Report: Dave Bush Favorite To Become Red Sox Pitching Coach
A favorite has emerged in the Red Sox’s search for a pitching coach to succeed the reassigned Dana LeVangie. The club’s minor league pitching performance coordinator, Dave Bush, is the “clear front-runner” to take over as its pitching coach, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports. The Red Sox could appoint Bush to the position “within days,” according to Speier.
Along with Bush, the Red Sox are known to have interviewed ex-Reds manager Bryan Price for their pitching coach position. The team has reportedly focused on five candidates for the role, though the identities of the other three remain unclear. Regardless, it appears Bush is on the verge of beating all of them out for the job. The 39-year-old has been a coach in the organization since the beginning of the 2017 season.
While Boston bigwigs have grown familiar with Bush in recent years, he’s better known to most baseball fans as a longtime major league right-hander. Bush spent 2004-13 with the Blue Jays, Brewers and Rangers. It now appears he’s about to oversee a Red Sox pitching staff that, like the team as a whole, fell short of expectations in 2019. However, with Chris Sale, David Price, Eduardo Rodriguez and Nathan Eovaldi in place, Bush can take solace in the fact that most of Boston’s rotation looks set going into next season.
Red Sox Name Chaim Bloom Chief Baseball Officer
Oct. 28: The Red Sox have announced the hiring via press release.
“We believe Chaim is exactly the right person to lead the Boston Red Sox baseball operation based on a number of attributes we sought in this process,” owner John Henry said in a statement. “We had done exhaustive work narrowing down candidates. That work led us to Chaim, who was the first executive invited to Boston for an interview. He made a strong impression on all of us and validated our initial research that he was the one to lead our baseball operation.
“We particularly want to thank Raquel Ferreira, Brian O’Halloran, Eddie Romero and Zack Scott for their extraordinary leadership over the past two months in guiding our baseball operation forward without missing a beat and ensuring we had a very strong start to this offseason.”
Oct. 25, 4:54pm: Brian O’Halloran will be promoted from assistant general manager to general manager, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (Twitter link).
4:01pm: The Red Sox have “finalized” an agreement to bring aboard Chaim Bloom as their next baseball operations chief, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). Bloom will take the title of chief baseball officer, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweeted. Financial details remain to be seen.
It’s a fascinating hire for the Boston organization, which cut loose veteran exec Dave Dombrowski late in a disappointing 2019 season. Though Dombrowski helped deliver a World Series title, ownership decided it wanted a new direction — and went on to steer into a decidedly new-school course by hiring Bloom.
The Red Sox certainly got an up-close look at Bloom’s handiwork with the Rays. His Tampa Bay outfit ran past the 2018 World Series champs, pacing them by a dozen games despite carrying a payroll into the season that was barely more than a quarter of the war chest deployed by the Sox.
Boston’s last run with an analytically minded front-office leader didn’t end quite as hoped, with the Ben Cherington-built rosters delivering gloom as much as glory. But the allure is obvious. One of Bloom’s predecessors in Tampa Bay, Andrew Friedman, has since moving to Los Angeles shown convincingly that an efficiently managed large budget can produce perennial high-end performance at a profit-minded price.
It was a rather tidy hiring process for the Red Sox, who trusted a four-person executive team with many notable decisions this winter while lining up Bloom for the job. No doubt the organization already knew at least its general direction with the hiring. Bloom long seemed a clear possibility, particularly after narrowly missing on a few top baseball ops gigs last winter. The 36-year-old comes with an impeccable resume and widespread respect in the industry. Interestingly, he was the only outside candidate to interview for the post, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).
Bloom will jump into an organization that already has a built-out, modern front office infrastructure. No doubt he’ll tweak the organization to suit his preferences, but this isn’t a fixer-upper situation. That’s also the case on the roster, which features the sort of talent that … well, the kind that won a World Series just one year ago.
There’ll be plenty of work to do for Bloom and his new charges, right out of the gates. He’s not going to blow things up or drop the bottom out of the payroll. But there are plenty of clear signs that the organization will task the new baseball ops head with paring salary — which means making some tough choices about who stays and who goes.
One big question will be answered without input from Bloom and the Sox: the status of J.D. Martinez, who can opt out of his contract. Good as he is, the club surely would love to regain a whole lot of financial flexibility in one fell swoop. Otherwise, Bloom will need to look hard to some of its spendier pieces — Jackie Bradley Jr., perhaps even Mookie Betts — as trade candidates.
