Dec. 11: The Phillies have announced the deal.
Dec. 10: The Phillies are in “advanced stages” of talks to hire Dave Dombrowski as their new president of baseball ops, reports the Athletic’s Jayson Stark. Dombrowski has the job, Jon Heyman of MLB Network confirms.
This news come as a surprise. Dombrowski had been linked to the Angels’ front office position, but he was said to be content in his role with the Nashville group. Apparently, the role in Philadelphia was appealing enough to lure him from his responsibilities working to bring baseball back to Nashville.
Dombrowski boasts four successful runs with four different franchises throughout his illustrious career, which began in 1988 when he was elevated to the position of general manager for the Montreal Expos. Dombrowski went from farm director to assistant GM to general manager in the span of three years, matching the term length he’d end up with as the frontman in Montreal (1988-1991). From there, he went south to architect the Marlins run from expansion team to World Champion in 1997. He stayed in Florida from 1992 until 2001. From there, he rejuvenated a long-troubled Tigers franchise. He took Detroit to the World Series twice from 2002 to 2015 before leaving to join the Boston Red Sox.
With Boston, Dombrowski left a legacy of handing out large contracts to veteran players and running up a luxury tax bill – but his contribution was much more nuanced. His single-minded purpose to win and willingness to spend go against the fashionable trends of the day, and ownership didn’t appreciate the direction he was moving the team in 2019. That said, he has a history of successful trades, including in Boston where he sent out prospects to add Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi, and Craig Kimbrel en route to winning the 2018 World Series. Despite the ring, Dombrowski was removed from his role in September 2019.
The Phillies have been looking for a new decision-maker since re-assigning Matt Klentak from his role as general manager. If there was any uncertainty about who was running things in Philadelphia, the hierarchy is now clear. Dombrowski is a hand-on executive who has enough experience in the game to set a clear direction.
Dombrowski’s history in the win-now tradition blends well with Philly’s stated direction. He not only matches the Phillies’ competitive ethos, but he’s about as accomplished an executive as exists in the game, having taken three different franchises to the World Series.
Assuming this hire goes through, it’s certainly a statement hire and a big win for what the Phillies were hoping to accomplish. But Dombrowski enters a fraught situation. He’s faced immediately with the J.T. Realmuto question – a pricey free agent that it hurts to lose. Dombrowski will have his work cut out for him in Philadelphia.
Still, alignment between ownership and the front office goes a long way to establishing the type of culture that wins World Series. Managing partner John Middleton clearly thirsts to bring a winner back to Philly, and he’s been walking the walk, beginning with the signing of Bryce Harper to a monster 13-year, $330MM contact. Middleton has put his money on the line, but the spending hasn’t spawned enough victories. The Phillies have been unable to get back to the postseason since their run of five consecutive postseason appearances ended in 2012.
Wait, Dombrowski is supposed to be working on bringing MLB to Nashville. I need him here.
Alternate theory: he’s brought in to move the Phillies to Nashville. Changing their name to the Villies.
Well, I need an AL team here so I can see the Angels when they’re in town.
Won’t happen
lowtalker – what won’t happen?
Nashville
Vegas and Montreal of expansion happens, but they are more than likely to drop teams than expand.
No way in hell they contract. The $$$ for expansion is where it’s at.
lowtalker – that’s contrary to all the reports that say the MLB to Nashville train is rolling down the tracks. Dombrowski was about to draw a salary from the foundation that is pioneering the effort until this Phillies news.
Source?
Honk – the salary thing was discussed on MLB Network this afternoon.
low talker… You’re out of touch. There’s a number of major leaguers living here and execs who’ve been in and out regularly and there is definite interest in bringing ML baseball to Nashville. The huge fanbase for football and hockey has shown the mid state can support a franchise. It’s gonna happen.
Why? Your favorite pitcher is out with TJS
Las Vegas is so small of a media market that it will not get an MLB team.. Salt Lake City is actually bigger.
Portland, Charlotte or Nashville will get the next MLB teams.
It would be
very expensive
for MLB to
“disappear”
2 teams.
They would
have to pay
them fair
market value…..
The population of Vegas has more than a million more people than Salt Lake City, and is larger than Kansas City & Cleveland. Plus Vegas has 42 million visitors a year (pre covid 19) which really improves their chances. And the Vegas TV market is just slightly below Cincinnati & Milwaukee.
I think Vegas has a better chance than you think.
Prov-Sorry i was responding to Lowtalkers comment about contracting.
MLB is not going to contract teams. They will make sure the Oakland and Tampa Bay situations are stabilized. Then they will consider expansion depending on if either Oakland and Tampa either move or get new ballparks. where they will expand..
What is your source for contraction talk?
Population doesn’t matter. TV market does. As we have found out from teams owned by public companies, ticket sales and other revenue in the ballpark only accounts for 25-30% of total revenue. The vast majority is TV revenue. TV is king.
With all the money owners lost this year and will lose next year, expansion is very likely. It’s easy money for the owners.
That is a great point. Although, I would prefer they contract, taking away the two Florida teams. More one to Montreal and the other, Portland.
Why Montreal?
At the end they were sometimes drawing 800 fans to games. I’m absolutely sure I’m not the only one on the board who has played ball in front of that “many” fans.
That doesn’t exactly scream excited fan base to me.
Matter of fact, I think moving another team to Canada would be a huge mistake. I mean, look at all the problems they created with having just one team this year.
No thanks.
I’d actually be all for moving Toronto to one of the worthy cities here that would support an MLB franchise while not making themselves an absolute nightmare to deal with. Leave the A’s. Move The Jays & the Ray’s man.
You could be right..I am rethinking my comment..I like seeing franchises succeed
DBF, why would MLB move a financially successful franchise out of one of the biggest markets in North America? Death wish? Especially when Toronto is actively developing a ballpark proposal (and has the finances to pull it off without significant help, which is very much unlike Oakland or Tampa).
It was very likely long before the pandemic. It was likely because the CBA is coming up and expansion creates more jobs for the PA and puts more money in the owner’s pockets.
Las Vegas is actually on point. The Vegas Golden Knights are a hit and they just got the Raiders. They will get a MLB team.
Having an MLB franchise is a Big Deal for any city.
Canada showed that they’ll willingly make money off the league but when it comes to working through adversity they go hide in their igloos, or whatever.
Look at all the great cities that have been brought up on this thread of deserving an MLB team; Portland, Memphis, Nashville, Charlotte, Vegas, Indianapolis, New Orleans…heck I’d throw Brooklyn in that mix as well.
MLB should be able to rely on their *chosen* cities in good times & bad. I don’t see how their actions show they’re interested in that.
Like a poster below recommended, let Canada have it’s own little lesser baseball league, man. We *still* don’t know if they’ll allow games *next* season!
Nah.
Move ’em.
Move them somewhere that’s willing to make the effort to cooperate.
Portland is the Cleveland of the Northwest. Boring af. Nothing to do. No attractions to see.
Las Vegas will get a team for Nashville or Portland. Whether it’s the A’s relocation or a new team. They already have plans to demolish the Rio Casino and resort and build and mlb park. There’s a ton of room to build if they don’t do that. Could be 5 years or 10. Las Vegas will have a MLB team.
I’ve only been through Portland so I really can’t say.
But Cleveland has a lot of interesting things to do, man.
The West Side Market, The Rock and Roll HOF, good art museums (is the Dali museum still there?), The Great Lakes Center, the submarine museum, that train you can take to the Football HOF, Lake Erie which is a world renown waterfowling destination, an amusement park… dunno…lots of things to do.
Been there a couple times & had a blast both times.
Your takes about Toronto are very bad. It has a very large and excited fan base, Financing for stadium, and having a team makes all of Canada more vested in MLB as a whole. It is good for MLB to have at least one team in that country and Toronto is a huge market all on its own. There is absolutely no way that the team ever moves from there. Especially when the sole argument in favor of it is that logistics are difficult when a once in a century plague hits
I’m not going to get any further into it.
But 29 teams + Toronto is a poor precedent.
I’ll sleep just fine tonight despite your critique.
It is a precedent that leagues are following. It is why the nfl plays games in the UK and NBA plays games in China. If they could have teams in those places without 8+ hour flights they would. It is just good business sense to broaden your market as much as possible and having a local team (or national team) will do that. The Blue Jays are a storied franchise and aren’t going anywhere despite how extreme nationalists may feel about it
I’m not talking about the NBA or NFL. Isn’t that what people call “moving the goal posts”?
