After firing chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, the Red Sox have seen their search for their next head of baseball operations face plenty of roadblocks, with Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen, former Marlins president Michael Hill and former Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels among those to have previously been rumored as a potential candidate who have subsequently declined to interview (or, in the case of Hazen, signed an extension in Arizona).
The Athletic’s Chad Jennings adds another trio of potential candidates for the role who have declined an interview, noting that each of Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey, Phillies GM Sam Fuld, and Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes have all declined to interview for the position. Fuld and Gomes had both previously been floated as potential candidates, though this is the first time Falvey’s name has come up regarding Boston’s baseball ops vacancy.
That said, it appears that Boston has a number of other potential candidates available. As previously noted, assistant GM Eddie Romero has interviewed for the role, with Jennings noting him as the favorite among potential internal candidates. Plenty of external candidates appear to be under consideration though, with Jennings noting that former Astros GM James Click remains in the mix after being previously reported as a potential option earlier this month. Meanwhile, WEEI’s Rob Bradford indicates that both former Pirates GM Neal Huntington and current Twins GM Thad Levine about the role, with Jon Heyman of the New York Post adding that Levine is expected to interview for the job. Meanwhile, Joel Sherman of the New York Post puts forth Cubs assistant GM Craig Breslow as a potential option.
The wide array of candidates still on the table speaks to Boston’s willingness to consider a number of potential options for the role. Romero, Levine and Breslow all have not yet controlled the helm of a baseball operations department during their careers, though that’s hardly a surprise after team president Sam Kennedy indicated that previous experience as the head of a baseball operations department was not a necessary quality for the club’s next GM. That hasn’t stopped the club from considering more experienced candidates, of course. Several known candidates remaining have considerable experience at the helm of a baseball operations department. Click led the Astros to ALCS appearances in 2020 and 2021 before winning the World Series in 2023, while Huntington helmed the Pirates from 2007 to 2019. Click is currently a special assistant with the Blue Jays, while Huntington currently works in the Guardians front office.
Another experienced potential candidate, of course, is former Marlins GM Kim Ng, who parted ways with Miami earlier today after leading the Marlins to their first full-season playoff berth since 2003 this season. While Ng has been floated as a potential candidate throughout the process, though Jennings notes that it’s currently unclear if the Red Sox plan to pursue Ng at this point.
I told y’all Fuld would never come to Boston, considering how close he obviously is to Dombrowski who I’m sure gave him an earful about working for the Red Sox.
If not Brandon, how about Jonny? Bring back The Beard!
Or go with the Brock Star!
I’d be cool with Breslow too, he truly would be the smartest person in the room at all times.
Of course I’d love to have Ng, but I don’t see her accepting an interview.
Maybe John Henry will name himself POBO and he can be the Jerry Jones of MLB…but then he couldn’t fire himself.
That would remove a key card from his deck!
A bunch of no names… they’ll be Pinocchios anyway.
I mean this is what happens when you’ve given the last 3 GM’s 4 years or less. Firing Dombrowski was such a mess I think that really hurt their reputation inside the industry, at least among high level executives. If these are the options, James Click looks like the clear choice so far.
It’s not clicking for me.
Click, a guy, who according to Wikipedia, has strong ties to Bloom. Apparently Chaim Bloom is the reason he got a job in the first place. You sure we want someone associated to Bloom?
He also doesn’t seem like he has a lot of experience as a GM…
Jake – In Click’s 3 years as HOBO for the Astros he progressed from making the ALCS to making the WS to winning the WS.
Why would somebody with that track record put themselves in a position where they can’t make the biggest decisions, can’t select their own staff, and have to put up with a weasel like Cora who is being fast-tracked to take their job.
Click has always been my first choice, but I wouldn’t wager on him even accepting an interview. He probably knows filling the POBO position is a bag job, just like Henry got ownership of the Red Sox …. another bag job.
Excellent candidate Brian Cashman!
Help Wanted: President of Baseball Operations, Boston Red Sox; no experience necessary. Prerequisite: must have a pulse and be willing to be led around like a dog by the owner. Immediate interviews granted by Mr. Alex Cora. Please submit resume to—on second thought, just show up and you’ll probably be hired.
And subsequently fired
Must be willing to sign a four year maximum home and vehicle lease and be willing to have your dirty laundry aired in the national media. Cheaters welcome.
The one certainty is the sox will hire someone and that person will be fired in the next 4 or 5 years.honestly i could care less who or why so.long as they win another title in that time..because based on the history of Henrys ownership they are overdue to win
They don’t really want a true GM .. that’s why they have so many good candidates who have already opted out. They seem to want a figurehead yes man to mold into their GM by committee style of management. That’s why no one wants the job.. It seems decisions that should be made by the new GM are currently being everyday.. this GM my committee line of management is what puts them in gridlock at the trade deadline and other critical decision datelines whereby decisions need be made on the fly .. be they right or wrong.. too many folks in the decision path slows down the speed of transaction to a point that the market travels faster than our sign off flow and that leaves us again looking like we overthought any transaction. We need to be quicker on deadline days and make decisions at market speed and find ONE person we trust to do just that!