It doesn’t appear that Bloom will have much free capital to work with to add talent. But that’s precisely the challenge he was brought in to take on. Bloom will be working to fill needs — on the right side of the infield and in the bullpen, at a minimum — in a creative manner. Fortunately, there are loads of veteran free agent options in both areas, many of whom figure to be had for relatively low cost. And Bloom will no doubt take a long look at other cost-efficient possibilities. If he does a particularly good job of supplementing an immensely talented core that could still rise back up, a return to serious contention in 2020 cannot be ruled out.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Quick Hits: JDM, White Sox, Rays, d’Arnaud, 2011 Draft
As we all look forward to Game 5 of the World Series, let’s run through some noteworthy items from around the baseball world…
- Should Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez elect to opt out of the three years and $62.5MM remaining on his deal, the White Sox look like the “consensus” top suitor for the 32-year-old’s services, Rob Bradford of WEEI relays. At this juncture, it seems unlikely that NL teams would enter the Martinez sweepstakes given his shortcomings as a defensive outfielder. Of course, the lack of an NL market severely restricts the potential market for Martinez, a factor that he’ll surely consider as he weighs whether to enter free agency. What’s more: if he does, he’ll come with a qualifying offer attached, meaning that a signing team would have to surrender a draft pick to sign him. All those things make it markedly more difficult to identify realistic landing spots for the hitting virtuoso, though the White Sox may stand above the rest.
- As the Rays prepare to embark on the offseason, they’ll have to evaluate Travis d’Arnaud‘s role in their 2020 catching situation, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The ex-Met emerged as a surprising offensive contributor after he was acquired in a nondescript May trade, ending the season with a .782 OPS for the Rays. Fellow catcher Mike Zunino‘s fate might depend on what happens with d’Arnaud, who has a chance to earn a two-year deal at a $6MM or $7MM AAV. If the Rays choose to keep him around at that price, Zunino may become expendable after a disappointing offensive season. Meanwhile, letting d’Arnaud walk would put pressure on Zunino to improve on the dreadful .544 OPS he posted in his first season with the Rays. Otherwise, the team could once again turn to external options.
- When it’s all said and done, the 2011 first-year player draft may go down as one of the best in baseball history, writes Dan Connolly of The Athletic. It’s a timely retrospective, with the stars of the class on full display in this year’s World Series: the Astros’ George Springer and Gerrit Cole, as well as the Nationals’ Anthony Rendon, all came from the 2011 first round (Cole and Rendon, it’s worth noting, will also be the offseason’s two most sought-after free agents). Trea Turner, meanwhile, was a 20th-round choice the same year. And that’s not to mention the bevy of stars that play elsewhere in the Majors: Mookie Betts, Trevor Bauer, Francisco Lindor, and Javier Báez all come from the ranks of the 2011 draft, which also featured “what-if” stories like Dylan Bundy and the late José Fernández. Connolly also considers the pivotal selection of Danny Hultzen by the Mariners, which could have had a profound effect on the rest of the draft had they instead opted for Rendon, their second choice. The 2011 draft has already earned its place among the all-time great draft classes, which is doubly impressive considering that it’s collectively still in its prime years.
Organizational Notes: Falvey, Red Sox, Washington, Padres, Royals
Some front office and dugout items from around the game…
- Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey turned down a request to interview for the top baseball operations job with the Red Sox, La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. There wasn’t much public news about Boston’s search prior to the hiring of Chaim Bloom as the new CBO earlier this week, though there had been rumors that the Sox might have interest in Massachusetts native Falvey, and Neal indeed writes that Falvey was “high on their list of candidates.” Reports from earlier this month suggested that Falvey and the Twins could be close to a contract extension, in the wake of Minnesota’s 101-win season.
- Braves third base coach Ron Washington was the runner-up in the Padres‘ managerial search and also won’t be taking on a bench coach job with San Diego, Dennis Lin of The Athletic reports (subscription required). There had been speculation that Washington could provide a veteran counsel to first-time manager Jayce Tingler, though it appears that Washington will remain in his current job in Atlanta.
