![]() “We had a team that had a lot of recent success but was the most expensive team not only in this division, but in Major League Baseball, and was very clearly not the class of the division anymore,” said Bloom. With the hiring of Bloom, they planned to keep some of their most recognizable stars but accepted that they would part with others while trying to forge a more complete team. The Sox believed they had the worst of all worlds - a large payroll with most of the money concentrated in aging stars, plus a growing number of holes. The most efficient path to an elite farm system comes from tanking, but the Sox didn’t want to take that approach. One thing was paramount for the U-turn: restoring the farm system, making it robust enough that it could constantly replenish the roster. “So what we had to do was find a way to turn that car around before we drove off that cliff.” “We could drive right off that cliff - you guys have seen big-market teams do it before - and end up rebuilding for half a decade,” Bloom said in response to a hail of boos from fans this past January. 500 from 2015-19 the Phillies, who won a World Series in 2008 and then missed the playoffs from 2012 until 2022 and the Tigers, who followed four straight postseason berths from 2011-14 by going 70 games below. There were cautionary tales: The Giants, who won their third title in five years in 2014 before finishing 20 games below. ![]() The Sox feared age and injuries would negatively impact the rest of the roster. The farm system that had produced an incredible homegrown generation was ranked dead last. Team officials had accepted that Betts was certain to reach free agency. The payroll in 2019 was the highest (by far) in team history and the highest in the majors that season, but the Sox sputtered to an 84-78 record. Martinez, Bogaerts, and Devers were all going to make at least $20 million in 2020. The roster featured immense talent and name recognition, but at a cost: Mookie Betts, Chris Sale, David Price, J.D. Dave Dombrowski had been fired a month and a half earlier, and the team was in what ownership saw as a perilous position. When Bloom took over in October 2019, the Red Sox were a year removed from their fourth championship of the 21st century. Players listed in order of when they first appeared on a Red Sox Opening Day roster, including key players who were on the injured list to begin the season. Those questions point toward larger ones: Who are the Red Sox under chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and where are they going?
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