The Guardian's Antonetti is staying put in Cleveland apparently. So Mike Hazen, who was mentioned last week, is probably now the favorite for those people who want an old Sox guy, not named Theo. He is under contract at Arizona through 2024, so he might cost the Sox a trade piece.
John Tomase lists Brandon Gomes (GM Dodgers), Sam Fuld (Philly GM) , Mike Elias (Baltimore), Carter Hawkins (GM Cubs) and James Click of Toronto. Click, the VP of Baseball Strategy, has a good resume, being with Tampa, Houston and now Toronto. The problem getting Click, he is good friends with Bloom, who he has known for the last 15 years. Bloom helped him get the job with the Jays. With Bloom going out last week and Click may not be the best timing.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on September 18, 2023, 10:18:52 AM
The Guardian's Antonetti is staying put in Cleveland apparently. So Mike Hazen, who was mentioned last week, is probably now the favorite for those people who want an old Sox guy, not named Theo. He is under contract at Arizona through 2024, so he might cost the Sox a trade piece.
John Tomase lists Brandon Gomes (GM Dodgers), Sam Fuld (Philly GM) , Mike Elias (Baltimore), Carter Hawkins (GM Cubs) and James Click of Toronto. Click, the VP of Baseball Strategy, has a good resume, being with Tampa, Houston and now Toronto. The problem getting Click, he is good friends with Bloom, who he has known for the last 15 years. Bloom helped him get the job with the Jays. With Bloom going out last week and Click may not be the best timing.
If Click is good friends with Bloom it is a red flag if ever there was one and who knows if he was infected with the same small market mentality as the disgraced Bloom was. Sorry to hear about Antonetti staying in Cleveland. I wonder if he was warned that if he was up for the Bosox job he would not be able to have his own manager and coaches which translated means to me that Cora is still part of the bargain. Whoever gets this job must insist that he has full authority to hire his own manager and not be an appendige of Prune Face or some o ther lower flunkies on this failing and now disreputable club.
Many are pushing Mike Hazen. IMO Hazen would be crazy to take any job with Henry without ironclad guarantees. Good bad or indifferent Henry fires his HOBO every 4 years. The next HOBO must demand certain budget levels.
Quote from: elktonnick on September 18, 2023, 03:10:30 PM
Many are pushing Mike Hazen. IMO Hazen would be crazy to take any job with Henry without ironclad guarantees. Good bad or indifferent Henry fires his HOBO every 4 years. The next HOBO must demand certain budget levels.
Right again Elk.
For better or worse, I think Cora is going nowhere until he totally screws the pooch. If I'm correct, Cora should be involved in the process. There's no way a HOBO and the field Manager should be on two distinct planets like this last pairing was.
That thought alone inspires another. How much better or worse would it have been if Bloom had gotten to choose his own guy? I'm thinking in terms of how badly pure, untethered Bloomball would have looked if Cora was not in the picture. Sort of blows my whole concept of needing a HOBO and Manager to be in a state of well bonded bliss.
They really love Cora for some reason, but it also sounds like he was the voice against the moves and non-moves of Bloom. I'm hopeful they'll find another role for Cora that opens the door for new field management. I'm happy they finally realize what we all saw 3 or 4 years ago, but will they get it right now? I'm not sure they know how bad this organization is right now.
It's interesting that O'Halloran has been promoted as an executive (for an unknown title). Most observers think it is separate from the CBO. So there are two openings, one the OPS guy and one GM. Also interesting that Asst GM Eddie Romero's name has not come up. He is instrumental in knowing the minor league and internationals, and known personally by the Boston players. Would he be the new GM, or would the CBO want his own man?
My favorite right now would be Brandon Gomes in LA. (We need pitchers, and this guy knows all about how they develop). He is a fast riser. He pitched for the Rays just 8 years ago (probably played cards with Bloom!). He was hired as the pitching analyst and development for Dodgers as starters. In 2021 he was promoted to GM. The guy has been around division winners and a WS winner. And he is a Mass. native (Fall River) Some of the other guys seem to be just place holders at their teams. Click has winning experience at Tampa and Houston.
Speier was on earlier talking three names. Gomes, Romero and Hazen. He also mentioned something I did not know before. He said that Bloom was the only one the Sox interviewed after firing Dombrowski.
I think he mentioned a Gomes as being big into the analytics. I'm not certain I want that. There's a place for statistics, sure, but I don't want it running the show again.
Sam Kennedy interviewed this morning (Thurs). He goes on and on about "how important this move is and will go through the fall and winter to get the person we need." I'm just flummoxed. They should have some guidelines already in place by now, living through this miserable season. By winter? A lot of the progress in negotiations for FA's and trades will be done by that point. What a disorganized bunch of nitwits who claim to know baseball.
Somebody in Boston, please throw me a lifeline.
They're too busy planning Barbie night at Fenway. I had to see that promo about 4 times before I believed it wasn't just a joke. Way to signal priorities - we need Barbie night but we can wait until the season starts to build our team.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on September 21, 2023, 08:19:02 AM
Sam Kennedy interviewed this morning (Thurs). He goes on and on about "how important this move is and will go through the fall and winter to get the person we need." I'm just flummoxed. They should have some guidelines already in place by now, living through this miserable season. By winter? A lot of the progress in negotiations for FA's and trades will be done by that point. What a disorganized bunch of nitwits who claim to know baseball.
Somebody in Boston, please throw me a lifeline.
Wouldn't do much good for Sam Kennedy. He'd be better served with a cigarette and a blindfold; then again I can't remember a bigger bunch of incompetent jackasses in any organization that what we have been subjected to with these yo yos running our team.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on September 21, 2023, 08:19:02 AM
Sam Kennedy interviewed this morning (Thurs). He goes on and on about "how important this move is and will go through the fall and winter to get the person we need." I'm just flummoxed. They should have some guidelines already in place by now, living through this miserable season. By winter? A lot of the progress in negotiations for FA's and trades will be done by that point. What a disorganized bunch of nitwits who claim to know baseball.
Somebody in Boston, please throw me a lifeline.
A line from a Neil Young song just popped into my mind. "I was thinking about what a friend had said, hoping it was a lie."
The second thing to pop into my head was a thought that maybe Bloom did not stand alone as a long, drawn out thinker type. Perhaps him and Kennedy were two peas in the pod in that trait? Supposing we do sign a good Ops guy. Is he going to be held back by Kennedy dragging his ass to rubber stamp a deal?
The third thing to pop into my aging cranium was that perhaps his existence is a huge red flag for the best candidates. We did see Kennedy take a much more active role last Winter after Bloom was spending his time in the dumpster again, which may or may not have at least helped.
Remember, Kennedy was basically shoved off to the side and out of baseball Ops per the Dombrowski agreement. He was told that he was going to be Dombrowski's right hand man, partner in crime type. Maybe even a co-Ops type of position. Kennedy was informed at the last minute that he was out of the circle. I think this came down just before going to pick Dombrowski up at the airport.
So yeah, I'm getting nothing good from this. I don't even wanna talk about thought #4.
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on September 22, 2023, 06:59:22 AM
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on September 21, 2023, 08:19:02 AM
Sam Kennedy interviewed this morning (Thurs). He goes on and on about "how important this move is and will go through the fall and winter to get the person we need." I'm just flummoxed. They should have some guidelines already in place by now, living through this miserable season. By winter? A lot of the progress in negotiations for FA's and trades will be done by that point. What a disorganized bunch of nitwits who claim to know baseball.
Somebody in Boston, please throw me a lifeline.
A line from a Neil Young song just popped into my mind. "I was thinking about what a friend had said, hoping it was a lie."
The second thing to pop into my head was a thought that maybe Bloom did not stand alone as a long, drawn out thinker type. Perhaps him and Kennedy were two peas in the pod in that trait? Supposing we do sign a good Ops guy. Is he going to be held back by Kennedy dragging his ass to rubber stamp a deal?