Whatever.
This has nothing to do with anything you are typing. This is not about a “storied franchise”, or a great fan base, or growing the game, or your accusation of “extreme nationalism”.
It is very simple.
MLB is an entity of 30 teams. *Not* 29 & a spare that adheres to a differing standard. That only creates further problems whenever any type of difficulty arises.
MLB needs some general cohesion. Probably more so now than ever before. It’s tough when you need to establish an entire different set of rules for merely one team.
Look. There weren’t 10 teams, or 5 teams, or even a single other team that caused as much confusion & disharmony.
That is the precedent I’m referring to. The overwhelmingly easy solution there is to move them somewhere else to avoid future issues.
If you can’t acknowledge that well I don’t know what to tell ya.
“It is very simple.
MLB is an entity of 30 teams. *Not* 29 & a spare that adheres to a differing standard. That only creates further problems whenever any type of difficulty arises.”
Most teams exist in different states and there are different rules and politics in each state. The issues with the jays this year really wasn’t that big of a deal and as I said this is a once in a 100 year event. If the US has a semi coherent and coordinated response to it then countries like Canada would not have felt the need to shut their borders to us. It is such a shortsighted overreaction to imply this is a reason to relocate out of Toronto. The easiest solution is rarely the best in business and leaving an entire country out in the cold over this is just one of the silliest things I’ve read on this site
See?
I told you it was simple. I’m glad I could help you figure that out.
🙂
The Villie Vanatic is going to be upset.
But Milli will love it
I’m sure the music lawyers in town would LOVE a Milli Vanilli night.
And I suppose the Rolling Stones would, too.
What about Vanilli
You mean the “Willies”
Do you really think the Philly fans would allow the team to move out of the area? Those people are beasts.
No, hinerism, I think he was being sarcastic.
As a Phillies lifer, I think I could be okay with not having a Phillies squad to worry about
I’d love the Phillies to move to Nashville. It would save me a ton of overthinking and heartbreak.
Lol!
We need baseball back in Montreal too!
Vancouver! and Ottawa would be nice as well!
Toronto alone is getting boring!
Get used to it . No to Canadians baseball. Start your own league. Toronto should be moved to Nashville or Brooklyn
So from what I’m seeing MLB next expansion could possibly make the league into 3 with 3 divisions in each league. Add a team to Montreal, Nashville, Vegas, Charlotte, Vancouver, Ottawa. Quite an expansion if they go with that and make it 3 leagues of 12 teams with 3 divions of 4 teams in each. Would be wild, guess I’m a dreamer.
There’s no way the MLB would go for three leagues. The American League and the National League work great. You can’t have a three team World Series. If MLB expanded to 32 teams, then they would probably go for an NFL-style system where there are four divisions in each league and four teams in each division.
Montreal nor Ottawa can support a baseball franchise. Indianapolis should be on your list. Perennial Top 5 or 6 supported minor league city. Draws from Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee.
Marlins should’ve relocated to Montreal. There was literally no reason to approve them to get a new stadium especially before the Rays,A’s, and Jays. That was the biggest waste of a billion dollars ever.
I like it, then the A’s can move back to Philly
I like your thinking…..
Brilliant name!
Or better yet the Nillies
Good gravy.
I step away for a couple days come back & you guys are completely remaking the league. I just don’t know what I’m going to do with you fellas.
Welcome to BLITZ: THE LEAGUE
Afternoon Ducky,
It’s nothing – on the hockey rumors site they had a vaccine before there was even a virus.
On the hoops site they’re working on sending Elon Musk to Mars.
And leaving him there….
Agreed …. Yeah because that’s smart right? Leave the only guy who can And will, ONE day take you to other planets….. on another planet. Sheer stupidity. There’s a reason a private citizen had to start his own space age BS up. Because govt is inept. They can’t do anything right, from healthcare to social security they ruin everything they touch. Right or left, doesn’t matter. They try to make him look bad to make themselves look better. Every time a rocket of space x fails it’s all over the news. When he sends stuff to the space station though, you hardly hear about it. It’s a story at the end of the news cycle before the next program. It should be front page news ppl wake up! The govt cries about pollution(rightly so) And fossil fuels. He makes electric vehicles and they go after him any way they can because he’s a threat to them and the good old boy system. Because the politicians of both parties are paid by lobbyists of the energy companies(and many other scumbag big business) that they claim to be against lol What a joke. NASA Is a joke and wasn’t even sending rockets to space for years.
He’s the single greatest human on the planet. He’s trying to help mankind, and we need it badly.
I’m a building contractor.
I’ve taken the training for his solar power systems. Haven’t used it yet? But I bet I will.
“Because government is inept.”
Maybe?
Depends how you define it.
Ask any vet, man. A government’s first priority is not actually protecting it’s citizenry. The first priority of any government – ever – is protecting itself.
In which case, they do pretty well.
@Troutgolfsinoctober….
Wow, just wow. I didn’t realise you were related and I apologise.
Elon Musk memorably described someone rescuing kids from a flooded cave as a paedophile because he (the rescuer) both disagreed and ignored his “advice.”
If you remember – those children were successfully rescued.
If that’s an example of the greatest human being on the planet, I’m not sure how much longer I want to remain on the planet.
Again my apologies. I didn’t realise he was a deity to some people. It was meant as a joke which you might have gathered if you slowly read the original post. But hey – I guess it’s Friday and we’re all tired.
Hello Ducky,
That’s intriguing. Whilst I’m flogging glorified paint (PMC) and working out how to make a mound/ramp out of pallets, I’d be more than interested in the solar power systems. The one thing I’ve always tried to work out is how to use tides, what with living on an island the tides are working 23 of 24 hours a day. Without of course affecting marine life and the particularly delicate coastal eco-structure.
Thanks for the post re: English idiot tries to pitch. I’m a little bit closer. I’ve got a friend who is a proper cameraman and I’m sure will agree to film. I need to set up some kind of giant net (shouldn’t be too much of a problem) and am planning on doing it between Christmas and New Year. I’ll let you know.
For further giggles I’ll throw with a cricket ball too – the weight difference is surprisingly small (I thought a cricket ball would be a lot heavier) but the difference is only about 15 grams… It’s weird because you don’t get the same (you played pool?) degree of English on a cricket ball that you get on a baseball. I thought that would be weight related but now I’m not so sure….
I was gonna say earlier how much Dave Dombrowski reminds me of Leslie Nielsen (Naked Gun/Police Squad etc.) but I guess that’s lost now.
Ah well. I wish the Phillies good luck with him. My best British baseball buddy won’t hear a word against him (he’s a Red Sox fan) but I look at the short term game long term pain argument from my Detroit friends. I suppose if you win a ring everything else loses relevance.
@ Trout golfs in October
Apologies for replying to myself but I like your last sentence…..
“He’s trying to help mankind, and we need it badly”
I’m sure we can agree to disagree on everything previously but yes, one way or the other we do need it badly.
Take care
Peter
Late to the party, I know, but I just wanted you to know that this joke brought me joy
Wow, this is surprising. I can’t believe it. Not long ago, Dombrowski said he was staying in Nashville to bring a baseball team to that state. He does win championships, but the farm system is not very good. Hopefully, he helps the Phillies win championships and also improve the farm system.
Over the last couple days Tampa announced they’d be splitting games in Montreal come 2028. It’s possible he was eying Tampa to relocate. Either that or MLB said to him they can’t find a second buyer for two expansion teams. MLB could use an injection of new billions right about now.
Tampa was rumored to be a team coming to Nashville years ago. I think now we are looked at more as an expansion city.
It has already been well established that MLB will not expand until the stadium issues in Tampa and Oakland are resolved.
That’s what they said before the pandemic, and probably what they should do.
However, with the revenue losses from the pandemic, I have to imagine there are some owners more eager to get that heavy cash infusion that an expansion would bring.
No. They won’t split time. No city will allow that. Certainly not Kriseman. The Rays want a new stadium in Tampa. Anything he said was posturing. Its 2020 and stadiums don’t take 7 years to build.
Instead of steroids MLB is now injecting billions… What’s next?
I hadn’t heard that, but there is a wee bit of logic involved..Like Miami, that team has a hard time bringing in the fan base…I bet they could draw big time in Montreal..
Maybe that’s what he told the Angels. He’s an east coast guy apparently. But we need MLB in Nashville.
