Chaim Bloom: The Tampa Bay Rays secret weapon against Boston Red Sox

It turns out that the Tampa Bay Rays may have a secret weapon when it comes to the Boston Red Sox.

Chaim Bloom had been the Rays’ senior vice president of baseball operations before heading to Boston. He is now the team’s chief baseball officer, making the decisions and setting the direction for the Red Sox. And that has been a positive for the Rays.

Chaim Bloom still helping Tampa Bay Rays despite Boston Red Sox role

Let’s look at what Bloom has done in his three years in that role. This was a team with the Killer B’s – Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, and Xander Bogaerts. Now none of them are on the roster any longer. Betts was sent away when the Red Sox consistently lowballed him on an extension. Benintendi started to struggle and was traded. Now Bogaerts is in San Diego, with the Red Sox getting a draft pick.

What have those players turned into? Well, the Red Sox ended up with Alex Verdugo (for a year), Jeter Downs, Conner Wong, Franchy Cordero, Josh Winckowski, Grant Gambrell, Luis De La Rosa, and Freddy Valdez. And they turned down the initial trade that would have sent Betts out of town after fan backlash. To quote that old fantasy football adverisement – Championship!!!!

Rafael Devers is still in town. For now. Those extension talks have been a disaster and he is likely gone after the 2023-24 season. The clubhouse is a mess with players openly questioning whether or not the front office understood the human element when Kevin Plawecki was released. Although Kenley Jansen and Masataka Yoshida are on board, few players wanted the Red Sox money. As it was, they had to drastically overpay Jansen and Yoshida to bring them both to Boston.

The Rays? Well, they are going to keep going what they have done and look for bargains. They hilariously lured Zack Eflin to Tampa Bay although they offered the exact same contract as the Red Sox. It makes sense though as the Rays have been in the postseason in each of the past three seasons while the Red Sox have finished last in the division twice in the same time frame.

Maybe Bloom is a part of that success. Maybe he is part of a long term plan by the Rays, one that involved having Bloom head to Boston to sabotage a competitor. If that is the case, one can hardly argue with the results.

The Tampa Bay Rays have a secret weapon against the Boston Red Sox. Chaim Bloom may be in Boston, but he is helping the Rays’ chances even more.