The third thing to pop into my aging cranium was that perhaps his existence is a huge red flag for the best candidates. We did see Kennedy take a much more active role last Winter after Bloom was spending his time in the dumpster again, which may or may not have at least helped.
Remember, Kennedy was basically shoved off to the side and out of baseball Ops per the Dombrowski agreement. He was told that he was going to be Dombrowski's right hand man, partner in crime type. Maybe even a co-Ops type of position. Kennedy was informed at the last minute that he was out of the circle. I think this came down just before going to pick Dombrowski up at the airport.
So yeah, I'm getting nothing good from this. I don't even wanna talk about thought #4.
From what I can tell they have a President, a President of Baseball Ops and a GM. Not sure why you need three guys for that one position. Kennedy seems redundant to me and I don't know what he adds to the club. It's an interesting thought that all these non-athletes are very risk averse.
I thought Kennedy's real job was all the non baseball stuff connected to the Red Sox, like running Fenway Park, non baseball payroll, accounting, sales, promotions and general public relations . That is a.major job too.much for a HOBO to run as well as baseball.
Later news this A.M., that O'Halloran was named "V.P. of Baseball Operations". then they noted that Raquel Ferreira and Eddie Romero will remain on as assistant GMs.
That seems like a crowded department. Before you know it, they will bring back Mike Hazen as Chief Ops President, with Cora as Field Manager and un-named "Pres of Baseball Decisions". Alex would get the last look on trades and extensions. You can only guess if Kennedy gets the parting shot.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on September 22, 2023, 09:45:38 AM
Later news this A.M., that O'Halloran was named "V.P. of Baseball Operations". then they noted that Raquel Ferreira and Eddie Romero will remain on as assistant GMs.
That seems like a crowded department. Before you know it, they will bring back Mike Hazen as Chief Ops President, with Cora as Field Manager and un-named "Pres of Baseball Decisions". Alex would get the last look on trades and extensions. You can only guess if Kennedy gets the parting shot.
After reading what my friends have written today about the revolting situation the front office finds itself in, I know I'm in good company. I just wonder when my head is going to explode from all this incompetency from this bunch of clowns. For God's sake, just show some smarts for a change and pick a real Baseball Ops Director not wedded to the dumpster and get on with getting team out of the gutter once and for all. It is hard for me to remember another team that has descended from the penthouse to the outhouse as this club has in the last five years.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on September 22, 2023, 09:45:38 AM
Later news this A.M., that O'Halloran was named "V.P. of Baseball Operations". then they noted that Raquel Ferreira and Eddie Romero will remain on as assistant GMs.
That seems like a crowded department. Before you know it, they will bring back Mike Hazen as Chief Ops President, with Cora as Field Manager and un-named "Pres of Baseball Decisions". Alex would get the last look on trades and extensions. You can only guess if Kennedy gets the parting shot.
Those other two people have specific departments they are responsible for. I THINK Romero over the international scouting department, or something like that? Maybe something with IFA and/or Draft?
Raquel is in charge of something akin to being a liasson for players in the minors for random incidental things and logistics in addition to whatever other baseball related things she handles.
The flavor of the day ... for CBO ... is Sam Fuld of Philly. If memory serves, this is the same Fuld that Sox were looking at as field manager before they picked Cora again (2020?).
The way this is shaping up to me (hope I'm way off on this), they are not looking for a guy to make bold moves on his/her own, but for a guy who would have a "me too" decision with other talking heads in the room. Interesting time line, the Sox are looking hard to sign star pitcher Yamamota from Japan. Cashman and the Yanks were in Japan on Sept 12 to watch Yamamota pitch a no-hitter. Henry fired Bloom on Sept 14. Not sure how that was a cause and effect thing.
According to @BNightengale, Sam Fuld has emerged as one of the leading candidates to replace Chaim in the Red Sox front office.
Fuld was a finalist in the Red Sox managerial search the last time around. Has worked as Dave Dombrowski’s right-hand man and GM with the Phillies.
Was Fuld part of the Red Sox organization during the Dombrowski era?
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on September 25, 2023, 08:14:36 AM
Was Fuld part of the Red Sox organization during the Dombrowski era?
I don't think so. After he retired as a player, he was hired by Philly in 2017 as a "player information director" under manager Gabe Kapler. Andy McPhail was the CBO at that time I believe. Fuld does have some good smarts, an Econ major at Stanford.
If I listen to all the noise from the writers, it looks like Fuld or Ng (Miami) now have the odds to get the Sox job. Antonetti is staying in Cleve. and Nightengale said Hazen will be blocked by the DBacks from talking to Boston. Sam Fuld was appointed GM at Philly in 2020. The following is a tweet X from MLB with Fuld talking about his GM job and reflecting his 2020 interview with Boston for field manager. He seems hip deep in analytics and gives Phila. a "translator of information" for their front office.
https://x.com/tylermilliken_/status/1706383426993955059?s=20
I think Mike Hazen made it clear he has no interest in returning to Boston.Why should he. Looks like he has free rein in Arizona. Given JH's track record Boston will have to over pay to get a quality candidate..
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on September 25, 2023, 06:33:36 AM
The flavor of the day ... for CBO ... is Sam Fuld of Philly. If memory serves, this is the same Fuld that Sox were looking at as field manager before they picked Cora again (2020?).
The way this is shaping up to me (hope I'm way off on this), they are not looking for a guy to make bold moves on his/her own, but for a guy who would have a "me too" decision with other talking heads in the room. Interesting time line, the Sox are looking hard to sign star pitcher Yamamota from Japan. Cashman and the Yanks were in Japan on Sept 12 to watch Yamamota pitch a no-hitter. Henry fired Bloom on Sept 14. Not sure how that was a cause and effect thing.
According to @BNightengale, Sam Fuld has emerged as one of the leading candidates to replace Chaim in the Red Sox front office.
Fuld was a finalist in the Red Sox managerial search the last time around. Has worked as Dave Dombrowski’s right-hand man and GM with the Phillies.
Fuld should tell Henry and the rest to shove it unless he is given the power to make the key decisions and keep the rest of the incompetent staff at arms length. Remember Fuld works for Dombrowski so I think he got the same advice from him on this situation. Fuld would be a very good choice but not if he is going to have his hands tied and dumpster diving continues to be part of the order of the day. OTOH, I'm not so sure Pruney wants a guy who was learning at the wing of DD who got the shaft from the owner after helping the team win three AL Easts and one big World Series.
I think hiring Fuld would be a tacit admission by Henry that firing Dombrowski was a huge mistake.
Fuld would be nuts to accept a job from Henry without iron clad guarantees.
I think it is obvious to all who are regular readings of ththeir adviiceis forum that problems with the Red Sox front office go well beyond Bloom and Henry's tight budget. The entire front office bureaucracy is suspect in my view.
My take is that Henry fired Dombrowski not because he spent too.much or depleted the farm but because the FO bureaucracy was pissed that DD cut them out or ignored their advice. Remember there were credible reports that Henry wanted to fire DD in 2018 because staff complained about his ignoring their consensus decisionmaking.
Bloom was hired because he was a team player. Well clearly that did not work out. So we all heard grumbles for the past 18 months that unnamed FO staffers questioned some of Bloom moves. Except Bloom.purportedly made consensus decisions.
Obviously if Henry really wants to turn it around he must get rid of more than just Bloom. Frankly everyone involved in pitching from development to training to philosophy, approach and coaching needs to be elsewhere.
If it were my team there are at least a half dozen FO personnel and all of the coaches and Cora need to move on.
