Following a 45-minute introductory press conference for new Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald provided a rundown with some highlights. Dombrowski was blunt in stating that the Red Sox need to find some pitching, specifically stating his affinity for power arms. He also noted that a top-of-the-rotation arm is something he’d prefer to bring into to the fold. “Normally, if you’re going to have a world championship club, you need to have a No. 1 type of guy,” Dombrowski explained. He also addressed the team’s GM search. When asked about why he needs a general manager, when it’ll be Dombrowski who has the final say, the veteran executive replied, “This is a big market. There’s a lot going on, day in and day out. We have a lot of expenditure at the major-league level, pursue talent aggressively all over the globe. I think if you get the right person on board with you, if you can get that person and be in sync with them, that can only be helpful.” Dombrowski also touched on his familiarity with analytics as well as the fact that he doesn’t necessarily feel the need to make sweeping changes to a front office that already has “a lot of good people” with “good reputation.
A few more front office notes from around the league…
- After speaking with multiple industry sources, Sean McAdam of CSN New England writes that four candidates for the Red Sox’ GM opening include former Braves GM Frank Wren, former Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd, former Angels GM/current Red Sox advisor Jerry Dipoto and Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler. Wren has been oft-mentioned in the past few days, and O’Dowd has also popped up more recently in reports. Regarding Eppler, McAdam writes that he’s blocked in New York by Brian Cashman, and many expect him to land a GM job elsewhere this winter.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports spoke to one rival executive who said he would be “shocked” if the Dombrowski hired anyone other than Wren to serve as his new general manager (Twitter link). Of course, in the above-linked piece from Lauber, he writes that Dombrowski is in the early stages of compiling a list of candidates, and the Sox have assured the commissioner’s office that they’ll be interviewing minority candidates in their search.
- ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports (Twitter links) that there’s some industry buzz that Dipoto is on the Brewers’ radar as they look for a new GM. Milwaukee is said to be looking for a younger, more analytical general manager following Doug Melvin’s announcement that he’ll transition to an advisory role. Crasnick also notes that there’s some speculation that Cherington would be a good fit for Milwaukee’s GM vacancy.
What? No Ned Colleti on this list?
Seriously, as I read the classy and professional response Cherrington had to Drombowski’s hire, I thought of Ned and his not-as-honorablep decision to hang around in LA.
Maybe Cherrington has somewhere to go.
Don’t blame Ned at all. The Dodgers throw away money literally every day. It’s become a joke. Why shouldn’t Ned get some? And Cherrington is getting paid even though he’s leaving. Heck, I was thinking of pulling out my old glove and telling them I could pay 2B for them. So were thousands of other people in the LA area.
Cherington will land on his feet, my guess is he’ll have an offer from the Cubs or the Pirates before December with the promise that he can interview for any GM jobs that open up elsewhere.
In the year of moving FO people, Rosenthal broke the Shapiro to the Jays rumor that I thought might be possible. It would be normal for all this stuff to break after the season. But it appears that ownership around the league knows what’s coming, and they’re all trying to get a leg up.
“I think if you get the right person on board with you, if you can get that person and be in sync with them, that can only be helpful.”
The next question should have been, “why do you think Frank Wren is that person?”
Because DD worked with him in both Montreal and Miami.
Dombrowski is looking for an assistant. That’s the way he works. The Tigers kept Avila – the owner overpaid him for years to keep him from leaving for another GM job and immediately gave him the position when he let DD go. DD can’t take Avila to Boston.
Dombrowski is going to be involved in all moves in the organization. He is not going to hire a GM and give him control to do what the GM wants. This will be more of a Epstein / Hoyer relationship as opposed to a Kenny Williams / Rick Hahn relationship. And I don’t see how DiPoto fits in that structure, when he wanted carte blanche control in Anaheim.
I don’t really care if DD wants his old security blanket back. It’s ratty and should be thrown away.
Well, I’ll say that you may be very unhappy about the possible outcome. People tend to like to work with those they’ve been successful with in the past. Keith Richards has been pretty much of a failure starting his own bands. He does well when he goes back and plays with the Stones – and they’re better off having him with them.
If DiPoto ever felt he was going to get carte blanche control in Anaheim…then he’s not smart enough for the GM role. He was about third man on the totem poll there from day one.
I’m kinda getting the impression that any GM under Dombrowski in the new Red Sox command structure will be more of a yes-man or at best advisor rather than a major shaper of the team’s future.
Probably means Dipoto will be gone within a few weeks.
I don’t disagree, but that doesn’t make bringing Frank Wren on board a good idea.
OK
By the way, I can’t believe the miserable job Wren dd in Atlanta, and I was also unimpressed with what he did in Baltimore. He is a case of The Peter Principle. Taking a step back and doing what he does well where someone stops him from making the big mistakes will serve him (and them) well. If not in Boston, then elsewhere. Giving him the keys to the kingdom is disaster around the corner.
Looking at his tenure, I see very little I like either until you go back to his Marlins days. If Cherington had outright quit and Henry was prepared to give Wren the keys to the kingdom then I’d be screaming. But with Dombrowski in charge, I don’t really mind.
Eh, he helped the Marlins under Dombrowski. And of the worst case scenario GM’s it’s not like we’re talking about reviving the careers of Bill Bavarsi or Jim Bowden. If Wren is hired, Dombrowski will be running the team and Wren will be at all the meetings to smile and nod and take the press conferences that Dombrowski will be too busy for.
The presidents and GM’s jobs in MLB are intensive. There are a lot of calls to make, research to do and traveling involved…and oh, the legal issues. Wren is skilled in those areas. What he seems to be over his head in is making major decisions. As DD said in his initial statement – he (DD) will be involved in approving all trades. In short, no one does anything he doesn’t give them direction on, and approve. It’s DD’s franchise on the baseball ops side. That’s what Henry brought him in for, that’s what DD signed up for.
Sorry for hogging. Will stay off this subject. But will end by saying that for the first time in years, I think the Red Sox are going to do some very good things in the near future.
DD’s MO is to be in synch with his staff. Al Avila was trusted enough to directly do interviews with MLB Network Radio. Makes sense.