Move the Marlins and Rays to Charlotte and Nashville and put expansion teams in Las Vegas and Vancouver.
Marlins have a new stadium with a long term agreement and they are in a much larger media market. They are not moving.
The Rays are not moving either. Tampa is one of the top 15 media markets in the country. All they need is to build a new ballpark closer to where the people actually live in that area.
Sorry Pads Fan but if Tampa cannot secure a new stadium in Tampa they will be on the move. They cannot stay on the island in St Petes.
Could be as far as Orlando for the Rays in 2028. There is a prospective group there.
The problem is that decrepit stadium that is in St Pete, not Tampa. Once their lease is over they can get a new stadium and they can privately finance it like the A’s are doing.
I go to Marlins Park whenever the Phils are in town…I drive right up and get a parking spot on the first level each and every time..The place is always empty..most of the fans are from the visiting team..Miami-Dade is a football town..
Miami Dade is a spoiled town. The Dolphins attendance had been down for a bit because they were bad. In this city they only truly support winners. You don’t need to win rings but you need to make it exciting. The Marlins drew 2-3 million the first couple years. Then all the sales happened. If they start winning again (which is finally looks like is on the horizon) then attendance will go up. There has not been a steady product on the field in over 15 years. Now the groundwork is laid out for Miami to have a three headed monster in the NFL NBA and MLB. Those TV ratings will go back to top tier as well
He will trade all prospects and get the team to the World Series. He will NOT rebuild the minor leagues….its not what he does.
He’s won 1 championship. ruined 2 people’s farm systems as well (tigers, redsox). Also im sure the redsox are regretting the sale deal.
2 championships. ’97 marlins and ’18 red Sox.
Why would the Sox regret 18? He did what was asked and the team’s value continued to increase to allow ownership to buy into soccer. The Marlins could have won more but ownership forced him to dismantle the club to save salary. Finally, many decisions in Detroit were made to try to give the owner a winner before he died. The team got close. What more could you ask for?
Yeah gotta give him credit, but he does wreck farm systems big time!
John Henry and his partners, then known as New England Sports Ventures, and now FSG, bought the Liverpool Football Club in 2010 well before they ever hired Dombrowski.
He was also part of the rebuild in Miami before he left, and it was his trades of Price and Cespedes, that started the Tigers rebuild that got him fired. Just don’t ask ANY GM/POBO to win now, and build the farm at the same time. He’ll end up doing neither.
The Sale trade was more than worth it. The extension (if that’s what you’re referencing) was bad from the start. I blame ownership for greenlighting it honestly. I would have preferred to see Sale prove he was healthy after his poor finish to the championship season in ’18.
Love Sale, competitors like him don’t grow on trees, but it just wasn’t a smart investment at the time and only looks worse with hindsight.
I also realize Betts may simply have not wanted to re-sign with the Sox, but the Sale deal pretty much felt like the nail in the coffin on Betts returning while still allowing the team to maintain much coveted ‘financial flexibility.’
Thank you PK. I’m corrected but regardless the championship continued to add value and DD simply won wherever he was,
He is not credited but very responsible for a majority of the roster of the 03 Marlins as well.
Hoping Dave Dombrowski “improves the farm system” is very funny
That’s hilarious!!!!!
I hear what you’re saying, @pacfan.
But – personally – I wish there were even more GM’s & POBO’s like him. All this overvaluation of farm systems & prospects hasn’t worked out the best for baseball.
It leads to tanking at it’s worst, has been devastating to the free agent “middle class”, & gives teams an excuse to not improve the on field product (as in Cashman lamenting the “cost” of making an upgrade).
I’ll definitely take a guy who does everything he can to Win Right Now. Makes for better baseball, man.
At least, I think it does.
Maybe I’m the only one. Wouldn’t be the first time.
You need an owner that is ok with that, though. You think Cashman would care about the cost if he was given infinity money to work with?
In Cashman’s case I believe he could have convinced ownership of adding…let’s say Archie Bradley’s salary? I mean that would have been ~ 200K. I really have a hard time thinking that would have been some kind of problem, man.
I’m really not being a spoiled Yankee fan & demanding they sign Bauer, JTR, DJ, & Tanaka this off-season, or whatever.
This is more about minor upgrades. As opposed to nothing. Yanks needed just a little more pitching the last couple postseasons.
Cashman’s become really caught up in value with player acquisition for a while now. Yes. You overpay at the deadline. Sorta how it’s always been. Get over it. Ya know?
To do absolutely nothing the last two deadlines is deplorable.
He’s definately not going to help the farm system. Turned Boston’s from top 5 to bottom 5 within 2 and a half years and with Detroit? It was never good during his time there.
Look at the Philly one, which isn’t exactly bursting at the seams, apparently an owner looking to move out payroll(?). I don’t know what he can do. Making decent moves with the kids and bringing short term success is his forte, but see strikes in philly before even taking the job with payroll issues and lack of enough high end kids to move, plus a few to continue developing.
He kept Betts, Devers, Boegarts and E-Rod. All were big in 2018. Only Moncada has developed into a star, but even he did not arrive until 2019. So where did he make mistakes. Travis Shaw was good for 2 Yrs and then he fizzled.
WS and Pennant respectively. Both are better than a high ranking farm system.
Davey boy don’t need no farm system – & trust me you won’t have one when he’s done- Just give him the checkbook & stand back!
DD was taking money from the dreamers. He knows Nashville is not big enough for MLB.
Says a person who has never been to Nashville, never researched the plan with MLB, and knows nothing about the city and it’s population. Sounds like a typical low-information commenter.
Sorry, but the metro area is just not big enough. Charlotte, Vegas, Portland, San Antonio all have significantly higher populations.
Good luck with the quest though.
Yeah, that’s what they said before we got the Titans and the Predators. The Titans have a huge fanbase and the Preds sold out every game before last season even started. This town is a sports gold mine and Dombroswki wouldn’t have invested so much time in it if he and many other baseball execs didn’t think it was worth it. May be several years, but ML baseball is coming to Nashville.
ksmom – No need to apologize. You’re just wrong about the facts. We already support an NFL team, an NHL team, a future MLS team in the works, and MiLB. Again, it sounds like you know nothing about Nashville. Not to mention the thousands of people moving to Middle Tennessee every month.
Read this: ballparkdigest.com/2019/10/01/potential-nashville-…
And that was over a year ago. They’ve made progress since then.
Well add one more for when I move there. Can’t wait either.
Good for you Clipper. We’ve been here 10 years and we love it. California is my home, but it’s unlivable. Where are you thinking about landing?
Population has nothing to do with where they put teams. Ticket sales and other revenue from fans only account for 25-30% of revenue. TV, both local and national, account for 60+%. Sponsorships from local businesses make up the rest.
Nashville is a 25% bigger media market than Vegas and 7% larger than San Antonio.
That is what is going to determine the next MLB team location. Media market size.
I can see your point on Vegas, but Austin is down the street to San Antonio. Those two together are 65% larger than Nashville. Cuz everything’s bigger in Texas.
Charlotte has large adjacent media markets, too.
rondon, it will happen when the Cubs finally win the World Series. Oh, wait…
Who knows what MLB will look like in 10 years? I’d definitely bet on new expansion teams and several new stadiums.
Plus Tennessee has some damn good whiskies, man. (New favorite: Smokey Mountain Kings Creek Tennessee whiskey – strongly recommend, fellas)
That’s gotta be worth something.
Have people brought their California to TN? Or is it safe from future unlivable status?
@prov356 “a future MLS team”
Didn’t Nashville SC already play its first season?
Its an hour and a half from Austin to San Antonio and that is if traffic is perfect. At rush hour trying to get to a 7:10 game, forget it. 2+ hours.
People in San Diego don’t drive to games at Chavez Ravine and Austinites are not driving to San Antonio for games.
Ducky Buckin Fent… And just an hour north we have the ‘bourbon trail’. And if we get a team, designated hitter or not, you’ll definitely need a designated driver.
Just googled it.
I now have a new bucket list item.
I grew up in NYC. So I definitely take cabs when – ya know – needed, bro.
1984 – Good question that I often get. Most of the Californian’s are like us, in the sense that they were tired of the liberal intolerance to conservative values. I can freely refer to myself as a conservative Christian without fear of attack!
weller77 – I don’t follow MLS at all so they may have. I just remember hearing some controversy about where the stadium was going so thought it got delayed a bit. I could be totally wrong though and they could be playing.