I think the only reason they got Dombrowski in the first place was because he had worked for Henry in Florida. Dombrowski got the keys and autonomy and it worked. Well, mostly worked. Letting the Betts situation get out of hand by going to team's first Arbitration hearing in the Henry era was a bad move that is still being felt. This generation's Carlton Fisk blunder. Henry let it happen because he gave him autonomy. Can't break that promise so early on, but damn! This one should have been avoided.
I've read some reports here and there that painted Ng as more of a problem than success in Florida. Tough to judge with that situation, though. Various ownerships' regimes killed South Florida baseball.
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on September 28, 2023, 08:16:17 AM
I think the only reason they got Dombrowski in the first place was because he had worked for Henry in Florida. Dombrowski got the keys and autonomy and it worked. Well, mostly worked. Letting the Betts situation get out of hand by going to team's first Arbitration hearing in the Henry era was a bad move that is still being felt. This generation's Carlton Fisk blunder. Henry let it happen because he gave him autonomy. Can't break that promise so early on, but damn! This one should have been avoided.
I've read some reports here and there that painted Ng as more of a problem than success in Florida. Tough to judge with that situation, though. Various ownerships' regimes killed South Florida baseball.
The other thing to keep in mind with reports about Ng is that she's the first female GM in a field dominated by white men. There's going to be a bias there. She may indeed have some shortcomings, but the possibility of gender/racial bias has to be considered when reading negative press about her.
Sam Kennedy said that Red Sox ownership has not decided exactly what authority its new chief baseball official will have.
This is interesting and seems to indicate confusion at the top. I suspect they will not decide the level of authority until they have narrowed the candidates down to one or two. I suppose the successful candidate may be in an ideal position to negotiate significant more authority than Bloom or DD had. I also suspect that Henry touched base with Theo Epstein who obviously made it clear that he wasn't interested.
Quote from: markj on September 28, 2023, 09:03:16 AM
The other thing to keep in mind with reports about Ng is that she's the first female GM in a field dominated by white men. There's going to be a bias there. She may indeed have some shortcomings, but the possibility of gender/racial bias has to be considered when reading negative press about her.
Good point, though I would really hope that wasn't the case in most of it.
Quote from: elktonnick on September 28, 2023, 05:25:48 PM
Sam Kennedy said that Red Sox ownership has not decided exactly what authority its new chief baseball official will have.
This is interesting and seems to indicate confusion at the top. I suspect they will not decide the level of authority until they have narrowed the candidates down to one or two. I suppose the successful candidate may be in an ideal position to negotiate significant more authority than Bloom or DD had. I also suspect that Henry touched base with Theo Epstein who obviously made it clear that he wasn't interested.
It's a valid question. They are not the most eager to work group ownership group these days.
DD had as much authority as anyone has had in some time for FSG. They restricted him to not doing multi-year threshold busting ($$$) and that was about it. They should have lopped of his legs before pissing Betts off, but that's history.
Jon Heyman has three more names he thinks Sox are targeting. All West coast Josh Byrnes, Brandon Gomes and David First (Oakland A's). The first two guys are in the Dodgers front office. Gomes has been talked about.
Byrnes has a history with the Sox. Grew up as a Washington, D.C. area guy where he went to school. Was recruited to Boston by Epstein in 2003, where he spent two years. senior vice president of baseball operations. Recruited to LA by Friedman in 2014.
However the Sox have yet to interview any candidates. A story is out that Bloom was the only guy the Sox interviewed in 2020. Unbelievable.
Kennedy made the strong point to indicate that the Sox would interview more than one candidate which only serves to underscore their entire approach towards hiring Bloom and firing Dombrowski for that matter was a mistake.
They have moved O'Halloran to as yet undefined new role and are undecided as to what authority their new HOBO will have. This all seems to suggest the organization is one f*cked up mess.
Reports are now coming out to.support what many here surmised that Cora was not supportive of Bloom. Not that I cared for Bloom I did not but if these reports are true it is just another black mark against Cora in my book. Not only is he a cheater but a disloyal sob. Bloom gave Cora the job and this is how he repays him. Any new HOBO needs to make Cora's departure a condition of employment in my book.
Gabe Kapler was terminated by the Giants today. He would be a dependable manager for the Sox, if the new GM guy insisted on a new manager. A former Boston Red Sox. But those are pure conjecture points.
I saw that about Kapler and initially thought that same thing, but then the article went on to say he is fond of platooning and reclamation projects. We've had enough of both.
I think Kapler would be a bit too intense for laid-back Red Sox.
All's I've been able to find on Cora and Bloom so far are a few low-level internet news articles with commentary about a Ken Rosenthal appearance on a radio(IIRC) show explaining that he was told by some close to Bloom that Cora was not as supportive as he could have been. No content, examples, details, etc.
Felger and Mazz yesterday had an interesting perspective on the Bloom Cora relationship. Both thought Cora's praise of the Os front office Thursday was a direct slam at Bloom.
Basically it is an issue that Bloom was too analytical and did not appreciate what really happens in the dugout.
Cora too an indirect slap at Bloom back in August. Cora: "nobody cares how high your minor league is ranked, it's all about wins in October."
Quote from: markj on September 29, 2023, 07:53:33 PM
I saw that about Kapler and initially thought that same thing, but then the article went on to say he is fond of platooning and reclamation projects. We've had enough of both.
If what you said is true about Kapler, then its adios for him. We don't need any more dumpster diving or reclamation projects Six last place finishes in the last 12 years is enough to make all of us sick to our stomachs.
I think we had speculated on that Cora-Bloom relationship here. Certainly there were times, like when he left Barraclough in there, that he was sending a message of "if this is the only kind of move you can make, let's see what he can do". There's certainly a natural tension between a guy who has been a player and then a manager and a stat head in the front office. Those teams that bridge that gap make it work. Part of it has to be an ops guy with some actual experience outside of the office.
Someone will be sold on this being a historic opportunity with a franchise that has some good assets in place and really needs someone to identify and fill the gaps. Bloom was simply incapable of constructing a team, never mind a quality team. But with some young players and the false commitments Henry will give him, someone will jump.
Another rub, Bloom and Cora, the Globe noted that Bloom had tagged the Sox as "underdogs", who were sti;ll competitors after the deadline. Cora and the coaches showed up at a game a week or so later with 'underdog' tee-shirts.
I think the choice for CBO now is 60/30 between Kim Ng and Fuld (10 for a surprise candidate). Just my .02c that Cora is becoming a big influence for the new CBO, and he just might get the last look on trades. I think they offered him CBO, but he told them, "it's not my time." Alas the choice is coming down to an officer who would be willing to be second guessed by three other presidents and now Cora as well.
From a Cora interview this week on his relationship with Ng (he worked with her during his time in LA 20 years ago. "She's got the experience and you can't replace that."
https://x.com/Bastards_Boston/status/1709259419828060658?s=20
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on October 06, 2023, 09:51:14 AM
I think the choice for CBO now is 60/30 between Kim Ng and Fuld (10 for a surprise candidate). Just my .02c that Cora is becoming a big influence for the new CBO, and he just might get the last look on trades. I think they offered him CBO, but he told them, "it's not my time." Alas the choice is coming down to an officer who would be willing to be second guessed by three other presidents and now Cora as well.
From a Cora interview this week on his relationship with Ng (he worked with her during his time in LA 20 years ago. "She's got the experience and you can't replace that."
https://x.com/Bastards_Boston/status/1709259419828060658?s=20
I think your point about Cora's influence is excellent. I also think your comments about too many cooks in the kitchen is right on target. None of this gives me much hope for real change. Sad
Agreed, I really worry about the multi-headed monster and also worry about whether anyone competent would take the job given that they'll be in that mess.
Quote from: longgame on October 06, 2023, 03:25:11 PM
Agreed, I really worry about the multi-headed monster and also worry about whether anyone competent would take the job given that they'll be in that mess.
