Red Sox ownership backs Chaim Bloom’s decision to rehire Alex Cora

As Chaim Bloom was on his way to his in-person meeting with Alex Cora to discuss his potential return as Red Sox manager, there was a lot on the chief baseball officer’s mind.

Most of all, Bloom knew a hard conversation needed to be had regarding the fallout from Cora’s involvement in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal that cost Cora his job and a season-long suspension. It weighed heavily on Bloom, who understood he had to get all the answers he needed in order to make a fair judgment on if he should rehire him.

“As we were heading to the meeting, I was really telling myself you need to make sure you get every question answered that’s on your mind,” Bloom recalled. “That you ask everything you need to ask, again not just for determining his fit as a manager, but also because this was a big deal, what happened. It was an event that took its toll on all of us.”

Among other things, one thing was clear: This was Bloom’s decision, and his alone.

When the Red Sox let Ron Roenicke go and opened their managerial search, Sam Kennedy made a point to say the decision would come from Bloom, and ownership wouldn’t step in the way. And as the club on Tuesday recounted the process that led them to ultimately rehiring Cora, it seems as though that’s exactly what happened.

In late September, Bloom and general manager Brian O’Halloran met with Kennedy and the ownership group of John Henry and Tom Werner to discuss the process of hiring the next manager. One thing was made pointedly clear: Bloom and his baseball operations team would be making the final call.

“We brought Chaim here to run the department and make baseball operations decisions,” Kennedy said. “That is my philosophy. John Henry and Tom Werner have had more success than any Major League Baseball owners have had over the last 20 years and I think that philosophy has served them well. …

“Did we let him know how we felt about Alex? Absolutely. We were honest and genuine and direct that we would be supportive of the concept of Alex coming back if he and his teammates felt that was the right thing for the Boston Red Sox, but that was their decision to make.”

Of course, Kennedy and ownership weren’t mad about the outcome. Despite his transgressions with the Astros, Cora is still extremely popular and a talented manager who delivered the Red Sox possibly their greatest season in franchise history in 2018. And though they claim that they didn’t impact the final decision, they had certainly moved on from Cora’s involvement in the sign-stealing scandal enough to approve his return less than 10 months later.

“It would be disingenuous to say that John Henry and Tom Werner and (part owner) Mike Gordon, myself were not supporters,” Kennedy clarified. “We were very disappointed in what happened, but it would be disingenuous to say we were not supportive or honest about how we felt about Alex. I can tell you that Chaim did an outstanding job of again, running a process, bringing in highly qualified candidates and ultimately he made the decision. …

“We brought in Chaim for a reason, and he and BOH and (assistant GMs Raquel Ferreira) and Eddie (Romero) and Zack (Scott) ran this process and did a great job running the process and keeping me and John and Tom and Mike informed throughout. We were very pleased with the outcome.”

Even though he was the one making the call, it still seems as though Bloom wanted a blessing from ownership on Cora. This was a big decision with big implications for the organization as a whole, and he thought it was appropriate that they have a say in the process.

“I’m not sure anybody is going to believe me, but I’ll tell you the truth anyway: I think first and foremost, it was important that they play a role,” Bloom said. “They are responsible for the entire organization. … Not only do I think that was appropriate, I think it was necessary really to know how they felt. And they also made sure that I know if I or baseball ops felt differently, that was OK, too. But I think that’s important just given how big this decision was for the organization, and how the people who are responsible for the organization would feel. …

“But from that point on, obviously we kept them looped in on who we were interviewing, what stage of the process we were at, but they were emphatic that it was very important that this be a baseball operations decision and they would fully back whatever decision we came to.”

In the end, that’s what happened. Even Cora said he didn’t talk to anyone in the ownership group until Tuesday just prior to his press conference. The manager said he’s glad they let Bloom lead the process and grateful to have the faith from everyone above him.

“They’ve been very supportive. They all understand that we make mistakes,” Cora said. “It’s what I’m going to do from now on to avoid those mistakes and put this organization where it should be. I do believe that we have the group to do it. We have the vision. Of course it starts up there, with John, Linda, Mike, Tom and Sam to trust me, to trust Chaim to make this decision.

“As a group, we’re going to be fine. I get why people are supportive now. I know that they are also disappointed in what happened. I’m not going to hide it. I understand all of that stuff. We’re in a great place as an organization and now it’s time to move forward.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/38vhzml