The Red Sox announced tonight that they have hired Dave Dombrowski as their new president of baseball operations. Ben Cherington was given the opportunity to stay on as GM, but he’s chosen to step down instead. He will, however, assist Dombrowski in the transition process.
Dombrowski made an abrupt and unexpected exit from the Tigers’ front office following the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, ending a 14-year tenure as the team’s general manager. One of the most respected baseball operations executives in the league, Dombrowski has overseen some of the most memorable (and successful) trades in recent history. He plucked Miguel Cabrera from the Marlins in a trade that sent Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, Dallas Trahern, Burke Badenhop, Mike Rabelo and Frankie De La Cruz to Miami — none of whom contributed much to the organization. Dombrowski also landed Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante from the Marlins in exchange for Jacob Turner, Brian Flynn and Rob Brantly, and he acquired both Max Scherzer and Austin Jackson in a three-team deal that sent Curtis Granderson to the Yankees and Edwin Jackson to the D-Backs. Dombrowski, of course, isn’t without his misses; the recent trade sending Doug Fister to Washington and the acquisitions of Alfredo Simon and Shane Greene, for instance, have not panned out over the past year-plus. (You can check out a full list of Dombrowski’s moves by using MLBTR’s Transaction Tracker.)
In a statement announcing the move, Dombrowski made it clear that joining the Red Sox was his top option once he hit the open market (so to speak):
“Although I did have other potential options within baseball, there was no option that stood out as clearly as the chance to come to Boston and win with the Red Sox. Boston is a baseball city like no other and its history and traditions are unique in our game. I expressed to [owner] John [Henry] and [chairman] Tom [Werner] that Boston would be my absolute top choice and am honored to have the chance to serve Red Sox Nation.”
Notably, Dombrowski has a lengthy history with Henry, who employed Dombrowski more than a decade ago when he owned the Marlins for three years prior to selling the franchise to Jeffrey Loria.
The change brings to a close a fairly brief run as Red Sox GM for Cherington. That would’ve seemed a virtually unthinkable outcome just 18 months ago, as Cherington’s Red Sox won it all in 2013 based largely on a 2012 August blockbuster in which he shed the contracts of Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and, to a lesser extent, Nick Punto, setting up a highly successful venture into the free agent market. Cherington’s reshaped roster featured relatively short-term deals for Shane Victorino, Mike Napoli, Koji Uehara, Stephen Drew and Jonny Gomes — each of whom played a significant role in Boston’s World Series run that year.
However, the Victorino deal wound up going south following that season, and the recent moves to add Rick Porcello, Joe Kelly, Wade Miley and Justin Masterson have led to one of the game’s worst rotations. Taking on Allen Craig’s contract (along with Kelly) in last summer’s John Lackey trade has also proved to be an ill-fated decision. (Cherington’s transaction history can also be viewed in the Transaction Tracker.)
Dombrowski, of course, is not the only new face in the Boston front office. Former Angels GM Jerry Dipoto, who resigned earlier this summer over reported differences with manager Mike Scioscia, has joined the Sox in a temporary capacity. He’s free to pursue other GM openings while working with Boston, but with Cherington’s departure, it’ll be interesting to see if Dipoto winds up getting consideration for the Sox’ GM post. Of course, Dipoto, like Cherington, is known as an analytical executive, whereas Dombrowski employs a more traditional approach. As such, it seems reasonable to expect a fair amount of turnover within the Boston front office. Many of the current lieutenants were hired by Cherington, and Dombrowski will undoubtedly want to have a say in who is at his side and contributing to the decision-making process.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Meow Meow
Sorry it didn’t work, Ben, but… it didn’t.
Vandals Took The Handles
So the guy whose team was behind in using stats, goes to one of the most stat-oriented teams in MLB.
Should be interesting to see how this shakes out.
Ricky Martin 2
Best of both worlds. Ballance
bobbleheadguru
Huh? The Red Sox front office is wiped out with DD in the picture. Doubt they stick around. All new staff.
Vandals Took The Handles
Actually, that’s my guess.
dthcm
Wow, I know 3 out 4 years of last place finishes there is house cleaning but thought Cherington was safe.
RedSoxNation24
well he was safe he stepped down, once they hired someone to be over him
Draven Moss
Cherington chose to step down. His job was likely safe, at least until the end of the year.
mike156
Fascinating. I guess 2013 didn’t give any lasting street cred.