There is a blurb today on masslive that the Sox are getting big push back from CBO candidates, to be a part of the obstacles at Fenway Group. Michael Hill?
One person whom the Red Sox are known to be targeting, multiple industry sources confirm, is Michael Hill, who has an extensive resumé in the game and for the last few years has served as MLB’s Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations. For MLB, Hill is in charge of umpires and on-field discipline. Hill, who played football and baseball at Harvard, was drafted by the Texas Rangers in 1993 and spent three seasons in the minor leagues.
It is unknown if Hill has interviewed for the position yet, or even if he has signaled interest in the role.
After his playing days, Hill worked for the Tampa Bay Rays, Colorado Rockies, and Florida Marlins. He worked his way up the ladder with the Marlins, first becoming general manager, then president of baseball operations before being let go by then-CEO Derek Jeter after the 2020 season. As president of BO at Miami, his teams had 3 winning seasons out of 6.
Last off-season he was considered as GM by Angels, Mets, and Astros (from whom he removed his name).
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on October 13, 2023, 09:00:39 AM
There is a blurb today on masslive that the Sox are getting big push back from CBO candidates, to be a part of the obstacles at Fenway Group. Michael Hill?
What do you mean by this? Potential candidates saying thanks, but no thanks due to the FSG?
The Sox have already started interviews for CBO. Eddie Romero has been vetted. Another name popped up, Josh Byrnes of the Dodgers (per Cotillo) (interview uncertain).
IMO Romero is the fail safe, if all else fails, he is a known quantity at Fenway.
I think Henty will not venture out of his comfort zone with a hire that challenges the status quo.
CBS MLB blog amplified what was reported above. It seems Henry has reaped what he has sown. No one wants to interview because of the turnover of HOBOs and the number of holdovers in the FO as well as the commitment to Cora.
Lets face it managing the Red Sox front office in fighting is probably a bigger challenge than winning baseball games.
I've seen the same this morning. They're having trouble getting interest due to the high turnover of the position and confusing organizational structure and responsibilities. Let's face it, it's clear that the CBO is reporting to Cora. That's insane. So you have a President who appears to know nothing about baseball working for an owner who knows less. You have some other guys with big old titles that imply some more distributed responsibility, ostensibly a GM who reports to him and with management's announcement they are keeping Cora, it's clear that he's just going to be another guy to blame when they suck again for another 4 years.
Quote from: longgame on October 14, 2023, 11:55:54 AM
I've seen the same this morning. They're having trouble getting interest due to the high turnover of the position and confusing organizational structure and responsibilities. Let's face it, it's clear that the CBO is reporting to Cora. That's insane. So you have a President who appears to know nothing about baseball working for an owner who knows less. You have some other guys with big old titles that imply some more distributed responsibility, ostensibly a GM who reports to him and with management's announcement they are keeping Cora, it's clear that he's just going to be another guy to blame when they suck again for another 4 years.
Yup I'd say you pretty much nailed it.
In the MLB podcast, there was some convo that people with backgrounds of living in Mass. had turned down interviews. People think they were referring to Fuld of Philly and Gomes of LA.
I think there is another obstacle for filling the CBO/PBO job -- Cora was asked about his desires of moving to the front office. He made this rambling comment that 'it is not my time'. I believe candidates heard that, and if they took the job, they would simply be asked to be a placeholder for Cora to take the job in two years. It's been a strange time on the bench for Cora. He is now going into working for third CBO, and he's actually been hired twice by Boston after being suspended once (2017?).
There is a very corrosive atmosphere around Fenway Park and I can smell it out here 3,000 miles away. It's like the gang that couldn't shoot straight. What's more, it looks like Prune Face Henry has just gone of the deep end not knowing which way he should turn with all the leftovers and hangers on still polluting the front office. Even worse, he has decided to keep the filthy rotten cheater in control giving the organization another black mark as a hangout for both incompetents and crooks. We all know what is needed.....a solid COBO who has a solid reputation for evaluating talent for promotions and knowing how to utilize that also for possible trades to get quality talent back in exchange should the time call for it. Right now we have nothing of the sort, and if the Prune thinks the fans will be mollified just with the change of Bloom being cashiered he better think again. There is rot here digging deeper into the whole assemblage and a Dombrowski type is needed now more than ever. In fact, it would be the best scene to finally hired someone who is in charge and in control of this mess, especially now that we have a good half dozen top prospects who will be ready in a year or two at the most. Instead we see Henry still marooned on his yacht serving his flunkies wine and cheese and thinking the fans will keep standing for his ineptitude and shitty team finishes.
Supposedly the Sox have asked CBO candidates to agree to a pledge not to disclose who they are in the process. So any news we get is from leakers, whatever side they're on, or writers who are offering nothing more than rumor or click bait. One of those is Bob Nightengale, who has posted this weekend that Michael Hill has pulled his name out of the ring - he's staying with MLB. Nightengale then says on Twitter that Sam Fuld is now the top choice for Boston. So does Fuld still have a fleeting interest through all of this?
For some fun leverage, Brock Holt has actually admitted an interest in a Sox front office job, because he loves baseball and thinks he could offer a hands-on experience to FSG in some role. Whatever all this is, it has the appearance of a small-market team trying to figure out baseball, not how a big-market WS contender would approach things. Like most of you have said, this is now the Henry/Kennedy baseball group that is really twisting in the wind.
LOL Vote for Brock!
A lot of these guys like Henry or like PAnthers owner David Tepper, are numbers guys, not managers. They relate to other numbers guys and they don’t know how to build and run effective organizations. Baseball isn’t a lot different because the money makes up a lot of the difference, but in baseball you also have to win on the field, not just make money.
When Henry started, he had baseball guys around him and a team that was handed to him. He leveraged that for 4 years and broke it up. I’d say they caught lightning in a bottle in both 13 and 18 and of course we know he dismantled the championship team of 18 as fast as possible.
MLB just posted this 15 minutes ago. The Marlins have announced that Kim Ng has declined her end of a dual option for next season.
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on October 16, 2023, 08:29:23 AM
MLB just posted this 15 minutes ago. The Marlins have announced that Kim Ng has declined her end of a dual option for next season.
If Kim Ng eventually gets the Ops job for Boston, what are her thoughts on working with Cora as the manager? Cora did give his opinion of Ng when he played for the Dodgers 20 years ago and Ng was a front office official in LA at the time. He said, "she has the experience which you have to respect." I think I would put the pecking order as Fuld on top, with Ng the backup plan and Romero as plan C. But at this point, I think only one of those have interviewed.
Boston sports media is generally taking the position that who ever gets the job is essentially a front. Cora will be the one calling the shots.
If she gets the job, she'll have over twice the payroll to spend as she did in Miami. Hopefully Ng learned enough from the LA and Marlins' systems to get a proper pitching element added to the 'Sox player development in the long term. She did make trades and those trades helped her team get into the dance a few weeks ago. I'm don't know if she over spent at all in getting them or not, but initial digging did not look like she gave the ranch away.
Heard a guy from Pittsburgh was in the mix. He fits the bill for Henry - small market, low salary, perennial loser.
Quote from: longgame on October 17, 2023, 07:31:31 AM
Heard a guy from Pittsburgh was in the mix. He fits the bill for Henry - small market, low salary, perennial loser.
The Pirates guy must be Huntington, who is now with the Guardians as asst. to the Pres. of OPS. Here's Speier's broad list of what looks like a lot of Plan B GM's. GM's from the Guardians (Huntington), Twins (Levine) and Cubs (Breslow) have already interviewed as have Eddie Romero. Last weeks A list have declined interviews, (Fuld, Gomes, Hill, Daniels of Rangers, Falvey of Twins).
