Poll: Do you care about minor league rankings?

It's all about "the plan" on Jersey Street in Boston these days. Actually, it's been that way for some time now, as we're in the back half of Year 4 of the Chaim Bloom era.

The Red Sox have been competitive about half that time. A run to the ALCS in 2021 came as a bit of a surprise and proved to be just as fluky, sandwiched between a pair of last place finishes.

This year, Boston is scrappy, they're in the hunt, but they're also just barely at the top of the basement stairs, half a game in front of the Yankees. It could go either way. The Sox could catch "lightening in a bottle," as Jim Churchill prophesized yesterday on The Drive, or they could stumble down the stretch to a 3rd last place finish in Bloom's four seasons. Honestly, at this point who the heck knows which path they'll take?

One thing that is becoming clearer is the aforementioned plan. Marcelo Mayer is just two hours away from us, Ceddane Rafaela is one of the hottest Triple A hitters on the planet. The farm system as a whole is receiving rave reviews, with FanGraphs recently ranking it as the third-best system in all of baseball behind only the Pirates and Cubs.

Guys like Jarren Duran, Triston Casas and Brayan Bello are helping to carry the load at the major league level and it's not hard to envision a near fully homegrown diamond in a couple years.

The problem? Well, that very same timeline. It's Year 3 and it will likely be 2025 until the Rafaela's, Mayer's and other top prospects are contributing to the big club. And patience is not something that many Red Sox fans, or Bostonians in general, have.

We've asked this question a couple times over the last year, "is Chaim Bloom the right person to lead the Red Sox?" The first time it was posed in December of last year, the response was an overwhelming no, with 65% opposing Bloom. Then, as recently as June 28, 81% said Bloom's tenure in charge has not been worth it, with responders saying they only care about the MLB product and not minor league rankings.

Well, let's see if the third time is the charm for Mr. Bloom, or if he's still got his work cut out for him to win over Red Sox Nation.