Chaim Bloom, Brian O’Halloran, Boston Red Sox
Impact: -7.4 games
Division ranking; fifth
MLB ranking: 23rd
Considering how many headlines the Bloom-O’Halloran team generated, particularly in the offseason, the 2022 result was disappointing. This was a Boston front office that landed Trevor Story to play infield and Michael Wacha to supplement the rotation, yet never contended.
The Red Sox made 40 moves affecting 2022 major leaguers. But only 15 of those moves proved productive for the Red Sox, while 23 actually hurt the team. None were as painful as the decision to close the door on re-signing pitcher Martin Perez, who went to Texas and delivered +3.3 WAA for his new team. That made Perez the seventh-most valuable individual addition to any team in 2022.
Here are the other Boston moves that carried impacts of at least 1.1 WAA.
Nov. 27: Signed free agent pitcher Michael Wacha (+2.2)
Nov. 3: Granted free agency to reliever Adam Ottavino. He signed with the Mets and generated +1.6 WAA for his new team.
March 23: Infielder Trevor Story signed a seven-year, $159 million deal with Boston. In his first year, Story produced a +1.2 WAA.
April 7: In their fourth season of trying to extract value from rookie pitcher Darwinzon Hernandez, the Red Sox got a 21.60 ERA in seven appearances, amounting to -2.1 WAA before a torn meniscus sidelined him for the season.
The totality was the worst front office season in Boston since 2013, and the third-worst since the mid 1980s. The Bloom-O’Halloran tandem ranked 20th among the 30 teams in trade impact, 13th in free agent impact, and 30th in rookie impact. There were 10 such rookie qualifiers in uniform for Boston at one point or another during 2022, and their collective WAA was -4.5 games.