Jumping in here. Showed up as a response to me.
But I live in one of those very liberal states. I’ve decided that at this point in my life the best thing I can do is to conspicuously consume.
If I’m going to be viewed as a wolf amongst the sheep or whatever, well screw it.
I may as well act like one.
So it’s going from my usual Yukon XL to the XL Denali (with the off-road upgrade), buy a sail boat, etc. I actually feel it’s essentially my duty to do this kinda stuff now.
While I agree that San Antonio /Austin is an intriguing expansion target, I’m not sure either the Astros or the Rangers will agree to a Texas expansion (and I suspect at least one would have the rights to the market). That’s pretty much a non-starter right there.
Schwarber it takes two to dance. One is Nashville. There is no second team. Baseball really can’t go with 31 teams.
Portland has both a ballpark site secured and private financing for a ballpark. Seahawks QB is one of the investors.
Nashville is a bigger media market than 4 existing MLB teams. Its big enough.
Nashville has twice the population of St Louis, and only about 50k less than Seattle. Nashville also already has an NFL and Hockey team so it’s proven that professional teams can survive. Nashville Predators had a higher attendance than the the NY and NJ hockey teams. The Tennessee Titans had a higher attendance than the Chicago Bears in 2019
The entire Philly’s farm system is for sale
Nashville’s home and I love being here. But I’ll still be a braves fan first. I’d love to see an MLB team here though, I love going to Titans games. Nashville is growing and would have no problem bringing crowds to MLB games. I didn’t know so many of you guys lived in my city. #615squad
615!
Full disclosure – my cell is still 714.
So you are the mysterious owner of the non-existant
Nashville Nine…..
It will be interesting to see what happens. It didn’t seem like the Phillies wanted to spend money, but I can’t imagine Dombrowski coming on board if they’re not spending. What the Phillies really need is to start drafting better and then do a good job developing those players.
It took them long enough. Seems like the Phillies are figuring out important things at the same pace as MLB and the Players Association…
Process of elimination. When the other qualified candidates choose other jobs or say they’re not interested in you (even bigger insult after they interview with you and tell YOU no thanks…) then you move on to what’s left.
Who knows, brodie is looking
Terrible hire. Guess they want to go 2 decades without making the playoffs.
After a few years of competing for the World Series? That’s DD’s MO.
Phillies won’t be able to take the hits of his bad moves. Red Sox had a great core before he even got there.
DD knew who not to trade. Would you rather have Devers or Moncado? In all his trades in Boston, what did he give up? Even the Shaw trade which was a lost trade doesn’t look as bad.
Personally, i’d rather have moncada than devers. Boston had a plethora of corner infield types, but nothing to back up 2b and pedroia. Lin was never an all around contender for the job or revered prospect. Holt was a Jack of all trades.
Moncada was supposed to take over 2B. There’s a few guys who could take devers job, with waaaaay less errors to boot.
Moncada was groomed for third with a then healthy Pedie entrenched at second. His bat can still explode but Devers’ bat already has. As of now, Devers is far the better hitter and while Moncada HAS to be better in the field, he won’t win a GG.
Moncada was not groomed for third at all. The Red Sox gave him 95 innings there (a whopping 10 games) in AA before rushing him to the majors. He played about 1,500 at 2B. He was 100% groomed to play second base.
I’m also not sure he’s “far better” at the plate. They both have 1 really good season; Moncada put up a 141 wRC+, Devers 132. I will say Devers is probably “safer” at the plate though.
MLB Network just reported on this and they talked about how he was instrumental in leading the Marlins and the Red Sox to championships. How he did it might have lasting consequences however.
Yes DD’s consequences in Florida led the Marlins to win in 2003. A lot of players from that team were traded for and/or developing near the end of DD’s tenure there.
Boston was spending like crazy prior to his arrival. He did what he was asked to do. And Detroit came close to winning the WS also. If the consequences is contention for a World Series ring, sign me up.
I’m in for that too. That’s why I wasn’t too disappointed when the reports were he was being considered for the Angels. However, I like what I see from Manasian so far.
DD is needed in Seattle….the only franchise to never even PARTICIPATE in a World Series……
This is a pretty interesting topic.
I’m not sure exactly when all of this importance of prospects & farm systems became so highly valued.
We all know how few MiLB players actually work out. Especially in comparison to a players who has had actual – ya know – success in MLB.
But you see stuff like “that’s way too much to give up” for Player X. Ya know? Dumbrowski wins, man. Honestly, I wouldn’t have a problem if he stepped in for Brian “I refuse to give up too much” Cashman. I’m sick of his press conferences trying to sell me that a couple guys *who may never even reach the bigs* was too much to give up for an actual viable upgrade. But a whole lot of Yankee fans gobble that stuff up, man.
“Oh…yeah…we can’t afford to pay the (mythical) Yankee Tax on the trade market. It’s great that we stood pat at the deadline the last couple years when we’ve run out of pitching in the playoffs. Good that we didn’t trade our 9th & 22nd ranked prospects. That’ll help keep our farm system rank intact. I’ve been very worried about that!”
Blech.
Not a smart comment. Dombroski’s teams have reached the World Series 6 times since 1997, most recently winning it in 2018.
He was fired less than a year after winning a WS. That says it all right there. Phillies do not have the core Boston had. If you want this guy running your team, your nuts.
Every fanbase in the world would trade a good farm away for a title. I don’t understand the complaints. Now the Phillies don’t have a farm…or money. So weird hire.
DD traded 17 minor league players and signed David Price to a $217 million contract.
Even if 2019 had gone better for the Red Sox, it was time for DD to move on and let a builder remake the team….
DD is a short term guy to get you a WS if you are close and can’t get over the top. He is not the guy you want running your team long term.
DD over pays to gets the best available talent and if your team is desperate for a title he is your man…..you just have to live with the scorched earth for the next decade and remember the good times.
No they would not. There is a reason the World Series he won gave no wiggle room for keeping his job. Reports out of Boston were he was a fossil when it comes to running a franchise and alienated people who worked in the ops department.
You would take away 18 to have a better young core now? I wouldn’t. Phillies have had 2 championships in their history. I’d take anyone I can get.
Exactly Von. You want a guy with a winning experience you get Dombrowski. Even if he fails, this is the right hire. He’s the guy. He’s a future Hall of Famer and better than any alternative.
Pat Gillick 2.0
Your argument is that the Phillies won’t make the playoffs if they hire him, yet DD is notorious for helping teams reach the playoffs…even if he does it at a high cost.
If DD comes in and does the usual frivolous spending, Philly will be in deep trouble. Big spending has not got this Phillies group anywhere. Took them from a terrible club to a mediocre one.
They’re already in deep trouble
This one’s gonna be a laughingduck
That makes no sense. Is english your second language?
Wait, I want to see the laughing duck.
R.I.p their farm system
What farm ?
When did the goal become having the best farm? The goal, I thought, was to win at the Major League level. Don’t think I have ever seen the Best Farm trophy, or watched the Best Farm parade.
Spencer Howard traded to the cubs for Yu Darvish confirmed.
Great trade idea! If you can get one of the top 3 to 5 SP in the national league last year for a guy who’s pitched less than 25 innings in pro ball… that’s a win. You are what’s wrong with baseball these days. The goal is to win championships. Prospects dont win championships, major league players win championships. There isnt a fan base out there that wouldnt sacrifice a prospect or 3 for that parade in November.
You’re what’s wrong with baseball. You live in a alternative universe where you think you have any idea on the value of players. And your solution to problems is who cares just sign free agents. You have literally zero idea on how to build a successful sustainable team because you’re a fan who thinks in terms of being a simpleton fan who can’t spell budget or payroll restrictions. If you had a job as a GM and only had 8 million to spend you would try and sign Bauer and be absolutely flabbergasted as to why that didn’t work. Oh he’s good! I want him on my team and attracted to shiny new things, instead of asking, what’s my teams budget, how much can I spend, if I sign this guy and over my budget who do I need to non tender or trade for nothing or prospects.
Flailing wildly at ghosts again, I see. What a terrible, misguided comment! The guy is not living in an alternative universe. The real world suggests Dombrowski is Cooperstown-bound because he’s a better decision-maker than the overwhelming majority of executives who’ve held the same office.
Then you use a fake hypothetical of $8-million? Your entire example is made up of something inside your head that DD and the Phils probably wont have to deal with.
You are what’s wrong with baseball. Incoherent and intolerant.
Just what the Phillies need, a guy who’s historically known to build great bullpens…
Dombrowski is the best available executive. Would be the best hire for Philly and if anyone can get them over the hump it’s him.
Give a year and the farm sistem will be the worst,he destroy it the minors in a blink of a eyes
A World Series ring is more important than who you have in your minors. People are caring waaaaaaaay too much over the farm system when the main reason why the previous GM is unemployed is because of the work done at the very top.
Look at the teams that have won the last few years, generally a pretty solid collection of players that came up through their system.
DD doesn’t seem to make a ton of sense for them unless they do plan to keep spending
Oh okay, they basically already gave up.
Dabrowski shouldn’t take the job.
No farm system for him to destroy.
Lol
Arenado to Philly, calling it now.
Yes, please.
This cannot be true there’s not a farm system there for him to trade away. The last regime gave it up for 2 years of a rental catcher.
Nola is available…
They traded one starting pitching prospect and a replacement level catcher for him. Not a fan of the trade, but if dealing one pitching prospect I’d giving up the farm then there wasn’t a farm there to give away in the first place.
The Phillies just continue to be an incompetent organization
Lol
Yikes! Not sure how this is going to work if Middleton is closing his checkbook this year. Even if Dombo trades prospects for established players, those players will most likely have some pretty decent salaries attached to them. This seems like a train wreck waiting to happen. DD is successful when he can spend money in free agency and trade good prospects for MLB players. Philly seems to have neither these days. Should be interesting to follow if he is indeed hired.
Yeah this is the real puzzler. People can criticize DD for the way he uses his farm assets but he’s got the rings to prove he knows what he’s doing – IF you’re willing to spend money. Phillies don’t seem like they are. Too bad they didn’t have DD during the “stupid money” offseasons.
Well said Dorothy Mantooth, esteemed American Treasure. You took the words right out of my mouth. I have nothing of substance to add to your spot on comment above.
Do you really think DD is taking the job with no checkbook? Disregard what has been said and expect if he does move his nameplate to Philly that he’ll be the same, business as usual.
Dabrowski,
He’ll probably trade Bryce Harper for a couple of busted relievers.
Really? Do you think?
How? Bryce can veto any trade and has no opt out
I’m a sarcastic Red Sox fan. It’s a joke.
Though he did win us a WS title. In the process, destroyed our farm system. Signed a whole bunch of bad contracts. Maybe in 5 to 10 years Red Sox will be competitive again.
That’s his MO
5 to 10 years? That’s a bit dramatic
Dramatic, not at all.
Marlins have never recovered after DD tenure.
Tigers have suffered the same fate.
Red Sox TBT not looking good so far.
DD is a win now guyl leaving carnage behind.
Lots of bad contracts.
With no assets in the farm system to bail them out.
Many with a checkbook have signed bad deals looking back. How many other GMs have recently won in multiple locations outside of DD and Epstein?
I agree, but the Red Sox have won multiple titles with out DD at the helm under the same ownership.
I guess my point is good ownership, money and knowing win to cut bait can cover up for bad GM moves.
DD has made his fair share of bad moves. Furthermore a franchises long term success is not a DD Resume.
How can you say the Marlins never recovered from his tenure when they won a World Series two years after he left?
Coming from another Red Sox fan you’re right
If they get out of Harpers contract, thats a great trade.
Not really anything wrong with Harper’s contract yet. He’s worth the money he is being paid right now.
I can see the Harper to NYY headlines already!
You want to get rid of Harper? Start a new rebuild.
Getting rid of that contract is a good thing.
It makes me laugh seeing all these well there goes the farm system. GARBAGE
2 time WS champ
2 time executive of the year
And dumb posters in here worried about the farm system. This place is a joke of baseball talk
Remember: the goal of any team is to have the most efficient payroll and the top ranked farm system by Baseball America. Actual WS championships are secondary.
Who cares about winning, just have the best farm system in baseball.
That’s not necessarily the argument. Just look at what Boston is today or Detroit has been for a few years. It’s a bit of apples to oranges, but the ideal scenario is to win and still be setup for the future like the Dodgers are. Winning year after year is better than having a small window and then having a large rebuild.
But the Phillies are in need of a return to prominence quickly so he is the man to do it.
Just ask the marlins how that works lol
Being the Dodgers is obviously the gold standard, but if it were as simple to replicate, teams would do it with ease.
The truth is, in order to win a World Series, you have to give up young talent. Even LA learned that hoarding prospects does nothing to get you that elusive title. They paid a hefty price for Mookie Betts and I doubt they regret it even for one second. Flags fly forever.
No one will remember that (insert team) kept the #27 prospect in the game in the winter of 2020. They WILL remember that World Series title for ages.
The rebuild is the cost of winning a championship. Plain and simple.
Yikes this won’t end well.
I agree. I just don’t think it’s as simple as picking between a good farm system and winning the World Series. At all times there should be an eye on winning both in the present, and in the future.
JD, the Dodgers have benefitted by the Giants failures recently and an overall middle of the road division. They won in a short season. While they deserve credit, how many teams were built for 60 games with stupid 7 inning doubleheader or man starting on 2B extra inning games?
He kept the Tigers competitive for a decade. Their farm wasn’t great when he arrived. With few exceptions, the prospects he moved were not missed, and Detroit’s farm has already recovered. The Fielder and Miggy contracts were on Mr. I, not DD.
Have you followed MLB the past 4-5 years? Look at the teams that contend, notice where a decent amount of their players came from? Yeah…their farm system.
It’s very hard to build a competitive team the way he has if you don’t already have assets to trade and a large amount of money to spend.
Maybe he’ll do well there, but it seems like a weird fit for where they’re at.
They don’t really have young talent for him to give up to bring the team up to a legitimate WS contender level. If they did, I’d understand this a lot more.
Subtweeting White Sox fans, I take it?
Farm systems are cyclical. If you are winning and making moves it will look depleted. If you are constantly trading away mlb talent (rays) it will look great. Who cares. It’s it about playoffs and titles.
DD has already done more than enough to go to the HOF.
Quick, someone take a photo of the Phillies’ farm system. It’ll be empty by April.
What is the moral of the story? If you are desperate and depressing enough, you will get pity points!
Watching for posts from Red Sox, Tigers and Phillies fans. You go up and down these comments and you can see we are all well aware of Dombrowski’s reputation.
He left the Tigers rebuilding. He left the Red Sox rebuilding. The body’s are starting to pile up. So I’m guessing in 4 years Dombrowski will have finished off the Phillies playoff hopes and be moving on to the team to burry.
In all seriousness, if any posters have something good to say about the guy, I’m open. I really don’t know a LOT more than what I just posted about the guy.
Here’s the short and simple.
DD is an ‘old school’ architect. In his system you need lots of cash and a willingness to pay CBT.
When he walks in, no player is untouchable, and he needs to get final say on the value analysis.
If you give him the cash, and the reins, he WILL give you a contender for a number of years. You will be left with prospects in lower levels that are unproven and a pile of aging legacy contracts at the end.
Half the reason you will lack blue chip prospects is that success leaves you drafting bottom of the order. The other half is because DD will trade the ones with upside to fill his needs to remain a contender. This leaves nothing but ‘ok’ prospects, and may give you a series of low end regulars in the system.
DD is loyal to guys he believes in, and has been known to go after guys he liked 8n his past instead of looking for new ones. He will pay to keep a guy he knows (often overpay) at the expense of not bringing in a lower cost new replacement.
Other than sale (give value to get value) DD didn’t really hurt the red sox system… look at the guys he traded, and what they’ve become… other than the sale deal of course
Wow. Really good break down. You did a good job of presenting the good and bad of how Dombrowski does his work.
Even the Sale deal. You said it, he gave value to get value. Don’t forget he kept Devers over Moncada. Will be interesting to see where that match up ends up. Right now, Boston fans are very happy.
Plus Mike Ilitch had a big hand in overpaying for free agents to come to Detroit. because that’s exactly what he needed and wanted to do.
Oh. My. God.
They’re actually doing something that impresses me. This guy knows how to win. This guy knows how to spend, which the Philles need to do, and how to squeeze money out of sucky owners. He knows how to identify talent.
Oh and if you think he’s a lousy steward of farm systems I honestly don’t care less.
1) There’s maybe one big market executive in the game who’s good a building farm systems.
2) The Phillies have no farm system to destroy.
3) He can’t possibly be any worst than Amaro was or than Klentak has been at building the system.
He’s a winner. He’s a good guy. He’s capable of building a culture and a TEAM, not just a collector of players who match his own closed-minded philosophy (paging Klentak).
I’m in.
Great hire if they’re willing to spend. Terrible hire if they’re closing the checkbooks.
Its not like the Marlins were at the top of payroll listings when he won there.
Oh yeah. I just meant the Phillies sound like they’re in sell mode. That’s not DD’s style.
What do you consider at the top; they were 7th.
How is this going to work since there is no farm system for him to destroy?
I find it so amusing how many people place a good farm system over a World Series Title when it comes to DD. They don’t fly flags for having the #1 farm system. Ask fans of the Rays or Padres if they would trade having a great farm system for even one title.
Ask the Tigers fans if they’d trade their 1 title for a decent farm syst….oh wait.
There is a very real possibility that he trades young assets, signs awful contracts and your team still never gets that flag.
Phillies fans, get a grip. One of his contemporaries (Dan O’Dowd) just called him a HOF GM. He is; one of the best around.
Flags do in fact fly forever. Just win, baby!!!!!
to be fair, this team really needs an experienced guy rather them someone new. he’s a strong option for the top spot, though i hope we can get a GM that’s a bit more green so they can stick around longer.
Little theo epstein’s idol.
He loves to spend deep pocket owner’s money.ignore farm system.
With philly having financial woes dumbrowski will actually have to learn how to be a gm.
Philly fans more bad news for you.
Patient: Give it to me, doc. I can handle it…
Doctor: I’m sorry to be the one to say this…but…the Phillies are in advanced stages of Dave Dombrowski hiring talks..
Jays fan here. I think DD is the right guy philly as they’ve been trying to contend for awhile now. Its true that DD destroys farms but if thats the cost of winning a world series so be it, you rebuild then after the window closes like every other club. Hes not a rebuilding guy tho, he got total crap for Detroit for price and verlander
Newfy, Yah that Verlander signing was idiotic.
Talking about the trade there jimmer not a signing, but i was wrong either way as Avila traded Verlander. Please excuse this stupid newfie
Can’t be dipping into the Screech this early in the week, Murph. Although it is Thursday.
Guests lol. smile of the day right there.
Verlander was on Avila’s watch and he was limited by JVs no trade clause.
Yea thats right my bad
Be prepared to spend a ton of money and drain your farm system, but it’ll be worth it to bring home a WS championship. IF he can get it done…
Phillies have been obsessed with hiring people with championship experience. People hate on DD for destroying farm systems, but honestly look at how many titles he brought to teams, some starving for them. He’s an absolute great hire IF you’re a team willing to spend. The Phillies are telling everyone they aren’t spending. So this seems like a weird hire, unless there’s a sudden change of heart. With a core of Harper, Wheeler, Nola, Hoskins, Bohm and some FA spending, this team could win, but there are a lot of holes to plug and the owner is talking about closing the purse strings. I have no idea what direction they’re going in.
He has contended in every place he’s been: ChiSox, Montreal, Florida, Detroit, Boston.
In contrast to other commenters on this site, I actually think DD is a good GM. However, I think he would be a horrible hire for the Phillies given that his entire strategy is to sell off everything in the farm and sign guys to big contracts. The Phillies don’t have much of a farm to use as trade bait, and their owner has said that he doesn’t want to spend this year. That doesn’t mix well with DD.
Dave Dombrowski did not gut the DET farm system. It was bare when he took over. It was in much better shape when he left than when he arrived.
Dombrowski did not sell off everything in BOS MiLB either. He actually used the pieces in the minors such as Andrew Benitendi and Rafael Devers. He traded Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Basabee and Victor Diaz for Chris Sale; Jalen Beeks for Nate Eovaldi and Ty Buttrey for Ian Kinsler. Trading Moncada, Kopech, Buttrey and Beeks was not gutting the farm system. Acquiring Sale, Eovaldi and Kinsler was winning the WS.
Garry so right on. DD is elite.
The Tigers lost 106 games in 2002. Then lost 119 games in 2003. Three years later the Tigers were in the World Series, all thanks to this man finding gems for peanuts.
The big contract thing was Illitch driven (our owner at the time). He loved making flashy moves, and forced DD’s hand to sign Prince Fielder and others. None of that was how we built the contender we had. It’s more just part of what doomed us in the end (aside from our core players like Cabrera and Verlander getting older, which was obviously inevitable).
Well at least he can’t destroy the Phillies farm system since they don’t have one
Neither did the Marlins. Neither did the Tigers really, when he came on board.
He’s known as a closer mainly due to his time in Boston, but he’s a great builder as well.
The man is just a great negotiator. Gets way more in trades than he should. That’s his real strength. Also he seems to know when prospects aren’t going to pan out and trades them near the peak of their value, before it collapses. He’s been wrong in this regard before, but it’s very rare compared to how often the prospects he’s given away don’t even come close to the value of the players he brings in.
Funkytime, what you said!
So they decided to hire the worst possible candidate for their current situation. Lol. Makes sense. Hire a guy who is notorious for building decent teams while ruining farms systems and signing ill advised contracts. All that while the Phillies farm system already sucks and they have no money. Yep, this move should work out just fine.
Phillies aren’t moving to Nashville, phillie fans would burn the stadium down with the players inside first.
Do the Phillies have much of a farm system left to gut? Hopefully Phillies fans aren’t to attached to Bohm because he could end up the first one traded
I’m not a DD fan. Nor do I follow the Phillies closely. Having said that, given the comments here, it should be fun watching the next 3-5 years unfold in Philadelphia. Baseball’s better with a polarizing figure like DD in it.
In DD’s defense, he may be more than a one trick pony. On the other hand, the Philly situation may be exactly wrong for his normal game plan. Stay tuned…
As a Tigers fan, I love this guy. The worst ownership move in all of the time of my fandom of Detroit sports was giving Matt Millen an extension. But the second worst was firing Dave Dombrowski.
He has the unfair reputation of selling the farm away, but in all of his 13 years here he won WAY more trades than he lost. He took over an awful team in Detroit and turned us into World Series contenders for almost a decade.
He got core pieces of our contenders like Polanco and Carlos Guillen for absolute peanuts. He got a once in a generation 25-year-old hitter in Cabera for two prospects that never amounted to what they were expected to.
Then, many years later, when it became clear we needed to rebuild after so many years of contention he got great value for the last few months of David Price’s contract before getting canned because the owner incorrectly thought that we were still a contender and was irate that we were finally starting to rebuild.
The man should universally be regarded as a hero here, but unfortunately we were never able to seal the deal in the playoffs to truly cement his status. The difference between what we got in trades when DD was here and after he left is startling. We’re still trying to recover from his firing.
You Philly fans got a good one. Congrats.
Well there goes the Phillies farm system.
Just wait, Dumb Dave will trade all of Philly’s top 10 prospects to acquire Miguel Cabrera
Dumb Dave has two WS rings. You are not a fan if you don’t want your team to get those and he gets those. Banners fly forever.
No, but he might trade two of them for the next Cabrera, and I’m sure Phillies fans will just hate that!
Philly fans would hate having a 2-time MVP, Triple Crown winner and future Hall of Famer? Ok, cool.
Also important to understand he’s being hired as the PoBO not the GM.
The Phillies have no GM right now. So by default Dombrowski is GM.
Sure, but what I meant was it’s possible they will eventually hire a GM as well. Who knows what the heck they’re doing? At least this is some semblance of a direction.
Phillies fan get ready for no farm system, way overpay a little success and move on for years of rebuilding. Basically status quo of where you are now.
I was going to say, that’s where we are at already.
Epstein wants to be an owner and he’s not in a hurry to get back into a daily grind. I wonder since Dombrowski’s out, if the group in Nashville. will approach him…
Wow, great hire for the Phillies if they can sign Dombrowski. The guy can build a farm system. The guy can draft well. The guy can trade. The guy can sign free agents. The guy wins!
I am sad if he is off the board. I was hoping for a Jays hiring of Dombrowski and a dumping of Shapiro/Atkins. Oh well, Epstein is still on the board.
Dombrowski doesn’t build farm systems he yearns them apart
Fitted, who built the farm system that led to the marlins 2003 World Series? DD!
Who are the Phillies best prospects? Say bye bye
They’re already gone
YES!
If you have a problem with this hire you’re an idiot.
as a Mets fan…..all I have to……hahahahahahahaha……sorry, all I have……hahahahahahahahahaha……..what I’m trying to spit,,,,,,hahahahahahahaha…….out is gooooood luck Philly
Dude. You’re a mets fan. You literally follow one of the most inept organizations in all of sports history. You have no room to talk down to any other team.
I’ve got to agree there isn’t a Mets fan around that should be laughing at any team .
I would have accepted your laugh if the Phillies hired Brody Boy. They hired a perennial winner. I don’t see it as a good fit if the Phillies aren’t spending, but DD has a solid track record.
Dombtowski being hired by the Phillies means the Phillies minor league system is going to take a huge hit .
Phillies fans would gladly trade prospects for a World Series title.
Oh yeah, I forgot that signing DD automatically wins your team a WS
If it was really as basic as you try to make that proposition, you’d have a point, but it’s not.
Last 3 teams have gone to the WS 4 times combined. 2 of the 3 teams have won it with him in charge.
So yeah, it has in the past. Pretty good track record there.
Good. Time to start winning again.
Also, Dombrowski seems to be great at knowing which prospects to trade away and which prospects to keep.
What minor league system? Klentak had five years and did nothing for the system, Ruben Amaro had seven years, and did nothing for the system. But at least he won a pennant and four 3 division tiles in the process. Klentak couldn’t even deliver a winning season. The only true star prospects this organization has delivered to the majors since the Rollins-Utley-Howard-Hamels era have been Nola and Bohm. Maybe Spencer Howard will be another, but we don’t know. As a fan of the team, I’ll be more than happy see a system that isn’t much good anyway, take a generational hit if it means Dombrowski can use his skills at bringing in major league talent through trades and free agency to build and actual winner.
This changes the narrative that the Phillies are cutting payroll. Not with Dombrowski coming onboard.
Would like to see Scott Kingery, Adam Haseley, Zach Eflin, McCutchen to Cubs for Yu Darvish, Kris Bryant
Phillies rotation of Nola, Darvish, Wheeler would be strong. Lineup would be pretty nasty as well. Also getting Bryant/Harper together could allow them to extend Bryant.
Doubt that gets you Darvish by himself. Kingery/Haseley haven’t shown they can hit their way out of a wet paper bag. McCutchen makes 20MM this year plus holds a 3MM buyout. Why would the Cubs trade for one year of McCutchen at basically 23MN when there are plenty of free agent outfielders they can sign for half the money w/ no prospect cost.
If they add Bohm or Howard, it’s a deal. DD wouldn’t mind.
Ryan Howard. Done.
Marlins, Tigers, and Red Sox all made it to the World Series thanks to Dombrowski’s leadership. Get ready for to add Phillies to that list.
And he built the Expos into a contender until cheap owners made him trade away the stars he developed rather than pay them high arb $$$ .
Dombrowski built some very fine farm systems in Montreal and Miami.
He is a multiple threat, drafting, trades, free agents, international free agents you name it, that guy can do it..
Expos had best record in baseball with a star studded young lineup built by drafts and trades…World Series bound until the baseball strike
And then a cheap owner insisted he trade players rather than pay the Arb. $$$.
Hey if Boston ownership didn’t want to spend the money they would have told him no!
Howard, Abel and Morales for Scherzer. Stott and Medina for Bryant. Yes I have seen the Dombo future.
I like it.
Good bye farm system!!
He will build a championship team and then you will go into a rebuild due to no farm system and aging players.
See Marlins, Tigers, RedSox
For the Red Sox 2019 is on Cora for skipping spring training so they started really cold and pitchers ended up injured. DD was gone when they decided to trade Mookie and sit out 2020 since it was a short season and the goal was to get under luxury tax. Nothing after the championship is on DD and Boston isn’t in bad shape, they can compete with a few acquisitions whenever they want to commit to competing.
Correct. ’19 is all on Cora’s having the team completely unprepared to start the season and they just never got into any kind of rythem. ’20 was basically punted away in part because of Cora and how that played out and because of injuries and the short season
Stupid Money Baby!
They have no farm system for DD to trade away , I was 50/50 on this hiring. Really hope he doesn’t trade Howard or Bohm. All they have left in the farm is Stott & Medina and Morales.
This whole “going outside of the family” method may actually work. It’s just a shame I don’t live near Phila anymore and won’t be able to hear Eskin picking fights with him and Angelo Monday morning quarterbacking everything he does.
Those 2 are the biggest boobs on radio. Almost as bad as the idiots in Boston.
He’s got a big job ahead of him. Phillies are not looking so great right now. This guy can get a championship for them but don’t expect sustainability.
I have to imagine that Dombrowski would not have come to Philadelphia unless he got enough of a commitment to spend money, which is an interesting shift for an organization that has spent the offseason complaining about finances. If they planned to completely lock up up purse strings, Dombrowski makes no sense, and it makes no sense for Dombrowski to agree to the job.
What is Not to Like?!
All Dave Dombrowski does is Win, Win Win,
Win where ever he goes!
1)Dombrowski Montreal: he built the best farm system and team in baseball
Expos had best record in baseball and were World Series bound when the baseball strike shut it down.
2)Dombrowski built 2 Marlins teams that became champions:
(a) the expansion club 97? b) the 2nd WS team (04)?
3) Marlins Ownership had Dombrowski tear it down after 1st WS win.
Dombrowski traded everything that wasn’t nailed down, built the core of the 2nd Marlins Championship team that won it shortly after he left for Detroit.
4) Detroit Dombrowski built 2 American League Champions (2006, 2012) and 5+ Division Titles in Detroit
5) Dombrowski built World Series Championship in Boston
Ownership sets the tempo: Win Now! Build the Farm! Trades! Free Agency etc…
Dombrowski works hand in hand with ownership to produce a World Series team
everywhere he goes in very short periods of time..
Phillies fans are gonna love Dombrowski!!!
Also helped the White Sox in the early 80’s. Won division in 1983 and contended a couple other seasons.
At first I laughed and said what are the phillies thinking. After thinking about it in reality, DD can’t blow up a farm that is not really there. This was a perfect hire. Go win one for Philadelphia Dave!
Dombrowski built some very fine farm systems in Montreal and Miami.
He is a multiple threat, drafting, trades, free agents, international free agents you name it, that guy can do it..
With most teams cutting payroll because of the pandemic, Phillies and Dombrowski may be able to load up on the flood of bargain free agents looking for jobs etc..
And JT Realmeato (sp) would be a great investment….like locking up a Gary Carter type catcher.
If that’s actually their plan, this makes more sense, but that’s not the message they were putting out there regarding spending.
Dombrowski would not go to Philly unless he gets assurances from ownership that he is Team Pres and has “control”/decision-making authority on transactions. Payroll will go up. And, he could trade some of his veterans for multiples of MLB ready young players like when he stole a little known, struggling starter from the D Backs to the Tigers..
A Guy by the name of Max Scherzer..
I am surprised Arte Moreno didn’t hire Dombrowski……Angels have money to spend and many, young stars already like Trout and Rondon
They just need to fix their pitching.
So far this offseason, it looks like the Angels might have a winner at the GM position. I know that it is too early to evaluate him since he has only made two trades, but it looks like Minasian has done some good work by getting Rasiel Iglesias to be their closer and Jose Iglesias to play short. He still needs to make a lot more moves, but as of right now, it appears that the Angels are headed in the right direction.
Impressive, but the real test will be to see if he can land Enrique Iglesias to sing the National Anthem on opening day.
I see what you did there, though I’d rather have the Angels bring back Enrico Pallazzo.
hahahahaha……goodbye Story and ALL prospects.
So basically he rejected Moreno and the Angels. It’s an Arte problem.
