At the time, it was reported that Illitch wanted the Prince Fielder extension not Dombo.Originally Posted by notin
At the time, it was reported that Illitch wanted the Prince Fielder extension not Dombo.
it really is a done deal. Some interesting posts to read today. It seems that in hindsight there is at least a little agreement thinking that we likely would not have accomplished what we did without the trades made by DD. it also seems that some feel that if none of the trades were made we might be better today than we currently are but still not all that good. Most seem to think that our farm system would look stronger. This is where things get interesting for me. If your farm does not develop the quality that it takes to win, then trades need to be made. That is one of the purposes the farm serves. Stockpiling mediocrity just isn't good enough. pretty sure Bloom knows this just as well as he knows that we are in a search for quality pitching.
Well, just as I blame Cherington for Sandoval and Hanley, I blame Dombrowski for Fielder.
And Fielder lingered on the market forever that off-season. Dombrowski did not even sign him until Victor Martinez was ruled out for the year, which was in February, I believe. So if Ilitch got involved, he got involved really late.
It seemed a little odd to go all in on a replacement player with a deal twice as long as the guy he was replacing. (And forced the most awful position alignment seen in the AL in decades when Miguel Cabrera was moved back to 3B.)
To be precise, Logan Allen cracked the preseason Top 100 prospect lists in 2019 some three years after the Red Sox traded the lefthander in November 2015.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=allen-000log
https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...sactions_other
Is that why you hold all of this recent misery over Bloom?
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
Well, if people are going to make the point that some of the highly valued prospects we traded were flops, then we should also count some of the lower valued prospects that moved up in value, too.
I remember there was talk about Allen during the trade and how many felt he has a lot of promise, and how maybe the deal might have been done without him.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
There's always a "but."
Theo had one.
Ben had a few.
Tito had one.
DD deserves one, too.
"Buts" don't negate the good things, but they also should not be buried or made unspeakable just because the great moments were so wonderful.
I'm still thrilled and grateful for what DD did, but that doesn't mean I have to sweep the consequences under a rug.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
My Dombro post: I'm still satisfied the Red Sox finished first three straight years, improving each year until they had their best season ever -- which never would have culminated with ultimate success without the Pearce and Eovaldi trades. Argue all you want about subsequent signings after the 2018 World Series, but the facts are Pearce was the WS MVP, while Eovaldi -- statistically, for those who forget -- was Boston's best pitcher through the entire '18 postseason (in the past half century, of all hurlers appearing in 6 games and a minimum of 22 innings in a postseason, only two had a lower ERA, Opponent BA and WHIP – Schilling and Johnson in ’01).
As for those who suspect Dombrowski's spendings on others led to the eventual trade of Mookie, I'm not so sure. I always wondered about DD's quote -- "You can't sign'em all" -- and hoped (against all hope, as it turned out), that he wasn't referring to Betts. I sense Dave knew Mookie wouldn't be signing back in Boston, and that's maybe what drove the contracts for others instead. As has been well chronicled, Dombro knows and appreciates talent; remember, Max Scherzer turned down a massive offer in 2014, and yes, Miguel Cabrera got a massive extension. But Miggie is also a first-ballot Hall of Famer...
So is/wiil be Mookie. And it's hard to believe someone in the business as long as Dave Dombrowski didn't see and/or plan for this. After all, Betts was the best player on the best team that DD ever GMed...
Better the Angels than the Red Sox!
Bloom and Theo operate under the same philosophy. How well Bloom implements that philosophy remains to be seen. Based on what I've seen in Tampa and what I've seen Friedman do with the Dodgers, I am very optimistic.
The question for me is, did Dombrowski have to make all of the trades that he did early in his tenure here for the Sox to be successful? The answer for is is a resounding NO.
We could have had the best of both worlds.
Thanks Ben!
My Dombrowski thought: I would have preferred we never hired him.
I'd like to have given Ben one more year.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
Also dgalehouse cannot handle it if anyone says anything bad about Dombrowski or good about Cherington
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