Draven Moss
I really do not like this move at all, especially with Cherington stepping down. Dombrowski is way too old school for me and I thought he could do a good job with a stat-oriented GM by his side. Hopefully Dipoto gets the GM job, though I doubt Dombrowski would want a guy like him.
RedSoxNation24
well they need a GM now so Dipoto looks like the logical choice
Draven Moss
Dombrowski wants Frank Wren apparently. Not sure how I like that.
Vandals Took The Handles
Not sure where you got that from.
Steve Adams
Bob Nightengale tweeted it. Will be on the site eventually, but juggling quite a bit right now, unsurprisingly, haha.
Vandals Took The Handles
Hard to believe.
Edit – Maybe Wren is a good assistant.
pt24601
Whoa! Who saw that coming?!? Pretty exciting. I wonder where BC lands. Cubs?
ilikebaseball 2
I hope not.
jb226
I don’t know how I would feel about it, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Draven Moss
It doesn’t take a lot longer to right the ship when you have one of the best farm systems in baseball….
Draven Moss
Where did the comment that I replied to go?
mwk89
pretty brilliant move. If Dipoto stays on, that’s a nice power duo there
bobbleheadguru
This is crazy. Mad at Ilitch for firing DD out of anger.
Red Sox got a great GM. Not totally fair to Cherington.
99 out of 100 Tigers fans would trade the last 4 years with the Red Sox. Boston fans have no idea how good they have it.
ianthomasmalone
We have a World Series in one of those years so unless you’re the Giants or the Cardinals, that’s true of pretty much every team.
bobbleheadguru
4 Straight AL Centrals or 1 World Series with an epic collapse and 2 last place finishes… that is the question.
mookiessnarl
And the answer is easy. You take the World Series every time.
zxcx
It’s definitely not that easy of an easy answer, I’m sure some of us would have to think about that at least a bit.
bobbleheadguru
Then why “trade” the guy who won it, for a guy who didn’t (with the Tigers)?
ianthomasmalone
It’s not a trade and clearly the Red Sox felt that Cherington wasn’t working for them. That has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you’d prefer the Sox’ record over the past 4 years over the Tigers.
bobbleheadguru
Cherington brought a championship. DD did not. Who accomplished more?
ianthomasmalone
No, it’s not.
bobbleheadguru
So why take a “step down” with DD?
rct
Hey, Murph! You’re back.
ianthomasmalone
Yes, Steve came and got me out of exile.
stymeedone
Maybe there is a role for Cherrington in Detroit.
bobbleheadguru
Not really. Not with Avila there.
Vandals Took The Handles
I never once believed that Cherington hired DiPoto. Wrote it here. Was obviously a planted story.
double
Like the one where they were going to bring in Pat Gillick too?
miggypop44
I’m a Tigers fan, love Dombrowski’s work here. Nevertheless, he still looks like a grown up version of Beans from Even Stevens in that picture.
ianthomasmalone
DD’s first move will be to put Hanley and Panda in the bullpen!
Draven Moss
And Ross in LF!
stymeedone
No, his first move will be to remove the word “untouchable” from the list of prospects. Time to fill some needs.
Vandals Took The Handles
You might be right. Kinda……
DD might well send them out there to get into a car headed out of town. When the car comes back there will be some relief pitchers in it….maybe even a starter.
jr428
The biggest miss of Dombrowski’s GM career didn’t come with Detroit… it came in Montreal! The trade of Randy Johnson to be exact, but nobody can see into the future I guess! maybe BC can take JZ’s job in Seattle.
rct
Well, Randy Johnson didn’t really put it together until his fifth season in Seattle, after receiving special instruction from Tom House (IIRC) on his mechanics, which drastically cut down on his walks. Hard to really fault DD for that one.
sigurd 2
*Sigh*…still waiting for the day I log on and find out Jocketty was given his walking ticket and somebody new is stepping in to right the ship with us.
start_wearing_purple
Shocking when you consider a week ago the press has pretty much discounted Dombrowski as heading to Boston.
That said, I liked Cherington, I felt he had bold ideas and some bold gambles for the team. Some didn’t work because they were gambles. Others because of bad luck. But I had been wondering if the hiring of Dipoto meant Cherington was quietly under evaluation. My guess is this is Cherington taking control of his own future. He may not get a GM job right away but he’ll land easily on his feet. Ben, you may not have had a smooth tenure as Boston’s GM, but you brought us a World Series title and that’s good enough for me. Good luck in your future endeavors.
bobbleheadguru
Expect the floodgates of prospect trades for proven player players to begin. No more saving “can’t miss” guys for 2020. Also, expect an end to being allergic to spending money on guys after age 30.
