Red Sox could raid Guardians front office for new baseball czar | Jeff Schudel
Sep. 16—Chaim Bloom was fired as chief baseball officer of the Boston Red Sox on Sept. 14 and before he had time to clean out his desk, names of his possible successor flooded the Internet from the laptops of national baseball observers.
"Chris Antonetti and David Forst are two names being mentioned in the industry today as potential candidates to become the next Red Sox president of baseball operations," John Morosi of MLB Network posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, at 4 p.m. Sept. 14.
Antonetti has been the Guardians' president of baseball operations since Oct. 6, 2015. He was the team's general manager from 2011 until his promotion to his current post.
Forst has been the general manager of the Oakland A's since 2015. As a side note, Forst replaced Paul DePodesta as the A's assistant general manager in 2004. DePodesta is now the chief strategy officer of the Browns.
Zachary Rymer of Bleacher Report listed six potential replacements for Bloom. Neither Antonetti nor Forst made Rymer's list, but Guardians general manager Mike Chernoff did.
"This is basically wish-list fodder for the time being, so you'll have to take the upcoming list of six options with a grain of salt," Rymer wrote as a preamble to his list. "They nonetheless stand out because A) they're hypothetically hireable and B) because they've shown they can do good work."
Chernoff is the second-best option for the Red Sox, according to Rymer, ahead of Mets general manager Billy Eppler, Diamondbacks executive vice president and general manager Mike Hazen, Phillies GM Sam Fuld and Twins general Thad LeVine. Brandon Gomes, general manager of the Dodgers, is the only choice to replace Bloom who would be better than Chernoff in Rymer's estimation.
"Only three teams (Dodgers, Astros and Yankees) have won games at a better clip than the Guardians since Chernoff took his post underneath president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti in 2016." Rymer wrote. "They've done so despite regularly ranking in the bottom half and even the bottom third in payroll since then.
"The Red Sox should thus be looking at Chernoff and wondering what he could do with a bigger budget. If he were to build a pitching factory in Boston similar to the one in Cleveland, even better."
It is indisputable that Antonetti and Chernoff have had great success on a limited budget. Terry Francona, who has all but officially said he is retiring after this season ends Oct. 1 after 11 seasons as manager, is obviously a huge part of that success. So is the scouting department and the group of pitching coaches in the Guardians' farm system.
Antonetti never misses the opportunity to praise the scouts who scour baseball diamonds for talent. He likewise praises the coaches in Lynchburg, Lake County, Akron and Columbus when he talks about young players promoted to the Guardians.
It would be fascinating to see what Antonetti or Chernoff would do with a larger budget. But their strength has been trading starters for younger players — not necessarily signing free agents. They whiffed badly in signing DH Josh Bell and catcher Mike Zunino for 2023.
Trading Corey Kluber to the Texans for closer Emmanuel Clase is one example of how they win on trades. Trading Mike Clevinger to the Padres for Josh Naylor, Cal Quantrill, Austin Hedges, Gabriel Arias, pitcher Joey Cantillo and Owen Miller is another.
Naylor leads the Guardians with 88 RBI despite missing a month with an oblique injury. Arias has established himself as the regular shortstop after Amed Rosario was traded to the Dodgers. MLB.com ranks Cantillo 11th among Guardians prospects with Daniel Espino the only pitching prospect ranked ahead of him. Quantrill is a solid back-of-the-rotation starter when he's healthy.
Francona's time with the Guardians is coming to an end, and one gets the feeling there will be more changes before spring training starts in February in Goodyear, Ariz. Losing Antonetti or Chernoff might be one of them. If either does take over the Red Sox's baseball operation, the Guardians can expect to lose key people in the scouting department in the process.
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