A history of Red Sox GMs in the post-Theo Epstein era: Success and slashing payroll
For the second time in four years, the Boston Red Sox have fired their leading baseball executive.
The Red Sox fired Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom on Thursday, according to MassLive.com's Chris Cotillo.
Bloom had been in charge of the team's baseball operations since Oct. 2019 after previously serving as the Tampa Bay Rays' Senior Vice President of Baseball operations. One of his most notable first moves as the new Red Sox executive was trading superstar outfielder Mookie Betts to the Dodgers.
Boston is currently tied for fourth (and last) place in the AL East and will likely miss the playoffs for a second straight year.
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Theo Epstein
The Red Sox have executed several shake ups in their front office since former general manager Theo Epstein left the team to join the Cubs in 2011.
Epstein ran the team from 2002 until 2011 and gained national acclaim in 2004 as the architect of the first Red Sox roster to win a World Series title since 1918. The team went on to win another championship under the young general manager in 2007.
After leaving the Red Sox, Epstein led the Cubs for nine years — from 2011 through 2020 — and broke yet another long title drought when Chicago won the World Series in 2016, its first championship since 1908.
The former executive currently serves as an MLB consultant to "on-field matters."
Though many fans hoped Bloom's firing would open up a potential Epstein return to Boston in 2023 and beyond, team president Sam Kennedy quickly shut down that possibility, saying Epstein would not be a candidate.
Theo Epstein is not a candidate to lead the Red Sox, says Sam Kennedy.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) September 14, 2023
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Red Sox executives since Theo Epstein
After Epstein's departure, the Boston has had four different people in charge of their baseball operations. Though it's won two World Series titles under two different regimes since Epstein's departure, no head executive has remained in control of the team for longer than four years.
Ben Cherington
Ben Cherington, the Red Sox' former assistant GM, was the first to take over the team in the post-Epstein era. In 2011, he was given a team that rapidly slid out of contention in September, leading to the firing of manager Terry Francona.
After a 2012 season that saw the team finish 69-93, their worst mark since 1965, Cherington managed to turn things around in Boston. Thanks to a flurry of offseason additions in free agency, the Red Sox went from worst to first, winning its third World Series championship in a 10-year span after an 86-year title drought.
Cherington resigned from his position in 2015 when the Red Sox announced they had hired Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball operations, a position that would oversee the general manager. He currently serves as the Pittsburgh Pirates' general manager.
Dave Dombrowski
Dombrowski helped Boston win the AL East in his first full year as the team's leading executive in 2016, and the team won the division again in 2017. However, the team lost in the American League Divisional Series in both years.
In 2018, the Red Sox won the division for a third consecutive season. They went on to win the World Series that year under new manager Alex Cora.
Ten months later, the team fired Dombrowski. At the time, they were 76-67 and 17.5 games behind the Yankees in the AL East.
Dombrowski now leads the Philadelphia Phillies as their president of baseball operations.
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Chaim Bloom
Bloom took over as Chief Baseball Officer in the fall of 2019.
Under his supervision, Boston cut spending on its payroll. It went from a top spender in MLB to under the Competitive Balance Tax three times in the last four years, per ESPN's Jeff Passan.
The team ranked 11th in payroll in 2023.
Over the 15-year stretch during which they won four World Series, here were the Boston Red Sox's payroll ranks in those years: 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 1st.
Over the last four years, they have been under the CBT three times and their payroll this year is 11th.
But it was the GM's fault.— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 14, 2023
The Red Sox had a 267-262 record in the Bloom era and made the American League Championship Series in 2021.
On Sept. 14, the team fired Bloom.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Theo Epstein's Red Sox success as GM rarely duplicated by successors
