Sox, Bloom turn page to searching for new skipper

As they wrapped up an unusual and awkward press conference Wednesday afternoon, the Red Sox’ top officials stood up from a table inside the State Street Pavilion at Fenway Park, insisting they were ready to put an unfortunate mess behind them.

Less than 24 hours after parting ways with manager Alex Cora in one of the most difficult decisions in recent franchise history, they didn’t have much of a choice but to quickly move on and turn the page, even if the previous chapter isn’t completely written yet.

“After this press conference, we’re going to address the 2020 season,” Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said. “So we move on.” Easier said than done. With pitchers and catchers set to report to Fort Myers in less than a month, this isn’t exactly how new chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom drew up his first season on the job, tasked with undergoing a managerial search at the worst possible time.

Bloom said Wednesday that the search hadn’t begun.

“There’s no question it’s an unusual time to be doing a managerial search, being at the point of the winter we are, and being this close to spring training,” Bloom admitted. “It’s impossible for that to not be a factor in how we proceed. But it’s not going to be the only factor and we want to make sure we do this justice.”

There are so many ways for Bloom to go, and even he’s uncertain of where the path will lead him.

Bloom said he “fully expects” to consider internal options, but that might depend on Major League Baseball’s ongoing investigation into the Red Sox’ 2018 sign-stealing allegations, and if any of the current coaches were involved. Will he search outwardly? And if so, with the season so close, will his options be limited in who he will be granted access to interview?

“The main thing that we’re going to make sure is that the next manager is the right manager for us, rather than start from whether it should be internal or external,” Bloom said.

Internally, Bloom said there’s no reason a number of his coaches wouldn’t deserve consideration. That would likely include bench coach Ron Roenicke, who managed the Brewers from 2011-15, but Bloom didn’t want to comment on him specifically other than to say the organizations holds him in high regard. Jason Varitek is an intriguing name, too, but it’s unlikely the former Red Sox catcher and captain, who has aspirations to be a manager, is ready yet.

“I love Tek and I think he’s going to be a great majorleague manager one day if that’s what he wants in his career,” Red Sox president Sam Kennedy said. “But it’s too early to speculate on that because we haven’t had specific conversations. But he is part of the organization as an alum, he’s part of the Red Sox family and he’s also part of the baseball operations staff. Hopefully if it’s manager or something else, he’ll be taking a broader role. I don’t know that but that’s my hope.”

Bloom acknowledged that the timing of the search may restrict him from interviewing members of other clubs, but Kennedy seemed hopeful while also providing an interesting idea.

“Having not lived through this before, I don’t know the answer to that question but we’ll see if we start to look outward from the Red Sox organization,” Kennedy said.

“We would assume that the same unwritten rules apply if there’s an opportunity for a promotion, if there’s an opportunity for a baseball executive to lead an on-field staff and a group of players, that our expectation would be that permission would be granted, even though it’s an awkward and late timetable.”

The next manager has some big shoes to fill and less-than-ideal circumstances to work with. And while Cora was successful in his own right, and approached the job in a unique way, Bloom made it clear he’s not trying to find someone who will replicate him.

“I think it’s really important, in order to have success in that chair, for somebody to be authentic, to be themselves,” Bloom said. “I think that’s a challenge when you’re following anybody who’s had success, is you want to make sure you’re aware of things that made them successful, but you need to be you. You can’t try to copy someone else. We have to make sure that our next manager is authentic and is going to do what makes that person most successful.”

One thing’s for certain, though: The clock is ticking.