadness of losing Betts, and maybe some here never had to endure decades of frustration following the Sox of old, but I'm damn proud of this team and the owners and managers. We've hit a bump in the road. We all knew it was coming, or should have, and now it's time to look forward to a swift rebuild and return to the top. The quicker the better, for us fans, but we need to be more thoughtful about the long term, so maybe this doesn't happen so often.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
First of all it isn' t doom and gloom all I am saying is the stakes are high and Bloom has yet to produce. The success in Tampa was largely Andrew Freidman not Chain Bloom's.. Moreover it is far easier to operate in Tampa because you have the luxury of being able to make mistakes without being crucified in the media since no one in Tampa Bay cares about the Rays any how. If they did the team wouldn't be wanting to play in Montreal.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
You cannot produce when your boss publicly blabs about your intentions and everyone waited you out, knowing you wouldn’t be able to dabble in the FA market. Bloom has been the consummate professional and got great value in his first major move. He came into extraordinary circumstances
Thee will likely be a decline in attendance if the team does not win immediately. But Mookie was not the difference between winning and not winning this year. The Sox had Mookie last year and it equaled 85 wins.
Fans will come back when the team wins. And some will stick throughout. Most of us started following this ballclub at some point between 1918 and 2004. A rough season or two is not exactly a novelty for us...