Red Sox could poach a Blue Jays front office exec: report

The Toronto Blue Jays could be losing a front office member to one of their biggest rivals.

According to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, the Boston Red Sox are considering Blue Jays’ vice president of baseball strategy, James Click, to join their front office.

Jays exec James Click, the former Astros GM, is another being considered for the Red Sox top job

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 17, 2023

Heyman also mentioned Minnesota Twins general manager Thad Levine as a candidate being interviewed by the Red Sox, while adding that recently departed Marlins general manager Kim Ng “could make sense,” although that post seemed more speculative than informed.

Twins GM Thad Levine is interviewing for the top Red Sox job. He once was a serious candidate for the big job in Philly before Dave Dombrowski was hired.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 16, 2023

Kim Ng, now available, could make sense for the Red Sox who are reportedly having trouble finding the right outside candidates.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 16, 2023

Click, who joined the Blue Jays in February of this year, had served as the Houston Astros’ general manager from 2020 through 2022, winning the World Series in his final year.

The Red Sox are coming off two consecutive seasons finishing in last place in the American League East, where they had identical 78-84 records in both instances. Since winning the World Series in 2018, they’ve made the playoffs just once in five seasons, making it to the 2021 ALCS before losing to Click’s Astros.

Despite his success, Click actually turned down a contract extension with the Astros, positioning himself as a top candidate for basically any MLB job opening in the near future.

And with Toronto opting to keep both president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins for 2024, the possibility of losing Click after just one season seems rather likely.

If Click does go to the Red Sox, he’d be seen as a replacement for his old colleague Chaim Bloom, who Boston fired as their chief baseball officer in September.

Bloom, who had worked his way through the front office ranks in the Tampa Bay Rays organization from 2005-2019, had been in the role with Boston since 2020.

Click’s timeline working with the Rays exactly mirrored Bloom’s — from 2005 through 2019 —  before joining the Astros in 2020.