Here’s the deal with Dombrowski: Red Sox boss has made savvy trades—and there should be more to come
Deals for Aaron Hill and Brad Ziegler added necessary pieces to the roster—and there still are moves to be made.
COMMENTARY
Bet Dave Dombrowski would be awesome at Pokemon Go. (Pokemons? Pokemen?) He’d identify what he’s looking for, track it down, and have it in his possession before anyone saw him coming.
(I’m sorry about the reference. Just being topical. They say you have to do that these days. But I imagine you could tell that I have no idea what any of that means. I don’t know Pokemon from Pokey Reese. )
Anyway, back to baseball, and what I do know: Dombrowski, in his first full season as the Red Sox’ president of baseball operations, has proven rather adept at his own game and profession, which at the moment includes the priority of tracking down and acquiring reinforcements for his talented, somewhat flawed baseball team.
The Red Sox ended their uneven but successful first half with a 7-2 homestand and an active four-game winning streak. They stand at 49-38, two games back of the Orioles in the American League East with the fourth-best record in the league. It is a standing that encourages optimism — John Farrell’s job is probably safe for the rest of the season, yes? — and one that comes with the additional assurance that Dombrowski will do everything he can to make a good thing even better.
I could not be more impressed with how Dombrowski stealthy went about augmenting the Red Sox’ roster in the days before the break. He made three trades, two of which could have a significant impact, and none of which we saw coming.
The first deal, which sent two minor-leaguers to the Brewers for Aaron Hill on Thursday, was a minor deal but a potential masterstroke. Hill, whose top career comps include Bret Boone and Bobby Grich, is still productive at 34 (he was slashing .283/.359/.421 with eight homers for the Brewers), well-regarded as a teammate, and — most important — fills about three different needs for the Red Sox.
He can play third base against lefties, spell Dustin Pedroia at second, allow Brock Holt to play left field (where he’s currently needed most), and is probably overqualified for the super-utility role that he’ll generally fill. The Red Sox’ bench has been something between a void and a punchline this season. Hill alone changes that.
And that may not even stand as Dombrowski’s best trade of the past 10 days. Nor does acquiring journeyman Michael Martinez — who provides versatile, veteran depth and a career adjusted OPS of 40 — from the Indians.
It seems like we’ve been discussing potential acquisitions for the bullpen since Carson Smith was lost for the season in late May, maybe even before that. I cannot recall Brad Ziegler’s name coming up once as someone the Red Sox would or should target, and yet it made all the sense in the world when Dombrowski swapped a pair of low-level farmhands to the Diamondbacks on Friday night for the 36-year-old reliever.
The deal looked even better when we learned the next day that closer Craig Kimbrel would require knee surgery and miss the next 3-6 weeks. That Dombrowski pulled off the Ziegler trade before news of Kimbrel’s condition come out was an especially savvy bit of deal-making on his part.
For all of Dombrowski’s accessibility — I think everyone who works or lives near Fenway and keeps normal hours has run into him at Dunkin’s by now — it’s remarkable and reassuring in a certain way that he has pulled off helpful trades without a clue among the fans and media that they were coming.
The man is affable and stealth, something we first found out when he made the Kimbrel deal with the Padres in December while the suspicion was that he was trying to deal for Aroldis Chapman. Dombrowski talks about the Red Sox’ needs and what he hopes to do freely if generally, but you never actually know when his solutions will show up on the transaction wire.
This confirmation of Dombrowski’s long-established reputation — that he’s not just a deal-maker, but a good deal-maker — has added another layer of interest to this mostly pleasant Red Sox season so far.
A layer of anticipation, too. His recent helpful, smart, quick-draw trades, his casual acknowledgement that the Red Sox need more pitching, and the reports that he’s asked about some very high-end starters should have us looking forward to what is coming — even though we’ll probably have no idea it’s coming until the moment it’s complete. So this is what an experienced, astute de facto general manager looks like.
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