McAdam: Chaim Bloom adjusts to the new normal in evaluating Red Sox roster

It's safe to assume that very little has gone as expected for chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom since he was hired by the Red Sox last fall.

First, the manager that he had in place, Alex Cora, came to a mutual agreement to resign his position after the 2017 Houston Astros sign-stealing investigation was completed.

Next, Bloom was directed to move Mookie Betts and David Price in a blockbuster trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers -- one that took more than a week to complete after some medical issues arose with a prospect the Sox were to receive from a third team.

Then came the pandemic which shutdown the game -- and much of the world -- less than two weeks before the scheduled start of the regular season.

And now, Bloom, a week away from a second try at a season, must finalize his roster without having seen his team matched against another since mid-March.

Yes, it's been different to be sure. Tumultuous, even.



"This has been one of the more unique times that I've experienced in my career,'' said Bloom. "One of the things that's made it unique is that so much of our focus - not just the Red Sox but all 30 clubs in the industry -- has been on making sure that we're up and running and ready to roll in a safe and comfortable environment, given that we're playing in the midst of a pandemic.

"I think if you had rewound the calendar for, say, a year and asked if the last two weeks were as expected, I don't know what possible scenario I could have conjured up that would lead to some of what we've all experienced in the last two weeks. I think we've all had to make many adjustments.''

The Red Sox have been linked to one free agent -- starting pitcher Zach Godley -- but getting a handle on the free agent and trade markets have been, like everything else, a challenge. With everyone paying close attention to health and safety protocols, the amount of player movement has been reduced.,

"That's meant that we haven't had the normal late-spring trade conversations that I think you would usually see at this time, a week out from Opening Day,'' said Bloom. "All that said, we've tried to maintain as much of a focus on baseball and on transactions as we possibly can. We still have a responsibility to do our jobs in that regard. There's just a lot more considerations that come with it.

"We've had those conversations. We've tried to stay active. We believe very strongly in being active and as involved in as many fronts as possible. We need to make sure we're doing everything we can first and foremost to focus on the season and on playing this unique season, but we've tried to stay as active as we can. I don't want to handicap the likelihood that anything will happen. We're always looking to improve anyway we can. But it's really hard to handicap, especially because of how unique this period has been.''

With the loss of Chris Sale (Tommy John surgery), the trade of Price and the temporary loss of Eduardo Rodriguez (COVID-19), the starting rotation is, naturally, a point of concern.

"It's definitely more unsettled than I think you would want, in a vacuum,'' said Bloom. "It's a bummer not to have those guys. That said, I think you look at someone like Nate (Eovaldi), he's shown that he's at his best, he's shown he can hang with (the best pitchers). (But) for us to have a good season from a run prevention-standpoint, some of these guys are going to have to step up. They're going to have an opportunity to do so. They all have different ingredients that they bring to the table that give us reasons to be optimistic.

"Obviously, time will tell. We're going to learn some things about them as we go along. To keep runs off the board, we're going to need some good work from those guys.''

The burden on the pitching staff could conceivably be reduced if the lineup produces as expected. Even without Betts, the Sox boast a powerful lineup that should be well above-average.

"You look at this position player group, it's a really good group,'' he said. "There's a lot of good options for Ron on a daily basis. I got to see (from Tampa Bay) exactly what kind of a wrecking crew can be. And so if we do a good job of keeping them in the game, they'll be able to do some damage.''