Following last-place finishes in three of the last four years prior to 2016, the Boston Red Sox decided it was time for a change in ideology with regard to baseball operations.
Nearly a full calendar year in his new position, Dave Dombrowski has made his impact felt with numerous moves, which is exactly what the Red Sox were looking for this year and the immediate future. Here’s a look at some notable acquisitions made since last winter:
- Signed David Price to a seven-year, $217 million deal.
- Traded Manuel Margot, Javier Guerra, Carlos Asuaje and Logan Allen for Craig Kimbrel.
- Traded Wade Miley and Jonathan Aro for Carson Smith and Roenis Elias
- Acquired Aaron Hill from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Wendell Rijo and Aaron Wilkerson.
- Acquired Michael Martinez from the Cleveland Indians for cash considerations.
- Acquired Brad Ziegler from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Jose Almonte and Luis Alejandro Basabe.
- Acquired Drew Pomeranz from the San Diego Padres for Anderson Espinoza.
It’s still pretty early in trade season with regard to the August 1 deadline, but Boston has undoubtedly been the most active team thus far:
There have been 8 trades in MLB within the last week.
Dave Dombrowski & the @RedSox have now been involved in 4 of them.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 15, 2016
This is exactly the reason why ownership pegged Dombrowski as their top choice for this role. As much as he has a reputation for balancing analytics with more traditional player evaluation, he’s also known for being unafraid of making a big splash.
Although that 2013 World Series title was awesome and it was masterful how former general manager Ben Cherington constructed the roster, ownership grew tired of all the losing. They’re a big market team, have some of baseball’s most recognizable players and one of the league’s deepest farm systems. It was time for a change, and chairman Tom Werner described what they wanted in this ideology shift (quote via MLB.com):
“Although we have achieved tremendous success over the last 14 seasons, we had reached a clear internal consensus that we needed to enhance our baseball operation. In nearly four decades in the game, Dave is a proven winner, and he can restore winning ways to Yawkey Way and help to fulfill the Red Sox goal, every year, to be playing meaningful games into October.”
As if that wasn’t a clear enough message already, owner John Henry made it even more crystal clear last January when speaking about how David Ortiz should end his big-league career:
“Given his track record in the postseason, it would be a disaster, that’s a strong word, I guess, a big disaster —it would be terrible if he doesn’t end his career in the postseason.”
Message received, boss-man.
For years – especially in the most recent regime before Dombrowski – Boston was careful when it came to handing out big contracts to pitchers and holding onto as many top prospects as possible. Coincidentally enough, that seems to be the complete opposite way of how Dombrowski operates:
“I’ve never really felt that any player is untouchable, prospect- or player-wise. Some players you prefer not to trade more than others, but I really never use the word ‘untradeable’ with really anybody.”
That’s why someone like Espinoza – who has gotten compared to a young Pedro Martinez – was sent packing for Pomeranz. It’s tough to give up such a promising talent, but the reality is that at just 18 years old, Espinoza can’t help Boston for a few years, and the starting rotation needs help right now.
During the Cherington regime, a deal like that probably never happens. Now in the Dombrowski regime, it could become somewhat of a norm.
There are times when organizations make personnel moves – whether it’s in the front office or on the field – with a certain expectation on how that particular person performs their job. What they do during their tenure doesn’t always match expectations, but that’s not the case so far with regard to Dombrowski and the Red Sox.
He was brought in with a simple task: Do what needs to be done so Boston can start winning again…this year and the years that follow. The fan base deserves more than three last-place finishes in four years and Big Papi deserves one last trip to the postseason before calling it a career.
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Dombrowski arrived with a reputation that clearly gave ownership confidence he could do this, and he’s been doing exactly what’s been expected of him. The Red Sox have tied up a bunch of money to a starting pitcher and have sent away a good amount of prospects in trades, but that’s the price to pay for a team in a unique kind of “win-now” mode.
Along with Boston, there were a handful of regime changes in the American League, most notably with the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels and Toronto Blue Jays. Of these four situations, it seems as though Dombrowski joining the Red Sox was the best match of all.
Boston needed a leader who isn’t afraid of making bold moves in order to win, and it was a perfect storm last August when the Detroit Tigers parted ways with Dombrowski. Working for an owner motivated to win like Mike Illitch prepared him very well for the situation he’s currently in. Not many executives enjoy dealing with that kind of pressure from ownership, and even fewer know how to handle it.
Dombrowski’s resume shows he’s not only capable of following through on such a directive, but also willing to take the inherent risks involved – prospect-wise and payroll-wise. His actions this season prove he’s continuing to be himself, which is all Boston was asking for.
Will it end up with the Red Sox playing in October again? They’re currently 51-39, two games back of the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East and one game ahead of everyone else in the AL Wild Card race. Baseball is unpredictable, as we see on a daily basis, so anything can happen between now and the fall.
What Red Sox fans can bank on is that Dombrowski will do whatever he feels necessary to put Boston in the best position to succeed. If they didn’t believe it before, they should now after he ripped off four trades in the span of a week to jump the market.
And with a little under two weeks before the trade deadline, he may not be done just yet.
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