The Red Sox may not necessarily hire a new general manager to replace outgoing GM Mike Hazen, according to a report from Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski declined to say whether he was still interested in assigning the GM title, explaining that he is “still working on some final decisions.”
It’s obviously not alarming to think that the Sox might operate without a GM. After all, Dombrowski has been the everyday face of the club’s baseball operations department since his hiring as president of baseball operations in August of 2015. Then-GM Ben Cherington departed rather than serving under a new executive with final baseball authority, and though Hazen took his title, he never held the same level of authority.
More than anything, perhaps, the news is a reminder that teams’ executive titles are in a state of flux around the game, with similar-sounding positions meaning different things from one place to the next. Indeed, some have even concocted whole new terms, such as “chief baseball officer.”
But that’s not to say that the apparent shift in plans is without importance. Previous indications were that Boston was looking inside its own organization for a new lieutenant to Dombrowski. Now, Abraham suggests, the team may spread the responsibilities around among multiple executives.
That may well suggest that Red Sox VP of amateur and international scouting Amiel Sawdaye — who had been seen as a candidate for a promotion — will be heading to Arizona to join Hazen. Indeed, Abraham calls that a “strong possibility.” The Twins have also said to be in the mix to add Sawdaye in some capacity, though their front office buildout is on hold while top executive hiree Derek Falvey completes his duties with the Indians.
Not surprising, Dombrowski pretty much runs things anyway.
DD is too powerful for a gm Hahahaha
Spot on, chucky.
Dombrowski power tripping again… can’t wait until he is gone. Unfortunately that won’t happen until after a few losing seasons.
Hi Eric. I have no idea why you feel the need to be so negative about DD. Whilst all his moves have not worked out as planned all the moves seemed sound when they were made. We are in a good place for many years. I am excited that DD is in charge, unfortunately for you it might be a long time before you get your “few losing seasons”…
Exactly!!
Love how much credit these executives give themselves. Seems like sometimes the ego inflates once they get near ownership. Just my opinion.
Never been a fan of DD- feel like he just thinks he’s the man.
He is da man.
You mean no one wants to be a GM that’s not really a GM?
And I might add .. work for DD!!
Now Sox need to focus on finding pitching depth (picking up Buchholz 13 mill option) looking at potential trade targets ( Gray, Teheran, Sale, Quintanna (others)
restocking bullpen !
And finding a new bench coach !
Good luck DD
DD is overrated
So not only does Dombrowski seek out and overpay for underperformance on the field, but he also oversees an exodus of bright young minds from his front office. It is great that a late season hot streak propelled the Sox to the playoffs where they were swept, but this is not going to be sustainable if Dombo drains the entire farm of young talent and his entire support system of innovative thinking. I thought the Sox ownership group was smsarter than to allow this to happen. They had better win another World Series soon, because it’s not going to end well.
Whom has DD sought out and over-payed in his career? Joe Nathan and Troy Percival? Fielder had a great first year in Detroit before hitting wall in mid 2013, which turned out to be him needing neck surgery, so what’d DD do? Flipped him for a top-15 2nd baseman.
I would hardly call three people an exodus. They apparently offered Cherington the moon to stay while Hazen and Saway took promotions. They still have a very large group of bright young individuals in that front office.
I hate this notion that DD just guts farm systems. He built prospects in Detroit to upper-echelon status and than flipped them only to watch them bust wherever they went.
As a longtime Boston fan, I’m concerned with the exodus of front office personnel since hiring Dombrowski. Cherington left upon arrival. Hazen left only a year after, with Sawdaye in tow. Is it really that difficult to work with this guy? What also concerns me is that the team that scouted and drafted their way to success is moving on and who is left? Lots of questions about the composition of this front office moving forward.
Literally everyone is still there but the three people you just named.
You’re drastically underselling the value of those three names.
Most of all, it’s not the absence of those three people but WHY they left, and a lot of that has to do with a difference in ideology. All you have to do is compare the philosophies of the departed vs the newcomers, and that should be enough of a cause for concern.
Dave Dombrowksi is good at this, he’s a master manipulator. Same pattern in Detroit, though Boston has more ample financial resources to bury the forthcoming mistakes of operating in an archaic roster architectural ideology.
Outside of Cherington they all left for promotions to positions that were not available to them in Boston and Cherington left because he was loosing some of his authority. Outside of Wren there have been no newcomers and he’s hardly involved in the day-to-day of the team..This isn’t the first mass exodus of front office staff the Red Sox have had either.
What patterns is he even remotely repeating? Detroit was the laughingstock of MLB when he got there.. The guy revived Montreal and Detroit from being the jokes of MLB and built the Marlins from an expansion team to a World Series Champion in three years. There’s nothing archaic about his roster in Detroit.
Also is would be a methodology not an ideology.
I’m pretty happy seeing all the young guys leaving the front office. We have not done well in the department of pitcher development. Some turn over in the talent decision making spots will probably be a good thing.
I have always thought running closers by committee was a mistake. I can’t wait to see what a GM by committee looks like.
DD is going to wreck Bostons farm system (just like he did in Hockeytown)., overpay for free agents, and leave them team with a bloated payroll. Congrats.
Anyone actually ever believing that DD was going to pass any authority to anyone else as a GM was kidding yourself! Watching this guy operate for the last 15 years in DET got old FAST. Say goodbye to your prospects, he will no doubt trade each and every one of them to try to get back to the top of the mountain. He already traded a handful of them for Kimbrel and it won’t stop there, especially with the FA class coming up this off-season!
Name 5 prospects that Dombrowski traded that amounted to anything or their loss outweighed Detroits gain? I’ll wait….
Name a World Series DD has won the past 15 years with a Payroll that usually Tops out in top 5 of baseball ? I’ll wait …….
Has nothing to do with my point, but who cares? Boston and New York are the only teams to be in the top five of payroll to win a World Series in the last 15 years. Having the best Pitcher and the Best Hitter in the game tends to drive up your overall payroll too.
Guy makes a completely valid point and the only comeback someone has is to use the same sentence structure as a wisecrack, without addressing the point.