Rsox – Great post!
Ya too many chefs in the kitchen. What a mess of an organization. Pity the fool that takes that job.
American Presidents and Boston GMs are each restricted to four-year-terms. That’s an impressive list of individuals to decline an interview.
Why not just hire jeff luhnow? He and cora obviously get along just fine…
grnmtn – I’m really loving the comments here! Haha!
Fever- there are some gems on here that’s for sure!
Perry Minasian!
James Click seems like the obvious choice here. The only question is whether or not he can get along with the owner. He did an excellent job in Houston but the owner decided to move on from him after a World Series title. That’s right in line with how John Henry operates the Red Sox.
Dottie – I totally agree.
This is like the guy who treats the girl to a very expensive restaurant, and then when they get back to her place she slams the door in his face.
It might be worth remembering that the incident that ultimately led to Click’s firing was his desire to trade for a certain player at the trade deadline, and Dusty was so much against the player (sorry, I don’t remember who the player was) that he took his complaint to ownership, and ownership told Click NO. I don’t think Click will like being jumped by Cora, either.
It was trading Urquidy for Willson Contreras if I remember correctly
Things just keep looking worse. Now Mo, Larry and Curly are being considered!!
Mo – Internal worthless exec Romero failed when he got to be an interim big shot. Had he asked Sale to get TJ surgery in Sept of 2019 I would probably vote for him but instead he and the other two clowns sat on their hands and soaked up their 15 minutes of fame. It’s four years later and he’s no more qualified now than he was back in 2019.
Larry – James Click is coming from Houston, the place where all cheaters start their careers at “getting an edge on the competition”. Anybody that Bloom recommends for anything needs to be taken off the table immediately. No way this clown deserves a shot.
Curly – Thad Levine is a small market GM who grew up playing soccer. That’s not even a sport!!! He never climbed in the Ranger organization for a reason. 11 years after not moving up the ladder in Texas a small market team takes a chance on him. He’s the slightly below league average candidate for GM and the Twins are good with that because they are the Twins. We are talking the Boston Red Sox. His pedigree doesn’t even come close. Plus his favorite sport is SOCCER!! How sad is that!!
Too bad we can’t fire the owners and hire DD away from the Phillies!!
They lead their series 1-0 over Arizona and Texas is up 2-0 over the cheaters and the next game is in Arlington Texas the home of the Rangers. What a great world series it would be if the Phillies (DD’s team) plays Chris Young’s upstart Rangers. I’d be happy with either team winning. It’s been so fun seeing LAD, ATL and TB eliminated and now HOU is about to go to. Does it get any better?
Let’s hope a quality GM is hired so we don’t have to have our faces plastered against the window watching the playoffs from outside in 2024 and beyond.
There have now been far more, “latest on boston gm search’ topics than there has been actaul interviews.
I would say more people have declined to interview than there have been topics about it.
Calling it right now. o’halloran will be POBO, Romero will be gm, and a year from now Henry fires everyone ranked coach and above, up to and including Kennedy.
Chaim Bloom will be the Marlins PoBO. Have no idea who the Red Sox head of baseball ops will be.
Bloom makes a lot of sense for the Marlins. He seems to fit their way of doing things and would mesh well with his TB Rays blueprint. Unfortunately, in Boston our owner and ring leader of this toxic power circle run through qualified GMs like baseballs. Dombrowski is on his way to a WS and the Sox are calling his assistants for help lol.
NYSF – Love what you said but Bloom didn’t do enough in Boston besides tear down a great team. Miami has only Arraez and Soler as all-stars so they will be the first to go but the Marlins will pick-up about 20 guys for the money they won’t have to pay the two players. That’s my preview of Bloom getting the Miami job. I can’t picture ANYONE being dumb enough to hire him. I always assumed Henry lost a bet or had a friend who was related to Bloom. He never made any sense from the beginning. What are the odds that a Miami owner might also be a relative or owe some friend a favor so they have to hire Bloom?
No Bloom needs to start publishing books on theoretical ways to be a good General Manager in baseball. hahaha
The big winner here is Dave Dombrowski. His team has a game tonight, while the Red Sox are in utter turmoil and Alex Cora is off somewhere saying “we have to be better.”
Gonna be a white guy for sure in that town
Why not Brasier??? Fan favorite… Cora can throw under bus .. he’ll crook his neck / smile and say thanks… if don kessinger/ Frank Robinson and may others can be player manager than Brais can be player/ GM…. All in favor say…. ( whatever you want)
Two sentences in a row that start with the word meanwhile? That seems contradictory. Maybe learn a new word.