Chaim Bloom firing serves as reminder that clock is ticking for SF Giants POBO Farhan Zaidi

The Boston Red Sox pulled off a modest surprise on Thursday by parting ways with president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. Bloom had been in the role for four seasons before the firing.

It serves as a reminder that change can happen quickly and that SF Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaid is very much in a prove-it position at this point in his tenure.

Chaim Bloom firing serves as reminder that clock is ticking for SF Giants POBO Farhan Zaidi

Bloom's name might sound familiar to Giants fans as he was considered for the role that eventually went to Zaidi after the 2018 season. Bloom had worked in the Tampa Bay Rays front office for 15 years before joining Boston.

He was originally hired as an intern for the Rays back in 2005 and rose up to be a senior vice president of baseball operations. The former Rays executive was well known for his use of analytics to give Tampa Bay a competitive advantage. Boom was known for his aggressive use of shifts, openers, and a keen influence in pitching development.

That Tampa Bay pedigree holds a lot of weight with front offices around baseball as teams look at how to improve the on-field results while maximizing efficiency. That latter trait revolves around identifying and developing talent. No talent is more efficient than the one you draft and develop.

In a lot of ways, Bloom's background is not too dissimilar to Zaidi. And the Red Sox pulled the plug near the end of his fourth season. Zaidi is finishing his fifth season with the club and is in the midst of another season where the club is a fringe contender.

This has been the case for three of the last four seasons. The lone exception was in 2021 when they won 107 wins while finishing in first place in a tough NL West. Zaidi's stated goal since taking over has been to play competitive games into September.

To that end, the Giants top executive has achieved that goal. They were in the playoff mix at the end of 2020, near the end of 2022, and are fighting for a playoff spot this year as well. Though, if Zaidi is going to remain in this role for the long term, the Giants are going to need to take a step from being a fringe playoff team to one that is a legitimate contender.

They are not quite there yet. He inherited a really tough organization. The roster consisted of aging, underperforming veterans and a barren farm system. It was an unenviable position and one that was going to take time.

Fans have been patient as the team were understandably conservative in free agency in the early years of his tenure. The front office has been more aggressive over the past couple of seasons, but with a few too many misses.

The Giants have been reluctant to handing out long-term deals since Zaidi took over. In fact, they have not handed out a deal of more than three seasons to a free agent during his tenure. The benefit of this strategy is that roughly one-third of contracts fall off of the books each winter.

This is not like the roster he inherited where players who had been underperforming for years still had multiple years remaining on their deals.

The Giants have begun adding an influx of young position players with rookies like Patrick Bailey and Luis Matos seemingly solidifying their roles with the team for this year and the future. The youth movement has taken longer than expected.

The 2019 draft includes some brutal misses, but that is not uncommon with drafts, but after years of misses, the Giants really needed to find more value. In fact, no one from that draft is currently on the active roster and only one player has debuted (Cole Waites) for the Giants.

It is fair to say that the fanbase's patience is waning in Zaidi. He is a very competent front office executive and is well-regarded throughout baseball, but at the end of the day, the results matter more than anything else.

The Giants committed to retaining Zaidi through 2024 before the season began. That is very much a make-or-break year for the Giants top executive. Being a fringe contender may not be good enough next year.

If the Giants struggle right out of the gates next season, then Zaidi will undoubtedly be on the hot seat. The Red Sox just demonstrated a relatively quick hook on Bloom, so the clock is ticking for the Giants and Zaidi.