fb-pixelDave Dombrowski is all in on 2017 - The Boston Globe Skip to main content
NICK CAFARDO | ON BASEBALL

Dave Dombrowski is all in on 2017

Dave Dombrowski (right) and Red Sox manager John Farrell met the media Tuesday.Alex Brandon/Associated Press

OXON HILL, Md. — It was a typical Dave Dombrowski day.

Big deals. Big names. Nice work.

Of course he’s already being criticized for giving up so many prospects since he began his tenure in Boston in August 2015, but he’s here to win championships, not to win minor league organization of the year awards. And so he acquired Milwaukee reliever Tyler Thornburg and White Sox starter Chris Sale. He also acquired first baseman Mitch Moreland, which was the least impressive thing he did and perhaps the most underwhelming.

Dombrowski did what teams are supposed to do in this day and age — strengthen the pitching staff.

Advertisement



What I really like is his justification for dealing prospects. I couldn’t agree with this more.

“When you have a chance to win, you want to give yourself every opportunity to do so,” Dombrowski said. “This deal improved us. At midseason I’m not sure if we hadn’t gotten [Drew] Pomeranz we would have won the division. Any time you get there, short of just a total giveaway of your system or making moves that aren’t smart, you go for it.

“The thing for us is these guys are under contract for at least three years. And four years in baseball is an eternity. So you need to try to take advantage of the opportunity. Nothing is guaranteed in life, so, even if you make these moves, you’re not guaranteed that you’re going to win. But I think you take the chance and keep going for it and hopefully it works for you.

“Because of the system we built and the system we have, we’re going to be strong for many years.”

He now has a starting rotation of Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Steven Wright. Pomeranz and Clay Buchholz are out in the cold, but both have value. He’s got Henry Owens, Brian Johnson, and Roenis Elias as depth. He may add a veteran low-cost starter to add to that depth.

Advertisement



Pomeranz’s medicals might scare some teams, but the Sox are free and clear with Buchholz. Teams such as Kansas City, Miami, or Seattle would be interested in both pitchers.

Dombrowski now has a bullpen with Craig Kimbrel at the back end with Thornburg as setup. He has Carson Smith returning in June. What we question is whether Kimbrel is suited to pitch in Boston. Is Kimbrel better off in a smaller market? The Red Sox might say that’s a silly notion, but is it?

Watch: Dan Shaughnessy on the Chris Sale trade

Moreland is a Gold Glove first baseman, which likely means Hanley Ramirez is destined to DH. But Moreland is not a guy who puts fear in anyone.

This is where the Red Sox might make their mistake. They had dismissed Edwin Encarnacion because of his demand for length of years and salary. Jose Bautista’s agents informed me that the Red Sox had declined a two-year opportunity; Bautista would have been a fierce middle-of-the-order hitter.

Ortiz was more than just the major league leader in OPS. He was clutch. He put the fear of God in pitchers. Missing that is huge. It will make a big difference to the remainder of the hitters, so the Red Sox need someone with presence.

Of course, sometimes the pitching is so good that a team doesn’t have to lead the league in runs, like the Red Sox did last season, to succeed. It’s true that if Pablo Sandoval can produce as he did in San Francisco, the Red Sox will have a productive middle-of-the-order bat.

Advertisement



But adding Bautista wouldn’t have broken the bank and it wouldn’t have been a long-term commitment. He would have been devastating in Boston.

The Red Sox, in the end, beat out the Nationals on Sale.

In what was an evolving situation over a year’s time, the Red Sox insisted they were not giving up major league talent in the deal. The White Sox were asking for Jackie Bradley Jr. and Blake Swihart and neither went.

The deal was certainly met with positive reaction around baseball.

“That they could do a deal like that shows how impressive their farm system is,” said one rival AL GM.

That’s precisely how you have to look at it.

Having great prospects are good for two reasons — they can become full-time major league players and they can be used to acquire major league talent. That’s the way Dombrowski always has approached it. It hasn’t always worked. He won one championship with the Marlins and was successful, but came up short with the Tigers.

Watch: Dombrowski on dealing for Sale

So when Dombrowski came to Boston and saw all of the trade chips he inherited, he was a kid in a candy store. He’s been able to turn those prize possessions into Kimbrel, Pomeranz, Sale, and Thornburg. He was able to turn last place into first place. Now he needs this dissolving of more assets to turn into a World Series championship. If that happens, it’s all worth it.

Advertisement



Making blockbuster deals is in his DNA. The one that made all the sense was Sale.

Although Yoan Moncada was the minor league player of the year, there were some red flags with him. For instance, where would he play? He was OK at second base. He hadn’t played enough third to really get a gauge as to whether that was his permanent position. There also was talk about left field.

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said he will play Moncada at second base but warned that “he’s not a finished product yet.”

We also saw Moncada strike out nine straight times in September. That wasn’t pretty to watch. The Red Sox gave him a lot of money and also were charged more than $30 million in tax to acquire him.

Losing Michael Kopech probably stings. He throws 103 miles per hour, but there were character issues. He punched out a teammate and broke his hand. He served a PED suspension. It seems as if he‘s turned things around and Hahn said the White Sox did a lot of background checking.

The Red Sox lost Victor Diaz in the deal, a kid with a big arm. They lost Luis Alexander Basabe, an outfielder with a lot of potential.

So Sale should give Boston a World Series appearance provided the Red Sox have replaced Ortiz adequately.

Advertisement



This is their finished team, pretty much save for the trading of one of their starting pitchers. They don’t have a lot of prospects left to trade, so the buck stops right here.


Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickcafardo.