Chaim Bloom has a full plate as the new chief baseball officer of the Boston Red Sox.
He must figure out what to do with Mookie Betts, who is entering the final year of his contract and can test free agency next offseason, and explore ways to augment the Red Sox’s roster after a disappointing 2019 campaign, all with an eye toward trimming Boston’s payroll to beneath the $208 million luxury tax threshold.
One of Bloom’s most important duties, however, resides in the minors, where Bloom will be tasked with building up the Red Sox’s farm system, which isn’t quite as robust as it once was thanks to several franchise-altering trades involving high-level prospects. Fortunately for Boston, Bloom showed during his time in the Tampa Bay Rays’ front office that he’s an expert on such matters.
Although Bloom isn’t inheriting a stacked farm system, the cupboard isn’t completely bare. The Red Sox still have several intriguing prospects, many of whom showed great promise in 2019 despite Boston’s roller-coaster season at the big league level.
NESN’s Ricky Doyle and Dakota Randall caught up with Ian Cundall, the director of scouting for SoxProspects.com, on the most recent episode of the NESN Red Sox Podcast. Cundall provided insight on the Red Sox’s top prospects (Triston Casas, Bobby Dalbec, Bryan Mata, Jay Groome, etc.), shared his outlook on the Bloom hiring and even offered a few under-the-radar names to watch ahead of the 2020 season.
Listen to the full episode below, or click here to listen on Apple Podcasts.
