Red Sox fire Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom as last-placed AL East franchise heads toward third basement finish in four seasons

The Boston Red Sox fired Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom on Thursday as the team was on its way to a third-last finish in four seasons.

The AL East franchise announced before the start a doubleheader against the New York Yankees, who won the first two games of the series and tied Boston for the final time.

“The decision was not made lightly or easily,” President and CEO Sam Kennedy read from a prepared statement before his news conference.

‘We all know where we are in the standings. It’s a painful reality that fans feel as deeply as we do.

“Our fans deserve a winning, competitive team that consistently plays postseason baseball.”

Bloom was hired from the Tampa Bay Rays to revitalize the farm system and bring financial stability to a team that was one of baseball’s biggest spenders.

One of his first moves was to trade 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts, a year before he was eligible for free agency, on an ownership mandate to straighten out payroll.

But Betts’ return hasn’t been spectacular — outfielder Alex Verdugo and some prospects haven’t panned out — and other moves haven’t yielded results at the Major League level. Bloom also saw short stop Xander Bogaerts, who grew the organization into a four-time All-Star, leave as a free agent.

“I think we’ve always been consistent and tried to build that farm system, but winning at the Major League level has always been a priority,” Kennedy said. “Obviously we haven’t been there for the last two seasons and the change has been made.”

Entering Thursday’s doubleheader, the Red Sox were 267-262 during Bloom’s tenure, with a trip to the AL Championship Series in 2021.

“It’s hard to say it has nothing to do with results because that’s what it’s all about,” Kennedy said. “We’re aiming for the World Series championship. That is it. That’s the goal, that’s the goal. We’re here to win the World Series championship. As long as we are here, we will not miss this opportunity. That’s what the Boston Red Sox are all about.”

Kennedy said Bloom was informed of the decision by owner John Henry, chairman Tom Werner and himself on Thursday morning.

The team said general manager Brian O’Halloran has “assumed a new senior leadership position within the baseball operations department.”

O’Halloran will lead the department on an interim basis, along with assistant general managers Eddie Romero, Raquel Ferreira and Michael Groopman.

After going 86 years without a World Series championship, the Red Sox have won four since 2004, the most for anyone this century.

But they’ve done it with three different baseball bosses – Theo Epstein (2004, ’07), Ben Cherington (’13) and Dave Dombrowski (’18) – and five different managers during that span as the team has ridden a rollercoaster that has also seen them finish last in the AL East five times since 2012.

“We expected a team that would be in this, a postseason contender, and unfortunately we all know we fell short of that,” Kennedy said. ‘We are in the results business. Results always matter in the end.’

Epstein is not a candidate for return, Kennedy said.