GANG OF 5 | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41
and professional scouting. Eventually,
he would lead the club’s efforts on the
international scouting front and his duties
have expanded as the years have gone by.
Since joining the organization, Romero has
played a significant role in the signings
of Red Sox international prospects such
as Rafael Devers (Dominican Republic),
Darwinzon Hernandez (Venezuela), and
Tzu-Wei Lin (Taiwan). But what is his
biggest strength?
“That’s a tough question because Eddie’s
got so many strengths. Eddie has been in
the game his entire life,” O’Halloran said.
“His feel for the game, his ability to evaluate
talent is as good as anyone I’ve ever
been around. He’s really intelligent, hard
working, and always puts the organization
first. He’s just a great guy to work side by
side with.”
Zack
Scott is yet another member of the braintrust
who started as an intern – for Epstein
way back in 2004. He is the team’s analytics
guru, and that has become increasingly
vital in today’s game. In recent years, it
was Scott who rebuilt and re-tooled the
entire department and got the Red Sox up
to speed with the analytics efforts of other
clubs. From the index cards players wear
under their hats to various other nuances,
Scott has been at the forefront of keeping
the Red Sox up to speed.
With Bloom – a strong believer in analytics
– now in charge, Scott will get even more
resources to build up his department so it
can be as good as any in the game.
Just don’t be fooled into thinking Scott is a
one-trick pony. He understands all aspects
of baseball operations – not just the stuff
that can be ascertained from computer
programs.
“I think Zack is one of the best in the business
at his sort of primary area of oversight,
which is research and development and
baseball analytics,” O’Halloran said. “He’s
also a really good manager of people. He’s
a very open minded guy. He’s not a guy that
thinks he has all the answers or thinks that
analytics necessarily has all the answers.
“And what gets lost sometimes because
he oversees analytics and research and
development, is that he’s also a very wellrounded
baseball executive. He’s, over
the years, done a great job with contract
negotiations and baseball administration.
It’s more than just analytics with Zack and
he’s been involved with advanced scouting
and certainly all kind of things within our
baseball operations that sometimes goes
unnoticed.” n
“The game is changing faster than
ever before and a mindset of constant
improvement, of innovating, of learning and
asking questions will allow us to be leaders
in every area that can impact the success
of our on-field product. ” – CHAIM BLOOM
BILLIE WEISS
42 R E D S O X MA G A Z I N E