- Lin’s piece also details the risk GM A.J. Preller is taking in hiring another first-time skipper in what seems like a must-win year for the Padres. Going into such a pivotal season, however, Preller “preferred to take his chances with a candidate he clearly knows and has long held in high regard.” Lin also notes that Preller originally tried to hire Tingler away from the Rangers when Preller first became San Diego’s general manager back in 2014.
- The general consensus has been that the Royals would wait to hire their new manager until John Sherman officially took ownership of the franchise, though GM Dayton Moore tells Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star that this isn’t the case. “We have been given full autonomy to hire the next manager of the Kansas City Royals when we feel that we are ready and the process is complete. That could be today, tomorrow or sometime prior to the winter meetings,” Moore said, noting that Sherman has already been involved in the search process.” Since Moore described the front office as still being “in the middle of a very thorough process,” however, a new managerial hire doesn’t yet seem near. Royals special advisor and former Cardinals manager Mike Matheny has been widely seen as the favorite for the job, and to date, the only other publicly known candidates are also internal names, though the club has spoken to some external candidates.
AL Notes: Rangers, Choo, Red Sox, Bloom, Espada
As presently constructed, the 2020 Rangers project to roster four left-handed corner outfield options in Nomar Mazara, Joey Gallo, Willie Calhoun, and Shin-Soo Choo. That Choo underwent a surgical debridement last week is bad news from the perspective of The Athletic’s Levi Weaver, who opines that the soon-to-be-38-year-old Choo would have made for the club’s most obvious trade chip, had he not undergone the knife (link). While Choo projects to be fully healthy for Opening Day, Weaver still describes the outfield/DH option as “damaged goods” which other teams might be disinclined to deal for.
While Weaver’s concern over an aging player undergoing a shoulder procedure is justified, it’s far from certain that Choo’s minor operation would be the straw that broke the camel’s back in a trade negotiation. With one season and $21MM left on his deal and limited defensive value (-16 DRS and -9.0 UZR in 2019), it stands to reason that other clubs would simply prefer the Rangers other, younger, cheaper outfield options–with Mazara standing out as a player that both the Padres and White Sox checked in on this summer.
More items of interest from around the American League…
- As a means of welcoming Chaim Bloom to his new city, Boston Globe beat writer Peter Abraham gifts the new Red Sox GM with a letter prescribing first orders of offseason business (link). Abraham describes the club’s difficulty in discovering and developing starting pitching as their “greatest concern”, pointing out that the Sox have not drafted or signed an amateur pitcher of great import since the days of Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, and Justin Masterson (current Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez was a signee of the Orioles). Abraham’s reasoning is hard to argue with, although it is worth mentioning that the club drafted starter Michael Kopech in 2014, later trading the young righty (along with Yoan Moncada) in the Chris Sale deal. Otherwise, the club’s decision to draft Jay Groome in 2016 (with arms like Forrest Whitley, Eric Lauer, and Dakota Hudson still on the board) does loom as one developmental misstep of Bloom’s predecessor, Dave Dombrowski. Earlier today, our own TC Zencka took a look at some routes available to the former Rays executive as he seeks to bolster the club’s pitching for 2020.
- Astros coach Joe Espada was passed over for the Cubs manager job in favor of David Ross, but it doesn’t sound as if the coach is harboring any resentment toward the club, judging by quotes presented in a piece from Ken Davidoff of the New York Post (link). “I go in there and I present myself, and I provide a vision, my goals, and I show them my style and my personality and why I think I’m the right guy for the job,” Espada said on Friday. “And I made a strong case for myself [with the Cubs], and that’s all you could ask for.” In assessing the recent movements on the managerial market, Davidoff opines that Espada represents something of a middle-ground between the experience (Joe Maddon, Joe Girardi) and fresh perspective (Jayce Tingler, David Ross) that clubs have been opting for in their recent hires. Espada reportedly remains a candidate in both the Giants and Pirates manager searches.
Bloom Brings Creative Edge To Red Sox
Despite holding the title of reigning World Series champs, the Red Sox fell behind in the analytics and creativity departments under Dave Dombrowski, per The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey. With former Tampa Bay Rays executive Chaim Bloom wined and dined and his contract finalized, Boston appears to be back on track.
