Do You Really Want John Henry To Sell The Red Sox? - Over the Monster

My biggest complaint about John Henry is his impatience and quick firing of GMs.

A top franchise needs stability at the top. The owner needs to hire a good GM and then give him the runway to execute his long-term plan. Otherwise, there will be no consistency.  GMs, even the ones with good long-term plans, get forced into short-term moves to keep critics at bay and to keep their jobs. Those short-term decisions usually undermine their plan. For a GM to build with a long view in mind, he has to know the chance that he’ll be around in five years is good. To that end an owner has to provide the needed stability AND cover by getting out in the press to explain the team’s vision. The team’s actions then need to match those words.

With four Red Sox championships in this century, John Henry has a successful track record to point to that demonstrates his ability to build winners. He is squandering his credibility in that regard by not being up-front about the team’s plan and by not taking the short-term heat from the team’s decisions. As a result, he’s losing the confidence of his passionate, but reasonable, fans.

As for Chaim Bloom, Dan O’Dowd nails the issues with Bloom in this segment. (I wanted to embed the video but it seems MLB doesn’t have that option any more.)

At the root of any team’s success is having the best possible player evaluations. I don’t care how much money the team spends; I don’t care about the effectiveness of their player development; and, I don’t care if their economic models are perfect. If a team doesn’t properly evaluate players, it can’t win over an extended time period. That was true in Branch Rickey’s day; that was true when the Yankees were dominant in the 50’s; that was true when the Orioles excelled in the 60’s and 70’s; that was true when the Braves won in the 90’s; and, it’s true now during the Dodgers current run. A team NEEDS to evaluate players well or it fails.

Chaim Bloom’s plan seems good (such that he’s explained it) but his talent evaluations simply haven’t been good. The proof is in the play of his acquisitions and in the standings, which are the ultimate judge of of a team’s decision making.

Now, I haven’t given up on Bloom and the Red Sox yet, but I’m tettering. Hopefully, some self-examination of their player evaluation process will lead to some changes/improvements to the way they evaluate players. Otherwise, the team will continue to flounder and the blood demands from the most impatient, unreasonable Red Sox fans will continue to spread to the rest of the fan base.