Speier has a larger (but speculative) list of internal and external candidates:
Internal: Ben Crockett, Raquel Ferreira (now withdrawn), Mike Groopman, BOH, Gus Quattlebaum Mike Rickard, Eddie Romero, and Paul Tobooni
External: Craig Breslow (Cubs assistant GM/director of pitching), Josh Byrnes (Dodgers senior VP of baseball ops), Mike Chernoff (Guardians GM), James Click (Blue Jays VP of baseball strategy), James Harris (Guardians assistant GM), Neal Huntington (Guardians special assistant to president of baseball ops), Matt Klentak (Brewers special assistant to the GM), Thad Levine (Twins GM), Sig Mejdal (Orioles assistant GM), Kim Ng (former Marlins GM), Eve Rosenbaum (Orioles assistant GM), and Zack Scott (former Mets interim GM).
Also notes that some internal candidates have been interviewed. Also Craig Breslow, Thad Levine, and Neal Huntington have interviewed.
It's Huntington. He was the Pirates GM before.
Holy Crap! Um, is it any wonder we could not do a deal last two seasons? Kennedy must spend 4 days on Amazon choosing generic Raisin Bran. "Um, can you give me a raisin count? Per ounce of bran content is fine as long as you've got the past 3 years hydration rate variations by batch." Jeez!
I read that one of the reasons Ng left Miami was because they were planning on bringing in a President of Baseball Operations that she would have to report to.
So I was thinking. Promoting the internal favorite does have an ancillary benefit of that in-house group finally having one of their own in charge. Put up or shut up time. If it works, great. If it bombs, then we have a clear and obvious need for a house cleaning that not even Henry and Werner could deny.
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on October 17, 2023, 03:47:00 PM
Holy Crap! Um, is it any wonder we could not do a deal last two seasons? Kennedy must spend 4 days on Amazon choosing generic Raisin Bran. "Um, can you give me a raisin count? Per ounce of bran content is fine as long as you've got the past 3 years hydration rate variations by batch." Jeez!
Baseball teams are not large organizations. I’ve worked for much larger companies with fewer chefs than Yawkey Way. The layers of management they have are absurd.
Quote from: longgame on October 18, 2023, 07:34:54 AM
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on October 17, 2023, 03:47:00 PM
Holy Crap! Um, is it any wonder we could not do a deal last two seasons? Kennedy must spend 4 days on Amazon choosing generic Raisin Bran. "Um, can you give me a raisin count? Per ounce of bran content is fine as long as you've got the past 3 years hydration rate variations by batch." Jeez!
Baseball teams are not large organizations. I’ve worked for much larger companies with fewer chefs than Yawkey Way. The layers of management they have are absurd.
Purported Henry dumped Dombrowski because he was not a process guy. Bloom got fired in part because his deliberate style meant Boston was slow to react to the FA market and missed opportunities. I wonder if Henry has stopped to realize that the byzantine Red Sox Front Office bureaucracy means that his process does not work and is the problem.
Exactly, it's an organizational mess and they are far too loyal to the wrong people. On this team the CBO is a staff position in spite of the title. Other people from Cora to Kennedy and a lot of hangers-on in between have special relationships with ownership and are untouchable apparently.
The Sox plodding, bureaucratic style this off-season will not lead to making deals with an Ohtani or a Soto, more like March contracts with stars(?) like a Lance Lynn or a Kiermayer. As one guy said jokingly the other day, 'Boston is not a destination city', but probably, no truer words.
This is really comical, James Click of the Jays just pulled his name out of consideration ... "for family reasons".
Is this a typical pre- interview, LOL
Sam Kennedy: "On a scale of 1-10, how much do you love your family?"
Candidate X: "Uh... 10?"
Sam Kennedy: "Sir, if you’re not up for the challenge, thanks but no thanks.â€
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on October 17, 2023, 03:47:00 PM
Holy Crap! Um, is it any wonder we could not do a deal last two seasons? Kennedy must spend 4 days on Amazon choosing generic Raisin Bran. "Um, can you give me a raisin count? Per ounce of bran content is fine as long as you've got the past 3 years hydration rate variations by batch." Jeez!
Mongo. if you were trying to convince me that Kennedy was a worthless bum totally unfit for his position, you could have saved your fingers from the computer. This guy is a poster boy for paralysis by analysis. Is it any wonder that we have a pack of turds running the store who can't make up their addled minds about what they want to do to extricate themselves and the team from the barf pile they've created. What is evident to me is that Prune Face does NOT want a strong leader to take the reigns as head of BO because he wants to pull the strings behind the facade. Two last place finishes in a row, six in the last 12 years and these bums can't see the forest from the trees. Since we stunk like rotten puke the past two years you would think some sense would emerge at Fenway Park but the sad and sorry truth is the beat still goes on and we still stink as a baseball team. Memo to Kennedy and the Prune......GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR AND START RESTORING OUR TEAM TO SOMETHING MORE THAN A LAUGHING STOCK!!!!!!!!
Fred, I am convinced Henry wants the status quo. That is why he has crippled innovation and leadership by creating this bureaucracy to run the Red Sox. Henry bought the team low for 500 million. Through innovation and leadership it grew to a multi billion dollar entity. Henry knows that there is no great growth opportunity left with the Red Sox. He has turned his attention towards other ventures, acquiring other sports entities with growth potential.
The same is true with Liverpool.
Henry just wants both clubs to operate with predictable costs to generate sufficient income so he can leverage their equity to finance other sports ventures.
If either the Red Sox or Liverpool.win great. But Henry will not go to any great financial lengths to see that they do because the growth potential is not there as it was 20 years ago.
I don't profess to have read any tea leaves in this thing, but if I were to picture another franchise to be remotely typical of Boston, it would be the Marlins. The owner has asked Kim Ng to take a GM position where she will report to a new OPS prez. Boston may be looking for a new GM who will report to Kennedy (the new acting OPS prez?) and have to share his deals with the manager - Cora.
Cora just might be promoted to GM next year when his manager contract runs out. This year Cora could be acting as a Mike Scioscia type manager/exec officer type control person. So many layers upon layers of control and micro-management.
Speaking of Cora and his input, a not so big name has come up on a couple of the other forums - Sig Mejdal of the Orioles. He is the Asst GM, and is really steeped in analytics. He is noted as being the reason the O's farm system produced so quickly. He established himself early as an engineer and worked for NASA and Lockheed. I think he first got into baseball with St Louis . Speier put his name in his column this week among people who have not yet been contacted to interview. But his list did include about 15 -20 names, so not definitive.
But Cora speaks highly of him, and they worked together at Houston while Cora was there. If nothing else, he has not withdrawn his name yet!
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on October 18, 2023, 10:11:49 AM
This is really comical, James Click of the Jays just pulled his name out of consideration ... "for family reasons".
Is this a typical pre- interview, LOL
Sam Kennedy: "On a scale of 1-10, how much do you love your family?"
Candidate X: "Uh... 10?"
Sam Kennedy: "Sir, if you’re not up for the challenge, thanks but no thanks.â€
I actually had an initial phone interview interview that had a similar line of questioning. It pretty much concluded when he put it out on the line for me. "We're not looking for people who want to live strong outside (outside of work) lives". This was 30 years ago and I can still hear it in my mind.
Quote from: SeaBeachFred on October 18, 2023, 10:14:04 AM
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on October 17, 2023, 03:47:00 PM
Holy Crap! Um, is it any wonder we could not do a deal last two seasons? Kennedy must spend 4 days on Amazon choosing generic Raisin Bran. "Um, can you give me a raisin count? Per ounce of bran content is fine as long as you've got the past 3 years hydration rate variations by batch." Jeez!
