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CHRISTOPHER L. GASPER

Daring Dombrowski cuts the cord from Cherington days

Dave Dombrowski was not afraid to say goodbye to four top prospects this week.barry chin/globe staff/Globe Staff

The Red Sox’ philosophical U-turn is complete, and you can smell the burnt rubber. The days of the Sox playing Moneyball on a bigger budget and hoarding prospects are done. In movie terms, the Sox have switched from documentary filmmaking under former general manager Ben Cherington to producing a star-studded summer blockbuster under president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

Dombrowski took the offseason and the American League by storm Tuesday, pulling off a mega-deal to acquire Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale. The Sale deal was the centerpiece of an all-in assault for Dombrowski, who traded four of his top 10 prospects in one day to bolster his rotation and his bullpen, adding Milwaukee Brewers reliever Tyler Thornburg. He also signed Gold Glove first baseman Mitch Moreland.

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The Red Sox now have a rotation fronted by reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello, past Cy Young winner David Price, and Sale, the closest thing the American League has to Clayton Kershaw. They assembled it without having to part with any of their young core: Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Andrew Benintendi.

On paper, Dombrowski has built the Next Great Red Sox team, a phrase coined by his predecessor and prospect supplier, Cherington.

Dombrowski is the anti-Cherington. Gentle Ben clung to his prospects with a death grip. He took the long view. His methodical decision-making begot organizational inertia and three last-place finishes. Under Dombrowski, prospects are expendable, positions are flexible, and aggressiveness is standard operating procedure.

This is what Red Sox principal owner John Henry (also the owner of the Globe) and team chairman Tom Werner wanted when they turned the baseball operation over to Dombrowski, knee-capping Cherington, in August of 2015.

Cherington’s caution and deliberation have been replaced by Dombrowski’s bold action. It’s a repudiation of Cherington’s plan. The Dombrowski Doctrine puts team needs and proven players above prospect protection. This is the latest Red Sox philosophy. We’ll see how long it lasts if the Sox can’t celebrate more than Hot Stove hype.

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The Red Sox have to win more than the offseason before Dombrowski can take a victory lap. Both of Dombrowski’s predecessors won a World Series in Boston. Both of them held player development as sacred.

Ideally, the Sox will strike a zen-like balance between developing prospects and discarding them in deals. This Sox super team has a shorter shelf-life than you think. Price can opt out of his contract after 2018. Sale, Porcello, and Bogaerts are eligible for free agency following the 2019 season.

Trading for Sale is unassailable, though. He sliced through lineups and objectionable throwback uniforms with the White Sox. The overpowering lefthander has struck out more than 200 batters four straight seasons. He led the majors in complete games last season with six. Among active pitchers with at least 1,000 innings on their résumé, his 3.00 earned run average trails only Kershaw (2.37) and San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner (2.99).

Sale pitches with the determination and irascible demeanor of former Sox ace Jon Lester.

Sale has never pitched in the playoffs, but that doesn’t preclude him from immediately becoming the best postseason option on a staff without a single starting pitcher who has earned a win in a playoff start. Look it up.

After a 93-win season, the Sox learned the hard way that pitching carries the day in the playoffs. Their vaunted offense scored seven runs in a three-game sweep at the hands of Terry Francona and the Cleveland Indians.

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Their starters — Porcello, Price and Clay Buchholz — couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning. Their major in-season pitching acquisition, Drew Pomeranz, worked out of the bullpen and surrendered the decisive blow in the series, a two-run homer to Coco Crisp in Game 3, which Cleveland won, 4-3.

Even with David Ortiz enjoying retirement (we think), the Sox will still score regular-season runs in droves. But augmenting the pitching staff gives them a chance to win the games they couldn’t last year. They were 20-24 in one-run games and lost two more to the Indians in the playoffs.

It was easier for Dombrowski to sell his major moves and prospect depletion in the offseason that followed the Sox watching Theo Epstein’s Cubs battle Francona’s Indians in an epic World Series.

It’s Cherington’s carefully cultivated farm system that has allowed Dombrowski to reshape the Sox in his image over the last 16 months.

The cost for Sale was Cuban wunderkind Yoan Moncada, top pitching prospect Michael Kopech, No. 8 prospect Luis Alexander Basabe, and hard-throwing Single A reliever Victor Diaz.

Shortstop Mauricio Dubon, the team’s seventh-ranked prospect, and major leaguer Travis Shaw headlined the deal for Thornburg, the elusive eighth-inning setup man the Sox lacked last year.

Last offseason, Dombrowski dealt four prospects to the San Diego Padres for closer Craig Kimbrel. During the season, he shipped top pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza to San Diego for the damaged-goods Pomeranz.

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The jury remains out on the Pomeranz deal, especially if he ends up out of the Sox’ 2017 rotation.

If Pomeranz had performed as expected, Sale might not be here. The same applies for Price, given his uneven first year in Boston and continued playoff disappointment. Price won 17 games, but none in the playoffs. He led the majors in innings pitched and hits allowed.

Dombrowski’s disregard for prospects might come back to haunt the Sox someday, but he’s playing for today.

In that context, it’s impossible to dislike the Sale trade.

The rival New York Yankees are in transition, but any deal that has the Bronx Bombers waving the rhetorical white flag is good for the Red Sox. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman compared the Sox to the NBA’s Golden State Warriors after they acquired Sale.

That’s hyperbole, but it’s also an admission that the Red Sox have won the AL East rotation arms race.

Dombrowski’s daring and deal-making are welcome on Yawkey Way.

Like his moves this offseason, they represent a departure from his predecessor.


Christopher L. Gasper can be reached at cgasper@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @cgasper.