One additional thought…
Verlander for Porcello. No money exchanged. Would you do it?
bruinsfan94 2
Why would the Red Sox do that? Verlander is much older and much more expensive.
bobbleheadguru
Verlander is likely to be a better player for the next 4 years even though he is 5 years older. He is only being paid $7M/year more than Porcello going forward.
Draven Moss
If he is likely to be the better pitcher, then the Tigers wouldn’t do that deal.
bruinsfan94 2
I would say Verlander is much more likely to be a lesser player. Pitchers usually don’t just stop declining at that age. Porcello is much younger and its likely this year will not be repeated.
john59
I don’t expect any floodgates as for additional thoughts what about Miggy for Machi?
bobbleheadguru
Tigers will not trade Miggy, regardless of record. He is every bit the tourist attraction in Detroit as the Green Monster is in Boston. His salary is more than made up for in ticket sales.
formerlyz
So now Dave Dombrowski is back with John Henry, but this time he actually has money. I speculated on that when we heard about him leaving Detroit. As a Marlins fan, I’m slightly annoyed for some reason, but as a Red Sox fan, I’m pretty excited. I find it funny though that rumors say that Frank Wren is going to end up the GM. Guess they’re getting the band back together lol…I would prefer to see a more analytical guy in that role under Dave though. I like the blend that would give the organization
thecoffinnail
Hopefully DD doesn’t trade the entire farm away like he did in Detroit.. He is smart and Boston is lucky to have him.. I think Cherington left because he knew DD would change course on the way Boston overvalues their prospects.. Sure, I can see making someone like Betts untouchable but BC seemed reluctant to ever trade any of them.. The signings of Sandoval and Ramirez were huge mistakes.. He could have traded some of his deep farm for quality pieces but he kept them and signed big money free agents.. Plus, giving Porcello that huge extension after he only had one very good season.. BC was given a gift with LA clearing all of that money and he squandered it with arguably worse players than were sent to LA.. If BC is indeed replaced by Frank Wren then Boston is probably going to wave goodbye to most of their prospects.. How Wren could ever see a GM job again after what he did to the Braves is beyond me.. DiPoto would have been an excellent choice but instead they are going to throw analytics out the window with Wren.. Sorry I am all over the place here but this move has shocked me.. I didn’t see Boston completely changing tactics like this..
Vandals Took The Handles
I think Cherington losing power and leaving had nothing to do with him requesting it. He was forced out – same as Lucchino.
I’ve never believed that Cherington ever had the authority of a GM. Valentine was forced on him as the manager. Kashen and Henry made the salary dump trade for Gonzalez, Crawford, Becket, etc. all. Cherington may have had a say in the prospects the Red Sox got back – they’ve all been long gone.
My guess is that Henry learned the hard way that being a moneyball team and making baseball decisions primarily on statistical data has limited value. My guess is that the Red Sox are going to play a much better form of baseball starting next year, and will be an exciting team to watch.
thecoffinnail
Flat out WOW!! Dombrowski and Wren.. Say goodbye to all of those prospects Boston.. Hopefully DD keeps Wren from doing to the Red Sox what he did to the Braves.. This is shocking.. I guess 3 out of 4 seasons in the cellar has made Henry decide to throw analytics out the window..
thecoffinnail
Why do my comments always “await moderation”?
rct
I don’t know anything about the inner workings of whatever algorithm/formula puts a post into ‘awaiting moderation’, but in my experience, posting quickly after just recently posting, or using extra punctuation (periods, exclamation points, etc; your post directly above this one has extra of both), or using lots of numbers tends to do the trick.
I’m assuming it has to do with catching spam, and next time you see a spam or bot post, note the use of numbers and punctuation.
donniebaseball
Red Sox just signed one of the best GMs/presidents in the game today. If he does half as good a job as he did in Detroit, the next decade should be very exciting for the sox fans
Lance
the BoSox have been bad the last two years in spite of having one of the highest payrolls so someone had to walk the plank. some players got old. some bad FA signings and some bad trades. I don’t know what they were thinking when they gave Sandoval that huge contract.