We know Bloom as one of the decision-makers credited with the innovation of the opener/piggyback strategy of pitcher deployment. The origins the the Rays innovative pitching solution, of course, trace not only to the forward-thinking group of executives in Tampa, but to a confluence of events/trends in baseball in recent seasons. Buck Showalter’s decision not to use Zack Britton in the 2015 Wild Card game shined a spotlight on the limitations of the “closer” role, and Tito Francona took the other side of the debate in showcasing Andrew Miller as a dominant fireman throughout the Indians’ 2016 World Series run. Craig Counsell and Josh Hader canonized the role in Milwaukee. Injuries (and injury-risk) also play a part, and the Rays’ limited financial resources are inextricably linked with their role as thought leaders in the MLB.
Without a clear-cut fifth starter under contract for next season (incumbent Rick Porcello is headed to free agency) the Red Sox are a fertile landscape for further use of the opener next season, per The Athletics Chad Jennings. Of course, need is only one part of the success of the opener in Tampa. It doesn’t take off without a top-ranked bullpen (by ERA) on-hand to carry the freight. The Rays relied on a core group of elite relievers like Emilio Pagan, Diego Castillo, and Nick Anderson, but they were also diligent roster curators who mixed-and-matched 30 different arms throughout the season. And as Jennings points out, the Rays were hardly starter-averse, with Charlie Morton, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow all holding traditional starter roles.
Boston’s bullpen ranked just 17th with a 4.40 ERA in 2019, but they ranked 8th with a 4.14 FIP and first overall with 10.50 K/9. They deployed the opener strategy in small doses this season out of necessity. Bobby Poyner, Josh Taylor and Travis Lakins got tastes as openers, while Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez are pen candidates to soak up chunks of innings in the follower/piggyback role. As with Andrew Friedman and the Los Angeles Dodgers, however, Bloom’s brand of roster innovation will take new shape in a much different financial landscape in Boston. Of course, the previous regime left Bloom and the Red Sox behind the eight ball with a 2020 payroll already around $224MM (per Roster Resource).
With David Price, Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi and Eduardo Rodriguez on hand in the rotation, Bloom inherits a rotation that, on the surface, is eighty percent set. Still, Eovaldi and Sale are coming off injury-riddled seasons, Price is 34-year-old with over 2,000 innings on his arm, and Rodriguez is coming off his first season of more than 140 big league innings. There’s plenty of uncertainty baked into this group. With Bloom on hand, the Red Sox are better equipped to find creative alternatives in the offseason to prepare for another marathon with their AL East rivals in New York and, of course, Tampa Bay.
Latest On Boston’s Pitching Coach Search
Almost two months after the firing of president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, the Red Sox are set to name Chaim Bloom as their chief baseball officer. Bloom will inherit a team whose coaching staff is just about complete, though manager Alex Cora & Co. still have to find a pitching coach to grab the reins from the reassigned Dana LeVangie. The race consists of five individuals and is nearing a conclusion, according to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe.
Of Boston’s quintet of potential LeVangie successors, the previously reported Bryan Price is the only one with experience as a major league pitching coach, Speier relays. Although Price is best known for his ill-fated run as the Reds’ manager from 2014-18, he’s a former professional hurler who oversaw the pitching staffs of the Mariners, Diamondbacks and Reds for a combined 13 years before Cincinnati chose him for its top job.
It’s not fully clear whom Price is vying against to join Boston’s staff, though Speier notes the club has also spoken with in-house candidates and possibly even coaches from the college ranks. Sean McAdam of the Boston Sports Journal (subscription link) suggested last week that Dave Bush, an ex-big league right-hander who has worked with the Red Sox for three seasons, may be in line for a promotion to take over as either the MLB team’s pitching coach or its assistant pitching coach. Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com writes that Bush is “surely” one of the four non-Price choices the Red Sox have interviewed. If true, that still leaves three mystery names in the running for the position.
Red Sox Likely To Hire Chaim Bloom
Oct. 25: Bloom is “likely” to be hired by the Red Sox, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman adds, via Twitter, that the Red Sox are “close” to appointing him as the new head of their baseball operations department.
Oct.24: Rays VP of baseball operations Chaim Bloom is among those to have interviewed for the Red Sox GM opening, according to reporting from Chad Jennings and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). The club’s hiring search has been notably quiet since the dismissal of president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, but Jennings says the process “seems to be coming to an end.” ESPN’s Jeff Passan adds that “multiple sources” believe Bloom will ultimately get the job (Twitter link).
