The Sock is Worn Out
It was quite the weekend in Massachusetts, if you’re a Boston sports fan.
The Patriots hoisted their sixth Lombardi trophy under the Genius of Bill Belichick and the greatest Quarterback to ever play the game, Tom Brady. They then went onto bury the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh, and I almost forgot that Antonio Brown guy was signed by the Patriots. You know the one.
But the most shocking or rather surprising news came from Fenway Park, home of the 2018 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.
Now, to be totally clear, I hate the Red Sox more than anything on this planet that exists. After all, I root for the Yankees. Pedro Martinez once told me to f*** off when I asked for an autograph. I was nine.
Whilst on my way to Bean Town for the first time, Derek Jeter aka my personal Mickey Mantle, announced his retirement from the game after the season. I loathe the franchise.
At the same time, there’s a very teeny tiny part of me that admires how they’ve turned the franchise fortunes around under owner John Henry. Henry hired Theo Epstein, who will go down as the best General Manager of his generation, helping the Sox and Cubs end their dances in Baseball hell.
There’s David Ortiz. Even I had to come around and respect Big Papi as he was a Yankees killer. No hitter has scared me more than Ortiz, in the 8th or 9th, with the game on the line.
Since Henry took over, the Sox have won four Championships. They’ve been the winning franchise this century thus far. And what happened yesterday morning came as a shock.
I was getting ready for a funeral in Long Island Monday morning when I saw “Boston Red Sox have fired David Dombrowski”come across the famous ESPN ticker. I called my Dad over and we were both asking ourselves “Why now? Why not wait until the season is over in a few weeks?”
Dombrowski is a controversial figure in Major League Baseball. Not that he’s said anything crazy or offensive, but it’s his managerial style. Let’s take a look at the teams he has been GM of.
First was the expansion Florida Marlins. Dombrowski was hired as their GM in 1991. By 1997, Dombrowski put enough pieces together through free agency, trades, and the Marlins farm system to win the World Series against the Cleveland Indians. The next year, Dombrowski and then owner Wayne Huizenga had a fire sale and gave away most of the roster. In 2001, Dombrowski left the Marlins. While it’s not totally his fault that Huizenga couldn’t pay players, I’m sure Marlins fans would’ve opined the Championship come later and not at the expense of five miserable seasons.
He managed to draft pieces for the Marlins 2003 Championship team, one of them being Miguel Cabrera.
In 2002, Dombrowski joined the Detroit Tigers as their General Manager. The Tigers, at this point, were one of the worst teams of all time. Not just in baseball, but the 2003 Detroit Tigers are sixth worst team of all time in the modern era. But if we limit that list to teams post 1950, only the 1962 Mets are worse. Luckily for the Detroit sports fans, they at least had the Red Wings and Pistons.
Luckily for the Tigers, they were able to draft Justin Verlander, who is a sure fire first ballot Hall of Famer. He also traded for Miguel Cabrera in 2007. From 2002–2015 when Dombrowski left Detroit, the Tigers made the World Series twice and were seen as a possible contender almost every year. Sadly, they could never pull it together and win the big one and he was let go.
A large part of Dombrowski’s legacy, however, was that he was always in “win now” mode, which led him to fire sale numerous prospects in their farm system. The Tigers are currently 42–100 and sport a winning percentage under .300. They will finish as the second worst team in franchise history.
Which leads us to the Red Sox.
In August 2015, David Dombrowski was immediately hired by the Red Sox after being let go by the Tigers. By the end of the season, the GM Ben Cherington was gone. That offseason, Dombrowski signed David Price to a seven year deal worth $217 million dollars. In 2016, Mike Hazen who worked under Cherington was gone, leaving all baseball decisions to Dombrowski. In the ensuing years, he’s traded for Chris Sale and Nathan Evoldi, signed David Price and J.D. Martinez, and has helped develop the talent of the Red Sox young core in 2018 MVP Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaertes, Jackie Bradley Jr., Rafael Devers, and Andrew Benintendi.
While he couldn’t win a title in Detroit, he did bring one to Boston and was the General Manager behind their greatest team in franchise history. His hiring of Alex Cora seemed to be one of the smartest decisions this year. And while 2019 hasn’t panned out the way they hoped, they will still at least finish over .500.
So, why fire him? It’s not as complicated as you may think.
On Sunday Night Baseball when the Yanks and Sox were playing, former Yankees and Rex Sox great Alex Rodriguez (there’s a Red Sox contract in Epstein’s office), along with Matt Vasgersian and Jessica Mendoza were talking about the subject of the Sox bringing Dombrowski back and if he would be able to re-sign Betts at the end of the 2020 season.
Interesting.
The only reason this would be brought up is because of the confidence, or lack there of, that John Henry obviously has in Dowmbrowski getting the job done. This is the same man who sold off the 1997 Marlins. Even if it wasn’t totally in his control.
A fact that gets brought up all the time is how barren the Red Sox farm system is. Dombrowski’s “Win Now” method of managing, while helping the Red Sox in the short term, has helped a team like the White Sox in the long term. In fact, it’s helping now when you see Chris Sale’s porous season. Their farm system is among the worst in the league and will take years to replenish.
So fast forward a few hours later and I’m seeing Dombrowski is without a job.
Is he a bad General Manager? No. He’s far from it. Over the years, he’s drafted players like Cabrera, Verlander, Edgar Renteria, signed Livan Hernandez from Cuba, and bringing up Devers and Benentendi. Even though he’s traded a lot of young talent, he’s managed to have a great eye for young talent as well.
Where ever he lands next, the team will either be at the bottom like the Tigers were (and are) or a contender like the Red Sox are. While Neal Huntington has been with the Pittsburgh Pirates since 2007 as their General Manager, I think it may be time to move on for the franchise and a guy like Dombrowski deserves a look. They haven’t won a championship in 40 years so, it’s time to shake things up.
The Colorado Rockies may also be looking to call Dombrowski at season’s end. Jeff Bridich has been with the team in various roles since 2004. They were set to be one of the teams competing for the World Series, but instead will finish in last place after an incredibly disappointing season. This is where the Sox were in 2015. It wouldn’t surprise me if by late October or early November that Dombrowski landed in Denver.