Mongo. if you were trying to convince me that Kennedy was a worthless bum totally unfit for his position, you could have saved your fingers from the computer. This guy is a poster boy for paralysis by analysis. Is it any wonder that we have a pack of turds running the store who can't make up their addled minds about what they want to do to extricate themselves and the team from the barf pile they've created. What is evident to me is that Prune Face does NOT want a strong leader to take the reigns as head of BO because he wants to pull the strings behind the facade. Two last place finishes in a row, six in the last 12 years and these bums can't see the forest from the trees. Since we stunk like rotten puke the past two years you would think some sense would emerge at Fenway Park but the sad and sorry truth is the beat still goes on and we still stink as a baseball team. Memo to Kennedy and the Prune......GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR AND START RESTORING OUR TEAM TO SOMETHING MORE THAN A LAUGHING STOCK!!!!!!!!
It got muddier the last off-season for sure. Kennedy got involved early on, even taking on the press duties when the first few FA's did not sign with us. Now we're left to wonder just how much of this was Bloom, Kennedy and the rest of the management team.
Something Kennedy is saying to these candidates is turning them away from the start. It does not get a whole lot scarier than that.
New names this week for a GM and an OPS officer. First Craig Breslow of the Cubs, scribes are unsure if he would be a GM or the OPS guy. With the Cubs he is an exec with a specialty of GM of their pitching. Limited experience as far as hiring and firing if any, and he lives in Newton, Mass and works with the Cubs mostly on Zoom.
Today Alex Speier says that Gabe Kapler has interviewed for the OPS position this week. Manager of the Phils and Giants. Before that Kapler was director of the Dodgers farm for three years, 2014-2017. Certainly Kapler has a little more experience that Breslow, but maybe not what Sox wanted when they fired Bloom and started this search.
Two sources say that Kim Ng has never been under consideration by the Sox. At the end of the day, I guess they could promote Eddie Romero to take care of the business side of the GM and Kapler/Breslow to do the analytics and player interaction for the club.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on October 20, 2023, 12:19:06 PM
New names this week for a GM and an OPS officer. First Craig Breslow of the Cubs, scribes are unsure if he would be a GM or the OPS guy. With the Cubs he is an exec with a specialty of GM of their pitching. Limited experience as far as hiring and firing if any, and he lives in Newton, Mass and works with the Cubs mostly on Zoom.
Today Alex Speier says that Gabe Kapler has interviewed for the OPS position this week. Manager of the Phils and Giants. Before that Kapler was director of the Dodgers farm for three years, 2014-2017. Certainly Kapler has a little more experience that Breslow, but maybe not what Sox wanted when they fired Bloom and started this search.
Two sources say that Kim Ng has never been under consideration by the Sox. At the end of the day, I guess they could promote Eddie Romero to take care of the business side of the GM and Kapler/Breslow to do the analytics and player interaction for the club.
I swear, with every post you put up with the distressing amount of candidates falling off, I would rather see a put up or shut up challenge to the in-house crew with an in-house hire. Something has to give at some point.
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on October 20, 2023, 03:23:57 PM
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on October 20, 2023, 12:19:06 PM
New names this week for a GM and an OPS officer. First Craig Breslow of the Cubs, scribes are unsure if he would be a GM or the OPS guy. With the Cubs he is an exec with a specialty of GM of their pitching. Limited experience as far as hiring and firing if any, and he lives in Newton, Mass and works with the Cubs mostly on Zoom.
Today Alex Speier says that Gabe Kapler has interviewed for the OPS position this week. Manager of the Phils and Giants. Before that Kapler was director of the Dodgers farm for three years, 2014-2017. Certainly Kapler has a little more experience that Breslow, but maybe not what Sox wanted when they fired Bloom and started this search.
Two sources say that Kim Ng has never been under consideration by the Sox. At the end of the day, I guess they could promote Eddie Romero to take care of the business side of the GM and Kapler/Breslow to do the analytics and player interaction for the club.
I swear, with every post you put up with the distressing amount of candidates falling off, I would rather see a put up or shut up challenge to the in-house crew with an in-house hire. Something has to give at some point.
Mongo, several writers said they're done with the first round of interviews. The follow up interviews start next week. The two guys above, I think, are still on the list, as well as Thad Levine (Rangers, Twins). They could talk to the in-house guys again, Romero, Groopman, Taboni. I don't know if the Pirates/Guardians guy is still in play (Bearington?). I think they are looking to fill two slots to the FO.
I guess Levine would be a grade C- hire with his experience. A comical thing about Levine, on his Wikipedia page, the first or second thing in his early background --- Levine was born in Alexandria, Virginia. He played youth soccer with Paul DePodesta." It is what it is.
One thing I've read seems to indicate they bad-mouthed Bloom post-firing, from Cora to Kennedy. I'm sure a lot of baseball people took note of that, including the two or three candidates who knew Bloom well.
I think the Red Sox Front Office's classless behavior towards ex employees is catching up with them. I also think that Dombrowski's success in Philadelphia reinforces the point that it isn't them its the Red Sox ownership and Front Office that's the FUBAR.
Quote from: elktonnick on October 20, 2023, 06:33:03 PM
I think the Red Sox Front Office's classless behavior towards ex employees is catching up with them. I also think that Dombrowski's success in Philadelphia reinforces the point that it isn't them its the Red Sox ownership and Front Office that's the FUBAR.
There are enough ex-Sox front office Management types people out in the wild to start their own division. Arizona, Washington, NY Mets, Chicago Cubs, Philly and Pittsburgh after a quick count. I don't know what that says about us. I know how FSG and Kennedy would spin it. pfffttt
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on October 23, 2023, 08:35:18 AM
Quote from: elktonnick on October 20, 2023, 06:33:03 PM
I think the Red Sox Front Office's classless behavior towards ex employees is catching up with them. I also think that Dombrowski's success in Philadelphia reinforces the point that it isn't them its the Red Sox ownership and Front Office that's the FUBAR.
There are enough ex-Sox front office Management types people out in the wild to start their own division. Arizona, Washington, NY Mets, Chicago Cubs, Philly and Pittsburgh after a quick count. I don't know what that says about us. I know how FSG and Kennedy would spin it. pfffttt
It seems like people who leave do better when they are elsewhere too.
The clock is ticking on the Sox with the WS starting this week. If it goes 7 the last game is on November 4 so the Sox have about 3 weeks to get someone on board.
Myself, I think it's down to two for the OPS job at Boston. Thad Levine would be the safe hire, as he is the most experienced candidate available. However he is the #2 man for Twins, he is not the one who went out and signed Correa or solidified Buxton. But safe isn't what Boston needs. They should go for a bolder move, much less experience, but more upside if they pick Breslow.
Breslow is in the Theo Epstein tree. Theo hired him at Chicago only four years ago. A Minneapolis writer described him as the 'smartest man in baseball.' A Yale grad, New England native, he has a degree in molecular biophysics of all things. Certainly still wet behind the ears, but the guy understands pitching, which is the heartbeat of baseball these days. And again, a really smart guy. Yogi said, 90% of baseball is mental, the other half is physical ! It would be cool for Breslow to take the GM slot and work under Levine, but that is sort of a lateral move, and he wants the top spot, period.
Cut to the chase, the Sox have put themselves in a terrible spot with only a handful of applicants who show only a parting interest in FSG. Breslow would be an up and coming new exec the way I see it, with what little they have to work with. It would be cool for Breslow to take the GM slot and work under Levine, but that is sort of a lateral move, and he wants the top spot.
On a lesser note for sure, I'm beginning to compare the futility of Boston's search for a competent head of Baseball Operations to the Republican's bungling of trying to elect a speaker. Having said that, on this board Red Sox concerns take a front seat and we see how Prune Face's dangling the dummies behind the curtain has led once again to a possibility of another rotten season in 2024. For Pete's sake Henry , sign a top notch baseball man this time and soon and stop screwing around with the well being of our team. We should have done more by now with the WS soon about to be begin that dancing in place. Bade enough we had to endure the bungling Bloom for the better part of four and a half seasons; we need to turn the corner and become relevant again instead of the plethora of ignoramouses we've become.
