MLB notes: Who could be candidates to succeed Chaim Bloom as Red Sox baseball boss?

The Chaim Bloom era in Boston is officially over, and in the coming weeks the Red Sox will undertake what club CEO Sam Kennedy promised would be a broad search for a new baseball boss.

Who will be the next person to run the Red Sox baseball operation? What title will they hold? Will the Red Sox hire one person or two? Kennedy said all options are on the table, other than former Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, who is presumably more interested in tackling new challenges than revisiting old ones at this stage in his career.

We’ll no doubt learn more about the club’s preferences as the search unfolds, but for now there are a handful of people around baseball who seem like obvious candidates at first blush. Whether any of these individuals emerge as actual candidates remains to be seen, but here are a few names to watch and why they might be a good fit for the Red Sox going forward.

Sam Fuld, Phillies GM

As of this writing Fuld is the betting favorite to become Boston’s next baseball boss, and there are plenty of good reasons why. Fuld is a former player who quickly rose through the front office ranks following his retirement from baseball in 2017, and in only three years he was hired as vice president and general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Since then the 41-year-old has worked under ex-Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to build Philadelphia back into a contender. Last season the Phillies won the National League pennant and came within two wins of a World Series championship, and this year Philadelphia is well positioned to exceed last year’s win total and host its opening-round Wild Card series.

He is also a New Hampshire native who grew up a Red Sox fan, so there is a local connection as well.

Fuld checks just about every box and seems like a natural fit for the role, but one factor working against the possibility is his proximity to Dombrowski, who obviously did not leave on good terms with Red Sox ownership and hasn’t been shy about saying so. If offered the job Fuld would presumably get a detailed (and potentially unflattering) scouting report on his new bosses, which could potentially dissuade him from taking the position.

James Click, former Astros GM

Click is coming off one of the strangest runs as a top baseball executive in recent memory. After taking over for former GM Jeff Luhnow following the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, Click led the Astros through the ensuing tumult to three straight American League Championship Series, two pennants and last season’s World Series championship.

For that, he was effectively kicked to the curb.

Click left the Astros following the World Series championship after he was offered an “insulting” one-year contract extension by owner Jim Crane, who reportedly meddled in Houston’s baseball operations throughout his tenure. Click has since joined the Toronto Blue Jays as vice president of baseball strategy, but given his track record he stands as an obvious choice for any top baseball jobs that open around MLB this winter.

The main downside to Click is he might be too similar to Bloom for the Red Sox liking. The two are both relatively young Yale graduates who spent extensive time working in the Rays organization and who have similar philosophies, so if Boston is looking for a clear change of direction Click might not be the best fit.

Mike Hazen, Diamondbacks GM

Since leaving the Red Sox front office to become the Arizona Diamondbacks’ general manager in 2016, Hazen has proven himself an excellent steward of the franchise. He’s on pace to lead the Diamondbacks to their fourth winning season in seven years, and during that stretch he’s also executed a successful rebuild, assembling a terrific core that could have Arizona in contention for years to come.

Could a reunion soon be in order?

Hazen makes a lot of sense for the Red Sox for a variety of reasons. He’s a known commodity to ownership and has relationships throughout the organization dating back to his decade-plus tenure in Boston. Unlike Bloom, who had never been the top decision-maker for an organization prior to his hire in 2019, Hazen has established a proven track record as someone who can both win at the big league level and build towards the future.

The only question with Hazen is whether he’d be interested in leaving behind what he’s building in Arizona.

Chris Antonetti, Guardians president of baseball operations

This would be a real swing for the fences, but if the Red Sox can poach Antonetti from Cleveland it would be a massive steal.

Antonetti is one of the most experienced and accomplished executives in the sport, having served in Cleveland’s front office for 24 years, including the last eight as president of baseball operations. During that time he’s led Cleveland to four division titles and a World Series appearance, and the club has never finished worse than second in the AL Central with Antonetti running the show.

Antonetti is the reigning MLB Executive of the Year after leading the Guardians to a 92-win season in 2022 despite boasting the youngest roster in baseball, and though this season’s been a disappointment, he still has Cleveland well stocked for future success.

Why would he leave? Antonetti would get a much larger budget to work with in Boston than he’s had in Cleveland, and the franchise is also nearing a major shift with the expected retirement of future Hall of Fame manager Terry Francona coming up this offseason. Still, 24 years in a single organization is a long time, so it’s unclear if Antonetti would be interested in starting over someplace new after all this time.

Brandon Gomes, Dodgers GM

The Los Angeles Dodgers are one of Major League Baseball’s model franchises, so hiring one of the organization’s top decision-makers seems like a no-brainer. Gomes, the Dodgers’ No. 2 to president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, understandably has a lot going for him.

Gomes has followed a similar journey as Fuld, successfully making the jump to the front office following a five-year big league career. He quickly rose through the Dodgers ranks, first serving as a pitching coordinator before eventually taking over as director of player development. He played a prominent role in building up Los Angeles’ impressive farm system and was promoted to general manager last year.

Like Fuld, Gomes also has local ties as a Fall River native, having starred at Durfee High School before playing college ball at Tulane. The 39-year-old is still relatively inexperienced and has never been the top decision maker in an organization, but his ability to blend on-field experience with analytics gives him a unique and valuable perspective.

Carter Hawkins, Cubs GM

A former college catcher at Vanderbilt, Hawkins spent a decade working in Cleveland’s front office before joining former Red Sox executive Jed Hoyer’s staff in Chicago as general manager in 2021.

Since then Hawkins has helped execute a fast-paced rebuild, with the Cubs stripping the roster of their 2016 World Series championship holdovers before quickly jumping back into postseason contention after only two down years.

Hawkins has a lot of the same upside as Fuld and Gomes while also having more experience working in a front office, but he is also quite young at 39 and has never been the top decision-maker for an organization.

One of  Red Sox assistant GMs

Though Bloom is gone and general manager Brian O’Halloran is being offered a different role in the organization, the Red Sox still have a highly regarded trio of executives on board to keep the ship afloat, and it’s possible one could be elevated to the top job.

Eddie Romero, Raquel Ferreira and Michael Groopman serve as Boston’s assistant general managers. Romero and Ferreira have both been with the Red Sox for close to two decades and have served under all four regimes of the John Henry era. Groopman arrived last year after a successful run in Milwaukee and is considered a rising star in the industry.

Romero in particular is regarded around the game as a strong candidate to run a baseball operation. He’s enjoyed a highly successful run overseeing Boston’s international scouting and player development, and he played a key role in signing Rafael Devers and Brayan Bello, among others.

Alex Cora, Red Sox manager

This looks a lot less likely now after Cora effectively quashed the notion prior to Friday’s game, but it’s still an interesting possibility worth considering.

Even if he says right now it’s too soon, Cora hasn’t been shy about his interest in possibly moving to a front office role someday in the future. You don’t have to look hard for recent precedent for this kind of move either. The Boston Celtics just executed a similar move promoting former coach Brad Stevens to team president in 2021.

It’s clear Cora is held in high regard within the Red Sox organization, and if he does return as expected then he would become the rare manager to serve under three different baseball bosses. Rather than try to make an arranged marriage work with another executive, the Red Sox could just hand the keys to Cora, have him pick his replacement as manager and move forward in lockstep heading into 2024.