Red Sox Considering Poaching Division Rival for Vacant GM Job

It's taken a couple of weeks, but the Boston Red Sox's search for Chaim Bloom's replacement is finally picking up steam. Several top candidates have been linked to the team in recent days, including former Miami Marlins GM Kim Ng and current Minnesota Twins GM Thad Levine.

Another candidate who was rumored to be in consideration was officially connected to the Red Sox on Tuesday. Even better, Boston would be poaching a division rival if it hires him.

MLB insider Jon Heyman reported on Tuesday that James Click is being considered to lead the Red Sox's baseball operations department.

For a number of reasons, Click might be Boston's best candidate yet. The last time he was in charge of a team, they won the World Series. He led the Houston Astros to back-to-back pennants in 2021 and 2022 with Houston winning it all the latter season. He rejected an insulting one-year contract offer immediately after the Fall Classic, however, and joined the Toronto Blue Jays as their vice president of baseball strategy.

Prior to joining the Astros in 2020, he served in the Tampa Bay Rays' front office from 2005-2019, working his way up to VP of baseball operations.

Everywhere he's gone, Click has enjoyed tremendous success. The Rays, Astros and Blue Jays are three of the best and healthiest organizations in MLB, which speaks volume about Click's abilities. His teams have also reached the postseason in each of the last five years -- a period when Boston has made the playoffs only once.

Click has shown an ability to build up a team through the farm system and build a championship-caliber roster at the MLB level, which Bloom was not capable of doing. Click helped turn Tampa Bay into a powerhouse despite its consistently low payrolls and assembled one of the best teams in baseball history in 2022 with Houston, which won 106 regular-season games en route to winning the World Series.

Now Click has a chance to remain in the AL East and head up a baseball ops department again, which he surely deserves to do based on his success with the Astros. He'd be a perfect fit for the Red Sox and is exactly the type of person who can take them to the next level, so hopefully he feels the same way.

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