McAdam: Chaim Bloom already has plenty on his plate

As you might expect for someone recently hired to run a multi-billion dollar business, Chaim Bloom has his work cut out for him.

He's got to learn about our traffic patterns, the fact that the winters here aren't quite as mild as they are in St. Petersburg, and a host of other items.

And then there's the work in restoring some glory to the Red Sox.

We're here to help with that. Here are five tasks for him to tackle.

1. See the J.D. Martinez saga to its conclusion.

By early next week, Martinez must inform the Red Sox whether he's opting out of his current contract. Despite a less than robust free-agent market the last two offseasons, all signs point to an exit.

Should that happen, he's as good as gone. The Red Sox have made no overtures toward Martinez toward sweetening the deal and convincing him to stay. They could have offered to extend his deal by a year, but haven't done so. So if they haven't done it by now, why would they start next week, effectively bidding



against themselves.

All signs point to the Sox giving him a qualifying offer, which, of course, Martinez will reject, giving the Sox an extra pick in next June's draft.

So where does that leave the Sox at DH next year? Do the Sox show interest in Edwin Encarnacion if the Yankees don't exercise his $20 million option? Or does Bloom believe in spreading out the DH at-bats?

2. Finish putting together the coaching staff.

Officially, the Red Sox have three vacancies -- pitching coach, assistant pitching coach and assistant hitting coach. Unofficially, they're down to just one: assistant pitching coach. Though not publicly announced, Dave Bush in on board as pitching coach and Pete Fatse is the new assistant hitting coach.

The Sox are said to be open to finding their assistant pitching coach in unorthodox places -- including the college ranks, as one example.

With the spate of managerial openings -- four jobs are still not filled -- there figures to be plenty of movement and competition in the coaching ranks, so it would behoove the Sox to get their staff in place. Also, it's not out of the realm of possibility that the club could lose a coach from the existing staff to a newly-hired manager elsewhere.

3. Determine the health of the starting rotation.

Some of this, obviously, won't be confirmed until spring training. But Bloom needs to know, to the extent that he can, what's to be expected from Chris Sale, David Price and Nathan Eovaldi in 2020.

Sale is set to (finally) have his follow-up visit with Dr. James Andrews to determine the strength and condition of his elbow. Price had a relatively minor procedure performed on his left wrist in the final week of the season, but also had an IL stint with forearm soreness earlier in the year. And Eovaldi underwent surgery for third time in the last three seasons.

For better or worse, the current Red Sox roster is built around veteran starting pitchers. But as last year demonstrated, those pitchers can't contribute when they're not healthy. The more clarity Bloom can achieve, the easier it is for him to move forward on the rest of his offseason roster-building.

4. Assess the Mookie Betts Situation.

Betts isn't eligible for free agency until a year from now, but the clock is already ticking.

Bloom should meet with Betts and his agent and make the Red Sox' last, best offer now. No posturing, no procrastinating. The Red Sox keep saying they want Betts to finish his career in a Red Sox uniform, so put everyone to work on the best offer the Sox could present.

If Betts indicates that isn't enough -- or signals that he doesn't want to remain in Boston regardless of what's offered -- it's on to Step Two: trade him now or wait until the deadline next July 31.

There's a case to be made for the latter. The return, believe or not, won't be much different, if at all. Rental deals are made with a focus on the postseason. The reason the Dodgers wanted Manny Machado in 2018 had nothing to do with April, May, June and July and everything to do with October.

The same will be the case with Betts. The Sox can get four months out of Betts in 2020 and see if someone -- say, the Dodgers, who have won seven straight division titles but zero World Series -- gets desperate next July.

5. Begin putting feelers out on high-salaried players.

The Sox need to cut payroll and even losing Martinez alone isn't going to get them under the $208 million threshold. There's more pruning to do.

Assuming ownership is willing, start by kicking around the idea of trading either Price or Eovaldi while agreeing to take back some of their remaining money. If the Sox assumed half of Price's remaining $96 million, making his deal worth three years and $48 million, there would be some interested suitors. And the payroll would still be saving approximately $16 million in 2020.