I really do not disagree with anything here, except for the 'superficial' line about Eovaldi.
I am fine with the way Dombrowski handled the off season in terms of the 25 man roster. I am always on board with adding more pitching depth, as much as you can reasonably acquire.
As I posted before, I agree that Dombrowski fell asleep in terms of adding more depth, particularly for the pen, and particularly during the season.
He's a logical candidate. It's really tough to guess what external folks will be available and interested.
And while Shaughnessy has a reputation as a big time cynic, he's still a more perceptive sportswriter than any of the whiners that used to pollute the Herald sports pages in the 1990's and early 2000's. I would read 1,000 Shaughnessy articles before even reading the opening sentence on anything written by Gerry Callahan...
The "superficial" comment was not specific to Eovaldi. More about how Dombrowski settled on his starting 5 and then just flat out quit. I heard Epstein on the radio here in Chicago talking about building the Cubs rotation, and he said something to the effect of "we know who the top 5 are, but we still need to settle on starters 6 though 9." We didn't see that this year from DD...
The 2019 team in on course to lose 23 more games than the 2018 team. The 2014 team lost 26 games more than the previous year. Neither team lost a significant number of players, though the loss of Ellsbury, an everyday player, was probably more important that losing Kimbrel. The 2018 team was a LOT more talented than the 2013 team. Thats the issue I have. With the level of talent the 2018 team had they should at least have been in contention for a playoff spot. They just mailed it in this year. When a team has no talent you really can't complain that they suck. These guys have the talent but didn't do their jobs. Thats in no way the fault of the GM.
Underperformance can be a difficult thing to figure out.
Take a guy like Porcello. I highly doubt that he isn't doing anything but trying his ass off out there every time out. Especially when you consider he's in his walk year and there's a lot of money on the line for him. He's not getting the results, but I don't think it's from a lack of effort.
Shit happens.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
Yup. Guys have bad years. This year Cora failed to have his SPs ready to start the season by severely limiting the number of pitches thrown in ST, a strategy which was predictably faulty. Then you have the kind of brain dead baseball the Sox have exhibited all year, for example, Bogaerts getting thrown out at 3B last night. Just not thinking....they frequently do not have their heads in the game. Thats mental; its mailing it in.
But there is some fault in theGM just sitting back and watching it happen.
The 2014 team had a fire sale and still only regressed about the same as the 2019 team. The only difference remaining will be that the 2014 team finished in fifth place. The 2019 team will probably finish 3rd place despite the relatively equal regression...
And that's part of the problem that does fall on Dombrowski.
Porcello is clearly having a horrible season, effort notwithstanding. But he is still out there starting games. Eovaldi is having a horrible season due to injury. He has had his role bounced around, but he is now back in the rotation. DD did got out and get Cashner, who was actually a smart pickup despite his failures at the time. But with all the struggles and injuries in this rotation, why so little effort to improve? Why did DD do nothing else? I get his trade assets were limited, for which he is culpable, but understandably so. But nothing else? Other teams in the playoff race have been at least trying. AS I pointed out on another thread, the Yankees have a killer bullpen, but they keep adding to it. Meanwhile Dombrowski looks at the Sox pitching and says "do better! That's it."
It's not his fault Sale and Porcello and Cashner and Eovaldi have struggled. But it is his fault for having no one else to pick up the slack...
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.