Chaim Bloom Peels Back Curtain On How Kiké Hernández Took Trade

BOSTON — Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom didn’t want Kiké Hernández to get blindsided Tuesday.

So, Bloom made a concerted effort to keep Hernández in the loop on the trade that ultimately sent the utility man away from the Red Sox and back to the Los Angeles Dodgers in return for two pitchers.

And Bloom also took time while the Red Sox and Atlanta Braves were in a rain delay at Fenway Park to peel back the curtain on how Hernández took the news of the trade.

“As you’d expect, handled it great,” Bloom said. “This was a case where we wanted to make sure that he found out the right way. So, we let him under the hood a little early and that turned out to be valuable because it obviously took a lot of time for all the I’s to be dotted and the T’s crossed, and things were flying around the internet at that point. While he was waiting for it to be completed, he was his usually self around this place and that was really cool to see.”

“I basically told him… how much I appreciate it personally just the energy, the enthusiasm.”

Chaim Bloom

Hernández spent two-plus seasons with the Red Sox, highlighted by an incredible run in the 2021 postseason to the American League Championship Series when he batted an eye-popping .408 with five home runs and nine RBIs over the course of the postseason.

Hernández only provided a small fraction of that production following those performances. He struggled this year even as he received an increased role. Hernández, who played in center field primarily during his first two seasons with Boston, was named the starting shortstop out of spring training to make up for the departure of Xander Bogaerts, but he became a defensive liability by committing 14 errors at the position.

The 31-year-old ultimately fell out of the rotation in the middle infield and his bat couldn’t save him, either, with Hernández hitting .222 with six home runs and 31 RBIs in 86 games.

But as Hernández departs the Red Sox and gets ready to join the Dodgers, where he played for six seasons from 2015-2020 and won a World Series title, Bloom was grateful for all that he provided during his tenure with Boston.

“It was a tough one,” Bloom said. “I basically told him… how much I appreciate it personally just the energy, the enthusiasm. Obviously, what he did on the field but also what he brought to our environment over the time here. Whether we were riding high and he just walked off the Rays to send us to the ALCS or in tougher times when we needed to buckle down and come together as a group. He really did a lot of good things.”