McAdam: In search for new top baseball executive, Red Sox appear to have found their man

The Red Sox' search for a new head of baseball operations has been conducted quietly, but Thursday night, all indications were that it was coming to an end.

The Red Sox, who surprised baseball when they fired Dave Dombrowski on Sept. 8, appear to have chosen Chaim Bloom, the senior vice president of baseball operations of the Tampa Bay Rays as his replacement.

For now, a baseball source indicated, there isn't an official agreement in place. But there is strong mutual interest in getting a deal done, and at this point, it would be a surprise if a deal didn't get done.

Bloom, 36, has been with the Rays for 15 seasons, serving in a variety of capacities. For the past two seasons, Bloom has worked as the No. 2 to Erik Neander in the Tampa Bay front office. He's worked in player development, and the Rays' ability to develop young pitching has surely caught the attention of the Red Sox.

Bloom is a Philadelphia native who attended Yale.

The Red Sox, for all their success in developing position players internally, have failed in their efforts to do the same with, in particular, starting pitching. The organization's last homegrown starter of any accomplishment was Clay Buchholz, who made his major league debut 11 years ago.

Bloom, along with the entire Tampa Bay organization, has demonstrated an ability to do more with less. The Rays annually have fielded competitive teams with modest payrolls. In 2018, the Rays missed the playoffs, but still managed to win 90 games. In 2019, the Rays won 96 games -- 12 games ahead of the Red Sox -- and qualified for one of the two wild-card spots in the American League, defeating Oakland in the wild-card game before being outclassed by the Houston Astros in the Division Series.

Tampa's payroll was the lowest of any team in the American League this season, not an insignificant factor as the Red Sox look to cut back spending, having spent better than $240 million in 2019, only to finish third in the division. The Sox are intent on resetting their luxury tax rate after going over various thresholds in each of the last two seasons.

The only surprise with the Red Sox' choice is that Bloom has never been the No. 1 decision-maker with a team, having worked under -- albeit, closely -- Neander. In multiple press conferences near the end of the season and after the season, Red Sox had prioritized hiring someone from outside the organization and someone with the experience of running a Baseball Operations department.

But the organization's initial wish list, comprised of some of the game's biggest front office names (Theo Epstein, Andrew Friedman), failed to gain traction with high-profile candidates and their search widened.

One baseball source familiar with Bloom Thursday night compared him to former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington, while noting that Bloom's background was more focused on analytics, while Cherington had specialized in player development.

Should Bloom's hiring be, as expected, officially finalized, it will be interesting to see how many of the current Gang of Four -- the quartet of longtime executives in Boston's baseball operations department -- remain with the team.

Assistant GM Eddie Romero, for instance, is known to have aspirations for the position and may feel slighted that the organization went outside to hire someone who hadn't himself been a No. 1.

Bloom will also inherit a front office that has undergone changes -- with elevations and promotions -- since the season ended, despite not having a permanent GM on board. Many executives would want input into determining their scouting director and other positions, but in Boston, recent moves have already put candidates in place.

The Athletic was the first to report that Bloom had interviewed with the Red Sox.