Quote from: longgame on October 23, 2023, 09:32:34 AM
The clock is ticking on the Sox with the WS starting this week. If it goes 7 the last game is on November 4 so the Sox have about 3 weeks to get someone on board.
Indeed! The early off season dates for certain things are below.
- Teams can talk to Free Agents 1 day after the World Series.
- All teams can sign Free Agents 5 days after the World Series.
- Most team & player options are decided 3-5 days after the world series. (Sox have Kluber and Joely options, and a dual option sort of thing for Turner.)
- Not much goes on, but the trade market starts 1 day after the WS.
- Qualifying Offers have to be made no later than 5 days after the WS. (I don't think the Sox have any QO's to make this year.)
Non-Tenders must be made by November 17th.[/li]
[/list]
We also have the protected rosters deadline sometime by the end of November for the Rule-5 draft.
The 'Sox could be behind the 8-ball for 2024 season from the very beginning if they don't act soon. To miss out only because we wanna be anal and/or analytic about it seems assinine to me.
According to Speier in the Globe, Thad Levine was not invited to this weeks talks. Breslow is "widely believed" to be among those in Round 2 of talks. (The parsing of words still goes on)
Some conclusions from other sources also leave Huntington, Kapler, Romero, Taboni and Groopman still under scrutiny. Still thinking they are looking at filling two slots.
None of the names mentioned are impressive. This will be a status quo hire.
Looks like it'll be Breslow.
QuoteThe Red Sox have a new leader of baseball operations.
According to multiple industry sources, the team offered the job to Cubs assistant GM and former Red Sox pitcher Craig Breslow. He has accepted the offer and will succeed Chaim Bloom as the next Red Sox head of baseball operations.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/10/24/sports/sources-red-sox-believed-have-offered-craig-breslow-job-head-baseball-operations/
(Right click on the link and choose Save Link As. Let it download and then read it.)
Breslow another Yale grad. I can't say I am surprised, if true.
Quote from: elktonnick on October 24, 2023, 09:31:06 PM
Breslow another Yale grad. I can't say I am surprised, if true.
So Yale Philosophy or Yale microbiology. Which translates to a career in baseball? I'm not really sure. But one thing sticks out, Breslow was a player, just five years ago.
Funny thing about Breslow, he attended the Winter festival at Springfield last year when Henry was booed by the fans. I guess anybody else would have turned and run, but he was bold enough to decide to join the Sox, for whatever reason. Maybe cause his family lives only 20 miles from Fenway.
A Jewish guy with the initials CB who went to Yale? Wait, didn't we just live through that?
I like the idea of a former player in this role and we all know Breslow is smart. It will be interesting to see where the "Chief" will fall in the hierarchy of decision making.
I'm quite happy they came to a decision rather quickly. I was worried they'd drag this thing out and we'd be behind once again.
Quote from: longgame on October 25, 2023, 07:51:14 AM
A Jewish guy with the initials CB who went to Yale? Wait, didn't we just live through that?
I like the idea of a former player in this role and we all know Breslow is smart. It will be interesting to see where the "Chief" will fall in the hierarchy of decision making.
I'm quite happy they came to a decision rather quickly. I was worried they'd drag this thing out and we'd be behind once again.
Me, too. I was surprised to see a decision before the WS. The longer it lasts, the better for us as he'll need to get up to speed quickly as decisions are coming up soon.
Also glad they chose a former player. Also glad they got someone who is supposed to have some pitching development abilities already.
I had all but come to terms with what I thought would be a promotion from within.
There seems to be another dynamic to the new OPS hire. As Speier pointed out, reports indicate that Breslow was also given the benefit of hiring his own guy as the #2, the GM. Also said that Bres was first offered the #2 job, but he then demanded the #1 job or he was exiting the room. If true, he can bargain his way around, although he has little experience. Also Breslow was not a regular attendee at Cubs FO meetings. He phoned it in from his Mass. residence. Either he is smarter than the other Cubs, or he is still green as grass.
On the other hand, MAYBE he wasn't given his choice of #2. That Kennedy told him that Cora would be the defacto GM. Like a Scochia was with Angels and Dusty Baker at Houston, has the ability to approve or deny free agent signings. Cora was interviewed a lot in the last few weeks, was asked if he had front office desires. "It's not my time." But interesting that his remaining contract - 1 year - has not been extended. Can Breslow fire him next year, or is it understood Cora is moving to the FO? Interesting times for Sox fans. Breslow's into will be next week on Nov 8. We will know more, or we will be more confused.
Great post!!!
It looks like whomever Breslow picks will tell the tale. If it is not a FO insider such as Romero then I expect a lot of turmoil in the FO until things settle out.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on October 26, 2023, 09:30:15 AM
There seems to be another dynamic to the new OPS hire. As Speier pointed out, reports indicate that Breslow was also given the benefit of hiring his own guy as the #2, the GM. Also said that Bres was first offered the #2 job, but he then demanded the #1 job or he was exiting the room. If true, he can bargain his way around, although he has little experience. Also Breslow was not a regular attendee at Cubs FO meetings. He phoned it in from his Mass. residence. Either he is smarter than the other Cubs, or he is still green as grass.
On the other hand, MAYBE he wasn't given his choice of #2. That Kennedy told him that Cora would be the defacto GM. Like a Scochia was with Angels and Dusty Baker at Houston, has the ability to approve or deny free agent signings. Cora was interviewed a lot in the last few weeks, was asked if he had front office desires. "It's not my time." But interesting that his remaining contract - 1 year - has not been extended. Can Breslow fire him next year, or is it understood Cora is moving to the FO? Interesting times for Sox fans. Breslow's into will be next week on Nov 8. We will know more, or we will be more confused.
Well maybe this Jewish gentleman with the initials of CB and a Yale graduate will be the polar opposite of the last dude who went with those titles. It would be relief to have a different tpe this time around, but with Cora in the background one wonders j ust how much power and leverage Breslow is going to have. I liked that he insisted he be No. 1. and not No.2 in the Baseball Ops department, but he must insist that his power not be short circuited in any way. We have m uch work to do and we need someone who has the talent, smarts and power to get it done.
The current Manager notwithstanding, I think the baseball Ops leader and Manager leader positions should be tied at the hips.
I think the San Francisco 49'ers got that basic paradigm right, at least for football. I do think each position needs to have it's autonomy and empowerment. However, the 49'ers brass even structured their interviews so that the finalists eventually ended up interviewing each other before being hired. The basic statement or requirement was this. You both have the same length contract. If you fail, you will both be fired. If you succeed, you will both be rewarded. Simple as that.
I don't know if the 49'ers model would or even could work for baseball, but imagine the level of cooperation with the right pairing?
Well, add to the fallout that we can count Ng as one of those who refused the invitation. I wonder, with the information of Breslow making his #1 or exit demands, might this have been Kennedy's big mistake with all the others who declined to interview? Food for thought.
It appears that Breslow was Henry's choice all along. Epstein was sighted in Boston before Bloom was fired. If you recall Kennedy said Epstein was not offered the job at that time. A series of events arising before Blooms actual firing involving Epstein Breslow and the Red Sox seems to give credence that Boston was checking out Breslow before Bloom was fired. Various folks now speculate this was one the reasons so many declined to interview because they knew Breslow was the man the Red Sox really wanted.
Quote from: elktonnick on October 27, 2023, 10:45:24 AM
It appears that Breslow was Henry's choice all along. Epstein was sighted in Boston before Bloom was fired. If you recall Kennedy said Epstein was not offered the job at that time. A series of events arising before Blooms actual firing involving Epstein Breslow and the Red Sox seems to give credence that Boston was checking out Breslow before Bloom was fired. Various folks now speculate this was one the reasons so many declined to interview because they knew Breslow was the man the Red Sox really wanted.
