To say Chaim Bloom is under immense pressure nowadays would be an understatement.
Bloom, who was hired last month as the Red Sox’s new chief baseball officer, arrived in Boston after spending the last 15 years in the Rays’ baseball operations department. He did an admirable job with Tampa Bay, helping the Rays build a contending major league roster and a stacked farm system despite a small payroll, but he’ll face far more public scrutiny in Boston, largely because of the intense media coverage that comes with working for a big-market organization.
The sink-or-swim nature of the job hasn’t seemed to rattle Bloom in the early days of his Red Sox tenure, though, and he doesn’t intend to block out the noise entirely as he finally gets his hands dirty amid an important offseason. Instead, for Bloom, it’s all about being cognizant of his surroundings yet confident in the franchise’s decision-making.
“I think it’s good to be aware of what’s out there,” Bloom told reporters Tuesday at the Major League Baseball general managers’ meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., per MassLive.com. “Sometimes it’s important to know how things are being portrayed, how things are being shaped. But at the same time, on a given day, it doesn’t pay to get too deep into it because we tend to have a lot more things to do that will hopefully be more productive for making our future as good as it can be.”
This seems to be on par with the approach taken by Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who pays attention to what’s said about the team in the media yet understands the importance of directing most of his energy toward what goes on within the clubhouse walls.
Ultimately, this strategy should keep Bloom grounded in reality as it relates to the public perception surrounding the club, although there’s obviously a fine line between staying in the know and opening yourself up to unnecessary distractions.
