Chaim Bloom, Brian O’Halloran and the Boston Red Sox front office: An interim grade

Acquired or traded

Since the end of the 2022 season, Bloom and O’Halloran have acquired nine players in trades, purchases or waiver claims from other teams. None were earth-shaking deals involving prominent players, and none of the nine have had any particular impact on Boston’s fortunes.

Statistically the most impactful was reliever Brennan Bernardino, picked up from Seattle on a waiver claim in mid-April. Bernardino has made 22 appearances, with a 2.25 ERA, good for a +0.8 WAA.

But for every Brennan Bernardino in Boston’s picture there’s also an Enmanuel Valdez (-0.6). Acquired last year in a deal with the Astros, Valdez — a second baseman — made his big league debut in mid-April. Hitting just .234, he was sent down and is currently sidelined with an injury.

To get those nine players, Bloom and O’Halloran lost four players who have seen major league duty this year. From a notoriety standpoint, the best known was Jeter Downs, a much-publicized prospect until he batted .154 last season and was waived to Washington in December.

From a standpoint of actual impact, Connor Seabold is probably the headliner, if that isn’t too strong a word to describe Connor Seabold.  He went to Colorado in January for a player who may eventually be named. In Colorado’s rotation, Seabold has done little beyond give up runs; he’s 1-4 in 10 starts with a 5.98 ERA and a -0.5 WAA for his new team.

Free agency

For some reason that ought to be known inside the Red Sox organization, Boston basically hemorrhaged free agent talent this past winter. A lavish 13 members of the 2022 Red Sox either who were released or opted for free agency caught on with new major league teams this season to a tune of +1.6 games worth of WAA for their new clubs. That kind of leakage is bad news for the Sox.

Begin with Xander Bogaerts, who chose to sign with San Diego. To date, he’s been worth +0.8 WAA to the Padres’ stumbling cause.

Statistically, Nathan Eovaldi has been the larger loss. Signing with Texas for $52 million through 2025, Eovaldi is an anchor in a division-leading rotation. His 1.7 WAA to date breaks down to a 9-3 record and 2.82 ERA in 16 starts.

Less impactful losses included J.D. Martinez, Franchy Cordero, Tommy Pham, Eric Hosmer, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill. But the interesting element is the sheer volume of free agent turnover.

What did Bloom and O’Halloran gain from the free agent market? Again in a word, volume. They signed, re-signed or extended 14 players, many of them well-known. Corey Kluber, James Paxton, Adam Duvall, Kenley Jansen and Japanese import Masataka Yoshida all came or stayed on board.

The results have been generally positive. Paxton (+0.8) is 3-1 with a 3.19 ERA in eight starts, and Chris Martin (+0.9) has a 1.90 ERA in 24 relief appearances.

Kluber (-1.3) has been the big free agent disappointment, running up a 3-6 record and 7.04 ERA in 15 appearances, nine of them starts.

Farm system

The Red Sox have used five first-year players so far this season, two of them receiving regular playing time.

Catcher Connor Wong is off to a .226 start in his 60 games, carrying a .697 OPS that may need to improve. Despite the low average, it still works out to a pleasant +0.9 WAA.

First baseman Triston Casas is hitting .227 on 71 games, mostly at first base. Casas has nine homers and a .738 OPS, but his lesser defensive performance coupled with production not befitting a first baseman drags his WAA down to -1.0.

Two rookie pitchers, Chris Murphy and Kaleb Ort, are bullpen fill-ins. The final 2023 rookie, Zack Kelly, got six short relief appearances before going on the IL with a nerve problem. His return this season is considered possible but not certain.

Since combining their efforts as an administrative team prior to the 2020 season, Bloom and O’Halloran have found it difficult to develop true first-rate system talent. The biggest names they’ve generated have probably been Bobby Dalbec, Tanner Houck and Jarren Duran; in other words, guys you wouldn’t try to build a pennant winner around.

The immediate question is whether Wong and/or Casas can change that dynamic.

Overall grade

The striking thing about the Bloom-O’Halloran mid-term report card is that it is full of churn but light on substance. Most of the big moves involved player departures, notably Eovaldi and Bogaerts. It’s hard to build a great team by losing people.

Here’s the first half report card on the Red Sox front office. Note that grades for players departing the organization are based on the reverse of those players’ WAAs with their new teams.

Mode                    WAA                      Grade

Acquired              -0.3                        C

Traded                  -0.8                        C

Signed                  +0.9                       C

FA Lost                 +1.6                       D

Rookies                -0.4                       C

Overall                 -0.6                       C

The 42 personnel moves made by Bloom and O’Halloran stack up slightly in their favor: 21 producing positive benefit, 19 going negative and three neutral. Forty-two moves is a lot of moves for half a season, so you can’t fault the Red Sox front office for trying.

But some of the bad decisions were true clunkers, such as the willingness to let Eovaldi leave while signing Kluber to effectively take his place. That swap plus the loss of Bogaerts puts faces to the statistical fact that the team hasn’t improved its overall quality.