Bloom, 36, has been in the mix for several high-profile executive jobs in recent years. The Yale graduate was reported as the runner-up to Brodie Van Wagenen in the Mets search for a new GM last year, while San Francisco also considered him for the leadership position that ultimately went to Farhan Zaidi. The Twins and Phillies were also said to have considered Bloom for a GM role in recent seasons.
Though youthful by most standards, Bloom is a front office veteran with over 15 seasons of experience in the Tampa Bay front office. After beginning as an intern with the organization in 2005, Bloom worked in minor league operations for several years before being named as director of baseball operations in 2011. The Philadelphia native was promoted to the role of vice president of baseball operations in 2014, with a “senior” title being attached to that role in 2016 when the club also promoted Erik Neander to GM.
The Red Sox parted ways with Dombrowski on Sept 8 — less than 12 months after the club captured the 2018 World Series title. The organization has since entrusted operations to assistant GMs Eddie Romero, Zack Scott, and Brian O’Halloran, as well as senior vice president of major and minor league operations Raquel Ferreira.
Red Sox Sign Taiwanese Prospect Chih-Jung Liu
The Red Sox have agreed to terms with 20-year-old Taiwanese righthander Chih-Jung Liu for $750K, reports Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe (link).
Liu is a former two-way player with a fastball clocked as high as 98 mph in recent months. Abraham notes that a large high school workload forced Liu to abandon pitching in his first collegiate year with Taipei City’s Culture University, but a 2019 return to the bump yielded newfound velocity. Liu teamed with Red Sox infield prospect Tzu-Wei Lin on Taiwan’s national squad in this month’s Asian Baseball Championship series, taking home tournament MVP honors en route to his country’s first ABC gold medal. Liu is set to play for Taiwan in the upcoming Premier12 tournament, an Olympic qualifier trial.
Following the firing of former Team President Dave Dombrowski, it’s fair to say that the Red Sox farm has seen better days. MLB.com’s midseason ranking identified just one “Top 100” prospect within their system (infielder Triston Casas placed 85th), and other organizational rankings generally placed Boston’s young ranks as among the game’s bottom-third. Under the temporary leadership quartet of Eddie Romero, Zack Scott, Brian O’Halloran, and Raquel Ferreira, it appears that Boston’s operations staff is searching far and wide in their search for farm reinforcement.
Pitchers Recently Electing Free Agency
Since the conclusion of the regular season, a number of players have elected free agency. That right accrues to certain players who are outrighted off of a 40-man roster during or after the season — namely, those that have at least three years of MLB service and/or have previously been outrighted. Such players that accepted outright assignments during the season have the right to elect free agency instead at season’s end, provided they aren’t added back to the 40-man in the meantime.
We already rounded up the position players. Now, here are the pitchers that have recently taken to the open market, along with their now-former teams (via the International League and PCL transactions pages):
- Austin Adams, RHP, Tigers
- Michael Blazek, RHP, Nationals
- David Carpenter, RHP, Rangers
- Rookie Davis, RHP, Pirates
- Odrisamer Despaigne, RHP, White Sox
- Ryan Feierabend, LHP, Blue Jays
- Brian Flynn, LHP, Royals
- Ryan Garton, RHP, Mariners
- Sean Gilmartin, LHP, Orioles
- Matt Grace, LHP, Nationals
- Deolis Guerra, RHP, Brewers (since re-signed)
- David Hale, RHP, Yankees
- Kazuhisa Makita, RHP, Padres
- Justin Miller, RHP, Nationals
- Juan Minaya, RHP, White Sox
- Bryan Mitchell, RHP, Padres
- Hector Noesi, RHP, Marlins
- Tim Peterson, RHP, Mets
- Brooks Pounders, RHP, Mets
- JC Ramirez, RHP, Angels
- Erasmo Ramirez, RHP, Red Sox
- Zac Rosscup, LHP, Cardinals
- Chris Rusin, LHP, ROckies
- Fernando Salas, RHP, Phillies
- Brian Schlitter, RHP, Athletics
- Chasen Shreve, LHP, Cardinals
- Aaron Slegers, RHP, Rays
- Josh Smith, RHP, Red Sox
- Dan Straily, RHP, Phillies
- Pat Venditte, SHP, Giants
- Dan Winkler, RHP, Giants
- Mike Wright, RHP, Mariners