Red Sox's Sam Kennedy: Theo Epstein Return Ruled out After Chaim Bloom's Firing

There will be no turning to a past hero for the Boston Red Sox as they move toward the future.

After the Red Sox announced they parted ways with chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom on Thursday, president Sam Kennedy said that Theo Epstein is not a candidate to assume the vacated role, per Ian Browne of MLB.com.

Epstein currently works for Major League Baseball as a consultant, but he has been something of a miracle worker in front offices in the past.

Boston hired him as the general manager in 2002, and it wasn't long before he helped build a team that made history. The 2004 Red Sox broke the infamous Curse of the Bambino with the franchise's first World Series title since the 1918 campaign.

Boston also won the 2007 World Series when Epstein was with the franchise.

Following his time with the Red Sox, he helped end another supposed curse as the president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs. He was part of the group that built the team that won the 2016 championship, giving the Cubs their first World Series crown since 1908.

Epstein is one of the most accomplished front-office members in baseball history, but the Red Sox will be turning another direction after moving on from Bloom.

Boston named Bloom the chief baseball officer in 2019 after he was with the Tampa Bay Rays in various capacities for 15 years. The Red Sox went to the American League Championship Series in 2021 but missed the playoffs in the shortened 2020 campaign and again in 2022.

They will likely miss the playoffs again this season at 73-72, which is good enough for fourth place in the American League East and 7.5 games out of the final AL wild-card spot.

Boston also announced general manager Brian O'Halloran was offered a new senior leadership position. Browne noted Epstein was not a candidate to take the GM position either.