1) First, I don’t know why people think Dombrowski doesn’t know how to build from the bottom up. He built the 97 Marlins with a combination of both young talent like Edgar Renteria, Charles Johnson, Livan Hernandez; Craig Counsel, etc,; expansion picks or trades from expansion picks like Jeff Conine, Rob Nen, and Gary Sheffield (traded for expansion pick Trevor Hoffman); and the obvious vets signed through two consecutive years. Then, after given the order to blow the team up, Dombrowski set things in place for the 2003 champion as he was the one that led their drafting/amateur signs of pieces like Luis Castillo (2B), Alex Gonzalez (Marins version), Josh Beckett and Miguel Cabrera; and for the trades that brought in young talent from other teams like Mike Lowell from the Yankees, Derrek Lee from the Padres, Brad Penny from the D-Backs, AJ Burnett and Preston Wilson from the Mets (Wilson traded for Juan Pierre), had Antonio Alfonseca who was for Dontrelle Willis from the Cubs, Carl Pavano from the Expos, Braden Looper from the Cards, Juan Encarnacion from the Reds. He also had prospects that were traded for finishing touches, like Adrian Gonzalez who was later traded for Ugueth Urbina to solidify our bullpen in 2003. So, why the assumptions about Dombrowski and not building a team’s system when his work with the Marlins was mainly built on that?
2) I think when all is said in done, MLB will be getting teams 3 locations of Portland, Vegas, Montreal, Nashville or Charlotte. Two will be expansions and one relocation of the Rays. My guess, based on one of the formats talking about scheduling and traveling, at least one for sure will be on the western side of the U.S. between Portland or Vegas (and maybe two). I think the Rays will be moving to any of the locations, with it most likely appearing to be Montreal since that has already been part of a conversation of playing games there. However, the pandemic issues with Canada may change that possibility in the thought process. At least one of the 3 new locations will be an eastern half of the U.S. team between Montreal, Charlotte or Nashville. The determination of the 3rd location I believe will depend on the future league structure of MLB – whether a NL/AL split or a more radically changed structure, like the Eastern/Western leagues structure that has occasionally been mentioned. I believe if the Eastern/Western format may lead to two 2 of the 3 being in the west, thus giving both Vegas and Portland teams (most likely through expansion, while 1 will be in the east (most likely relocation of the Rays.
I personally would like the Eastern/Western Format which could look as follows:
Eastern League
Yanks
Red Sox
O’s
Jays
Atlanta
Nats
Phils
Marlins
Mets
Cleveland
Reds
Pirates
Brewers
Twins
Tigers
Charlotte/Montreal/Nashville
Western League
Cards
Cubs
White Sox
Royals
Dodgers
Angels
A’s
Giants
Pads
M’s
D-Backs
Rockies
Astros
Rangers
Portland
Vegas
You could actually switch out Portland or Vegas with one of the new eastern locations and move the Twins to the Western League. It all depends on MLB.
it may be time to expand, but overseas:
Tokyo, Seoul, San Juan, Mexico City ????????
Tokyo and Seoul are off limits because of the time zone barrier. No team would be capable of constantly traveling over the Pacific to play games. Mexico City and San Juan are interesting, though I don’t know how viable an American sports franchise would be in those places. We haven’t had any professional sports teams from America play there yet. Also, I’m not sure how players would feel about going to countries that don’t speak English. I know a lot of players already speak Spanish, but it would definitely be a challenge for some players.
Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory that is a vote away from statehood. I’m not sure how that would be a problem. Besides, when they were in Montreal, the language was French.
Montreal idea would not come in until 2028. Too much time between now and then.
Montreal drew less than what Tampa has drawn in their worst year. Montreal does not care about baseball nor have to money to finance a new facility. People in Canada love the Expos. Unfortunately no love from the city where they played.
Nashville, Vegas, Charlotte, San Antonio, Indianapolis should be the Top 5.
Bye Bye farm system
“Sure he might win the World Series, but their High A team won’t be as good. Bad hire!!!”
Winning is never worth it if it costs you the theoretical potential to possibly win in the future.
You mean like when Dombrowski won the 1997 World Series and then set the Marlins up to win again in 2003?
There are a ton of desperate organizations that would disagree
Phillies continue to run their team like it’s the 90’s.
Realignment They should put the 2 LA Teams. The 2 Bay area teams. San Diego and Seattle together and call it the Pacific Coast Division
i see in the phillies future:
Jordan Zimmerman, 3 years/35 million
Rich Hill, 4 years, 42 million
Brohm, Howard, Stott to Detroit for Miggy
Are you happy if your team has one World Championship followed by 12 years of non-contention failures? That’s the Pat Gillick – Dave Drombowski way.
DD doesn’t leave a team in despair, the person who follows him makes incredibly stupid moves and destroys the future of the team. Bloom is yet another perfect example. Who gives up on Mookie? A short sighted idiot or a GM with absolutely no say in the decision making process. Who dumps players JD Martinez after DD leaves in Detroit? A short sighted idiot!!
DD gets far too much credit for collapses after he leaves. For every bad decision he made while a GM at a particular location the next guy exponentially expands the problem and DD gets the blame. The Red Sox farm system generated 17 major league players during the 10s and all but 4 were playing at the MLB level with the Red Sox. Bogaerts, Betts, Benintendi, Vazquez, Devers, Chavis, Dalbec were all not traded by DD. All current Farm system evaluations are bogus because it’s only a point in time picture not an evaluation of a process that graduates players to the majors or moves players from the system for parts needed by the major league team. DD gets that and excels at improving organizations.
It’s a LOCK that the Phillies win a world series before the Red Sox because the idiots in Boston went cheap and lost their guru for winning and the Phiilies have just built a premiere organization by hiring both Girardi and DD. It won’t be long before they’ll be wearing rings and I’m not a Phillies fan, I just know how well Girardi got a crap Yankee team to perform better than they should have for years when Jeter sucked and DD has taken over so many ok teams and turned them into champions. I thought Boston would hire Girardi rather than the Cheater and win several more rings but instead they hired a loser and now have brought him back and lost a huge part of their fan base. Owners make and break organizations and the Phillie’s organization was just made and the Red Sox organization is completely broken and not because of DD. The owners are blithering idiots who completely lack integrity and their financial advisors have no clue how a team makes money or how to trade assets for assets not room under the cap. Perfect examples of organizations going in opposite directions..
Middleton “walking the walk”!?!? Haha any phillies fan knows this is a joke. He wont do whats necessary to put the team over the top. He signed harper/wheeler sure a nice start but the team has so many holes to fill and are on the verge of loosing jt… i dont wanna hear the praises of middleton.
DUMBroski sucks
Phillies move to Nashville, Oakland moves to Philadelphia, welcome back Philadelphia Athletics.
Well, good day pholks…I find it amazing that every time a Player, Manager, or Executive is said to be going to ______team, the phans show up to give their expert opinion why it’s a bad hire…
Currently, the Phillies have a really bad minor league system..gonna be really hard to destroy it when only about 3 quality players live there..One of them, (Howard) shows promise, but has done nothing to date..
To those that constantly rip John Middleton for not spending, I suggest you take notice that the Phillies currently own one of baseballs largest payrolls..I would add, that it isn’t the spending, but maybe how it has been spent..
I watched Dombrowski here in SoFla…after building the team to win, and win they did, NO FANS CAME OUT…they still don’t! When Hiezinga (sp) said he would do what he needed to win, and if the fans still didn’t show, he would sell off the players..Dave did just that for him..
I want to see the Phils win…if Dave can get that done as the President of Baseball Operations, then I’m in…
how many years?
4.
The Phillies have no farm system and a lot of holes. It is time for rebuilding.
They spent a lot of money on the bullpen, but 2019 injuries destroyed that plan. Arrieta didn’t work out. Those are really the biggest mistakes in my mind. People will point to the JT trade, but honestly if Arrieta and the pen worked out, Phillies are a playoff team two years in a row. They aren’t far away, but they are further than they should be. Rebuild may happen, but if they get the okay to spend, I think they can compete. Big if though.
Their biggest problem is Bryce Harper. Arrieta is a speck compared to him. Harper has never been a winner and teams win when he leaves.
The farm system is about to get worse.
Dombrowski can have Eovaldi & Sale.
GM and Pres of BB Ops are short-term mercenary positions…there’s no loyalty to the team just get the best players available as quickly as possible, win a championship and then move on.
Hey! It’s Bill Parcel on a diet
Dombrowski will spend 50 million to spend and he is going to get some pitching, pitching, pitching. If I were him I would sign 3 relief pitchers and 1 starter, add a 2nd basemen, catcher, and center fielder. Relief- Yates, Colome, and Kela. Starter, Kluber, and Archer. LaStella for second, Flowers to catch, and Pillar in center.
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The Phillies will be playoff contenders for a few years and basement dwellers for 20 years. He wrecks teams.
Same Dombrowski that kept Dick Allen out of the HOF? Well I guess Philly is the perfect place for him.