Red Sox hire Chaim Bloom as new head of baseball operations, per report

The Red Sox are hiring Rays senior vice president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom as their new head of baseball operations, according to a report late Friday afternoon from the New York Post’s Joel Sherman. Bloom’s official title is to be determined — Bloom’s predecessor, Dave Dombrowski, had the title of president of baseball operations and worked without a general manager for the final three seasons of his tenure — but MassLive’s Chris Cotillo suggests that “chief baseball officer” seems likely:

The 36-year-old Bloom is a Yale graduate who had spent nearly his entire career in baseball with the Rays up until this point (he also served internships in the Padres’ front office and in the legal/corporate partnerships office of Major League Baseball). He worked his way up from the bottom in Tampa’s front office and had served as VP of baseball operations — collaborating with GM Erik Neander on personnel decisions while focusing specifically on player development and the team’s performance science department — since October of 2014.

It will be interesting to see what type of mindset he brings to the position; former Rays GM Andrew Friedman has reduced the Dodgers’ payroll by 38% since taking over in 2015 and has brought small-market tactics to the big stage, refusing to give out lengthy contracts and often preferring to take chances on dumpster-dive types like Max Muncy and Chris Taylor rather than paying established veterans. Bloom could easily opt to do the same in Boston — which would be another bad development for the players, as Boston has been one of the few teams that has still been willing (and has had the financial resources) to give out long-term, nine-figure deals in recent years.