McAdam: Was the return of Alex Cora really Chaim Bloom's decision?

The day after the nightmarish 2020 Red Sox season mercifully ended, three Red Sox executives -- general manager Brian O'Halloran, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and team president/CEO Sam Kennedy -- participated in a Zoom call with reporters.

The day before, the Red Sox had made official what had seemed obvious for some time: manager Ron Roenicke would not be returning in 2021, meaning the Red Sox offseason was beginning with the team in search of his replacement.

That, naturally, begged the question: who would make the decision on hiring the next Red Sox manager?

"I just want to be very clear that Chaim and his team will run the process and ultimately make the decision on who the next manager of the Boston Red Sox will be," said Kennedy. ""Hopefully we do a good job of putting the right people in the right places to make those decisions and trust and empower them to make those decisions. When it comes to the managerial selection for the Boston Red Sox, that rests squarely with our baseball operation and ultimately with Chaim Bloom."

Kennedy later added, as a caveat, that ownership would ultimately have to sign off on Bloom's choice -- a reasonable enough expectation and the case with nearly every other MLB franchise. After all, moves as consequential as hiring a manger to a multi-year deal are typically vetted by those signing the checks.

But tellingly, it became commonly known that Alex Cora was the clear choice of Kennedy, majority owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner. Even as they mutually agreed to part ways with him last January and determined he couldn't remain on the job, the three gushed with praise toward Cora. They made it abundantly clear that while his departure was necessary, it was also regrettable.

Less clear was whom Bloom favored. At the time, he carefully avoided saying anything specific about Cora, in part because the former manager was still ineligible for any position in the game, and in part because Bloom had not talked to him.

The club then undertook a search that lasted almost six weeks, with nearly 10 candidates known to have been interviewed -- some multiple times. The list of candidates was reduced to five (Cora, James Rowson, Don Kelly, Carlos Mendoza and Sam Fuld), and in the end, whittled to two -- Cora and Fuld.

Fuld and Bloom have a history together that is more significant than the one Bloom shares with Cora. Fuld played for the Tampa Bay Rays for three seasons when Bloom was a key part of that front office and were said to have a good relationship. Fuld is also known to share Bloom's general philosophy about the game.

What Fuld lacked, however, was any post-career dugout experience. While Cora was a bench coach with the Houston Astros before managing the Sox for two seasons -- with the first year resulting in a World Series triumph -- Fuld never coached or managed at any professional level.

His role with the Philadelphia Phillies the last few years -- a post somewhat awkwardly titled "major league player information coordinator -- was somewhat of a hybrid position, a liaison between the Phillies' analytics department and the team's coaching staff and players.

In the end, Bloom had a choice to make in his managerial selection between one candidate who was known to be the pick of his bosses, his players and the team's fan base and another, who, impressive as his credentials and intellect might be, had none of those things.

It would have been a bold move indeed for Bloom to go to superiors and buck the obvious trend.

Imagine the fallout for Bloom had he, against the owners' instincts, recommended Fuld, only to discover in a year or so that he had chosen incorrectly. Maybe Fuld would turn out to be ill-suited for the role, and the Red Sox, coming off a last-place finish, stumbled again under their rookie manager's leadership.

One baseball source last week suggested Bloom was looking to see if he could find a candidate whom he liked better than Cora. Then, the source suggested, Bloom would have to assess the relative risks and rewards of choosing that candidate over the more battle-tested (and popular) Cora.

Perhaps, in the end, Bloom couldn't bring himself to buck logic. Cora was known to one and all, had already demonstrated he could do the job -- and do it well, for the most part -- and, importantly, had the support of the players.

No one would second-guess Alex Cora 2. The same could not be said for the casting his lot with a largely untested alternative -- however impressive he might be.

Bloom made the safe call in the end.

Whether that's the same as making the correct call might take some time to determine.