Now the team's board of directionless buffoons must start to smarten up and take stock of what they need to do and start planning on who is available, what they need and start to plan a budget of major proportions so we don't have to hear any more crap like "we thought we gave that player a good offer but he decided to go elsewhere as we have heard the past four=plus years. The Red Sox are a big market team and need to start acting like that once again Either that or Henry should get the hell out of Dodge.
Happy Birthday Fred!
Craig Breslow is the first GM/Ops for Sox in 30 years that started out playing for Boston, since Haywood Sullivan.
Breslow can be a highly complex guy in his thought process. When John Farrell was Sox manager, he said Breslow would be in on pitchers' meetings, and Breslow would use words that Farrell never used in a regular conversation. Jed Hoyer related to a group meeting with Breslow after he had just begun his duties as Chief Executive of Pitching.
“It was not good,” said Jed Hoyer, the Cubs GM at the time. “It was so dense, it was like being in a 400-level class in college. People’s eyes were glazed over. He knew it was not good.”
Hoyer sat down with Breslow, and offered some feedback to make the valuable information more digestible. Shortly thereafter, Breslow returned with another presentation that perfectly laid out the issues.
“It was so impressive how quickly it happened. I couldn’t believe the change from the first one to the second one, it was amazing,” Hoyer recalled. “I think the most impressive thing to me is I know him and he took that feedback to heart, like ‘OK I need to figure out how to present dense material to a group of people with different backgrounds. I got it.’ I guarantee he read stuff on it, worked on it, rehearsed it — it was really impressive, the metamorphosis.”
That ability to adapt so quickly, synthesizing complex information into usable data, served Breslow well as he rose through the Cubs front office over the course of five seasons, helping transform the organization’s pitching infrastructure and becoming an assistant GM in 2021 after just two years with the team.
Breslow has his introduction on Thursday this week in Boston. There is a story in the Globe that when he retired as a pitcher, he started interviewing for FO jobs. One of the first was with the Red Sox around 2018 where he met with Dombrowski and the other bigwigs. It reads that Breslow wanted to create his own job area within the club, and apparently his aspirations did not sit well with the Boston FO during that meeting.
Finally Theo with the Cubs decided to give him a chance, and they gave him a title of "Director of Strategic Initiatives for Baseball Operations". I'm not sure if Kennedy and Henry know what they now have bought into. It's going to be really interesting times for the Sox.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on November 01, 2023, 12:45:17 PM
Breslow has his introduction on Thursday this week in Boston. There is a story in the Globe that when he retired as a pitcher, he started interviewing for FO jobs. One of the first was with the Red Sox around 2018 where he met with Dombrowski and the other bigwigs. It reads that Breslow wanted to create his own job area within the club, and apparently his aspirations did not sit well with the Boston FO during that meeting.
Finally Theo with the Cubs decided to give him a chance, and they gave him a title of "Director of Strategic Initiatives for Baseball Operations". I'm not sure if Kennedy and Henry know what they now have bought into. It's going to be really interesting times for the Sox.
Well they better give Breslow room to run the ship in BO and keep their damn noses out of his business. We have finished dead last three of the last four seasons and it is very obvious to me that those like Kennedy and Henry did shit to move he team forward. Bres needs to get our pitching in better shape and for the rest of the bloaded front office stay the hell out of it.
Breslow is widely credited with revamping Cubs pitching. I suspect that's why Boston fired its pitching coaches. I s
think that Henry had his eye on Breslow from the outset. I also believe that Breslow was an item for discussion with Epstein prior to Bloom's firing. The only question is how much latitude will Breslow be given and how much resistance will he have from the hangers on in the front office who were passed over for the job.[
Breslow will say all the right things today. He knows the town. He knows the room and he knows baseball. He can speak baseball wisdom and algorithmic theory. I'm sure he knows the deep-rooted, long entrenched E-team he's inherited. I think there is every reason to hope that he will be the voice in the war room that says, "That's a wonderful theory, but it's not as simple as ...... " and follow it with a connection they currently miss.
My biggest concern is that this is Breslow's first real management/executive job. I had the same concern with Bloom, but I had far bigger fear of the "Tampa-North" factor. Turned out I was wrong on both counts. None of that matters in the absence of competence and/or effectiveness.
On a side note - Today might be the day we begin to find out the depths and clarity of Kennedy's story spinning regarding the search and decision making process for new Baseball Ops guy.
Once again I'm sure most Sox fans are on the same page - we think Breslow is a smart and likely capable guy, he has a history with the Sox and then with Theo, BUT, will they let him do the job?
We'll know soon as they ought to be ready with some targets out of the gate and unlike Bloom they hopefully won't wait until February.
Quote from: longgame on November 02, 2023, 11:03:02 AM
Once again I'm sure most Sox fans are on the same page - we think Breslow is a smart and likely capable guy, he has a history with the Sox and then with Theo, BUT, will they let him do the job?
We'll know soon as they ought to be ready with some targets out of the gate and unlike Bloom they hopefully won't wait until February.
I saw parts of the press conf. He is good at handling an audience, and some of the reporter questions were loaded. "Will you be able to spend for contracts that will get you the players you want? Breslow: "We are committed to winning." And a couple other questions, he was able to sidestep some land mine offerings. He has learned it in short order from Kennedy, but I'm sure he was instructed well in Chicago by Theo and Jed Hoyer.
What gives me a big WTH moment with Breslow, he was all consumed with pitching analytics. Does he know anything about contract negotiations with R/H power hitters? He did not attend many Chicago FO meetings, and prefered to stay home in Newton, Mass and ZOOM in on the meetings. He was not the GM, he was only the Asst GM in charge of pitching. It is going to be an interesting progression. But how quickly can he master all the duties. He'll neet a lot of help from Romero (?) and Racquel.
Quote from: longgame on November 02, 2023, 11:03:02 AM
Once again I'm sure most Sox fans are on the same page - we think Breslow is a smart and likely capable guy, he has a history with the Sox and then with Theo, BUT, will they let him do the job?
We'll know soon as they ought to be ready with some targets out of the gate and unlike Bloom they hopefully won't wait until February.
First Ted, thanks for the birthday greeting. I never saw it until today since I never posted or read anything on October 27th. More importantly, will the front office hanger ons allow Breslow to do his job to get our team our the gutter and back to repectability? That's my big question. We should be starting on that revival process starting right now.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on November 02, 2023, 11:30:20 AM
Quote from: longgame on November 02, 2023, 11:03:02 AM
Once again I'm sure most Sox fans are on the same page - we think Breslow is a smart and likely capable guy, he has a history with the Sox and then with Theo, BUT, will they let him do the job?
We'll know soon as they ought to be ready with some targets out of the gate and unlike Bloom they hopefully won't wait until February.
I saw parts of the press conf. He is good at handling an audience, and some of the reporter questions were loaded. "Will you be able to spend for contracts that will get you the players you want? Breslow: "We are committed to winning." And a couple other questions, he was able to sidestep some land mine offerings. He has learned it in short order from Kennedy, but I'm sure he was instructed well in Chicago by Theo and Jed Hoyer.
What gives me a big WTH moment with Breslow, he was all consumed with pitching analytics. Does he know anything about contract negotiations with R/H power hitters? He did not attend many Chicago FO meetings, and prefered to stay home in Newton, Mass and ZOOM in on the meetings. He was not the GM, he was only the Asst GM. It is going to be an interesting progression. But how quickly can he master all the duties. He'll neet a lot of help from Romero (?) and Racquel.
One consolation on that front SD. He cannot be as pathetic in his job as Bloom was. He simply cannot!!!! That at least is a step in the right direction but it has to now be full steam ahead.d And a message for you Kennedy. Stay in your office and stay the hell away from Breslow and his assignment. You have been nothing much but a Bloom Lite.