Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski’s career in the game began with an independent study project in college, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal writes. Dombrowski’s project was about general managers in baseball, and he sent big-league GMs questionnaires, receiving replies from around half. That led to a meeting with then-White Sox GM Roland Hemond, who later hired Dombrowski. After several years with the White Sox, Dombrowski headed from Chicago to Montreal, where he ultimately became general manager at the young age of 31. Here’s more out of Boston.
- As the Sox announced this morning, John Farrell will return to his post as manager of the Red Sox in 2016. Torey Lovullo, who managed the Red Sox to a 28-20 record while Farrell went through chemotherapy, will also return as bench coach and will not pursue other managerial possibilities. Dombrowski says (via Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe on Twitter) that Lovullo’s compensation will be above average for a bench coach. Via Alex Speier of the Globe (Twitter links), Farrell’s next three to six months could be difficult as he recovers. By retaining Lovullo, the Red Sox have given themselves a backup plan for Farrell while also limiting his stress as he gets healthy.
- Dombrowski will keep vice president of player personnel Allard Baird, a holdover from Ben Cherington’s staff, on board, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com writes. One of the former Royals general manager’s key duties with the Red Sox has been helping with international signings. Baird joins Farrell, Mike Hazen, pro scouting director Gus Quattlebaum, and director of amateur scouting Jared Banner, all of whom Dombrowski has elected to retain.
- Of course, many of the players will be back too, and Nick Cafardo of the Globe writes that one key to the Sox’ 2016 season will be getting better performances from disappointing, highly paid players like Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, Rick Porcello and perhaps Allen Craig and Rusney Castillo. For Ramirez and Sandoval, that will begin with maintaining appropriate body weights. “You can’t discard somebody who’s making a guaranteed contact that’s worth a lot of money, so you have to be more patient and let them play,” says Lovullo.
At this point everyone needs to just blackball the Red Sox from all trades.
“Hey, we’d like to trade for that nice, controllable pitcher you have. You can’t have (insert pet prospect here) but you can have (insert outfielder who can’t hit here), (insert shortstop who makes too many errors here), (insert pitching prospect with too many question marks here) and (insert spare part here) if you also take Pablo/Hanley.”
Really? Sorry for the RS not wanting to trade elite young players/prospects, must teams dont. The RS probably have one of the better groups of young talent in baseball. Im sure the Cubs and Pirates have just as many “untouchables”
If you don’t want to trade pieces with actual value then no deal! And you guys only have two prospects that I’d honestly call “elite.”
Moncada and devers?
Really?
Bogaerts, Betts, Swihart, Rodriguez, Moncada, and Devers are all “elite” young players/prospects. Bogaerts and Betts in particular have ranked 30th and 10th on Dave Cameron’s trade list, in all MLB, respectfully.
Margot, Benintendi, Espinoza, Owens, Johnson, JBJ, Guerra, Kopech are all very valuable top prospects/young players that all have big value themselves.
If you add Castillo, Marrero, Shaw, Barnes, Holt, Vazquez, and maybe even Rutledge, you get 21 players. That is a lot of commodites with trade value
Castillo (contract), Marrero, Barnes, and Rutledge dont really have that much value
Shaw, Holt, and Vazquez are solid pieces though, good point on those 3.
None of Bogaerts, Betts, Swihart, or Rodriguez are considered prospects anymore. I would also argue that Espinoza is, or will be, an elite prospect.
Betts, Bogaerts, Moncada and Devers are the only ones on that list that I would consider “elite” and Betts and Bogaerts don’t qualify as prospects anymore.
The difference is the cubs and pirates have good teams so they actually don’t need to trade there untouchables.
The RS aren’t a bad team. Right now, they’re about .500 team that could of been better if they hadn’t given washed up vets like Victorino, Napoli, and Masterson so much playing time. Add in bounce backs from Porcello and Sandoval and some BP upgrades and the RS are legit ALE contenders. They dont need to trade any untouchables for an ace (hello free agency)
Plus, the RS have the luxory of not playing in the NLC. The ALE is likley a 4 team race next year, the only team that I have a hard time thinking can contend are the O’s becuase of all the FA’s and their lack of resources both in dollars and in players.
2 things: no player or prospect is untouchable, and you have to give up something good to get something good in return. Nobody on the cubs is untouchable, and nobody on the Red Sox is untouchable
I find it hard to believe the Cubs would be open to trading a guy like Kris Bryant or Anthony Rizzo, or really any of their young emerging superstars. It’s true of course that you have to give up some talent to get talent, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still have untouchables, and it definitely doesn’t mean you trade your potential franchise cornerstones.
But at some point it becomes almost impossible to trade a player. What kind of return would justify trading a guy like Bryant
Yes and what kind of return would justify trading a guy like Sonny Gray? Cuz the Red Sox seemed to have marked him as their primary trade target now that Cole Hamels is off the board.
Awesome! Its great that we have an insider like you that knows the offers the Red Sox have gotten, and sent. This is SOOO cool.Can you tell us any other information? Did Oswald work alone?
Solid move by Dombrowski extending Lovullo and getting him to stay as bench coach for another season. It almost seems he’s getting to have his cake and eat it too. If Farrell isn’t healthy or doesn’t succeed his successor is right next to him on the bench ready, willing and able to take the job.