Nine innings: Dave Dombrowski has never been one to walk away from a good deal
Red Sox president of baseball operations will have more opportunities to bolster roster before deadline.
COMMENTARY
Playing nine innings while wondering when Dave Dombrowski is going to drop another deal on us …
1. Yeah, I know Dombrowski has implied that he’s done making significant moves before the deadline. I also know he told us something similar in December after signing David Price and Chris Young and trading for Craig Kimbrel, and he stuck to it. But I’m skeptical that he means it this time, especially after he acknowledged Monday that he received five trade offers that day alone. The Red Sox still need another competent arm in the bullpen, maybe two, and Jayson Stark’s tweet …
Clubs talking with Red Sox say they’re still trying to do “something big.” But for what high-end starter? Chris Sale? Sonny Gray? Mystery P?
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) July 25, 2016
.. that the Red Sox are aiming high suggests that Dombrowski isn’t closed for business, but simply hasn’t found the deal he wants to make yet. The deadline is Monday, Dombrowski has a talented team with presumably reparable flaws, the farm system is still deep (19-year-old Rafael Devers has started to rake at Salem), and the greatest winner in franchise history, David Ortiz, is giving a farewell performance for the ages. They want to win now — and Dombrowski’s mode of operation is always to win now. There’s no way Dealin’ Dave is done.
2. If the White Sox make Scissorhands Sale available, it would make all the sense in the world for the Red Sox to be significantly involved — but at the right price. The White Sox will ask for the planet, the stars, and a couple of mid-level moons in return, and they should. Sale is exceptional and signed for the foreseeable future, and so what if maybe he’s a little bit nuts?
3. But there’s no way the Red Sox should part with Mookie Betts or Xander Bogaerts in any trade for even the most extraordinary starting pitchers; there’s just too much risk of injury. (Hell, Jose Fernandez has already had Tommy John). I’ll admit, when I hear Dombrowski is shooting high and has called about the likes of Fernandez and the Pirates’ Gerrit Cole, I worry that he’s more willing to part with one of the Red Sox’ cornerstone kids than we realize.
4. Are we sure Drew Pomeranz is here for the long haul — or even the medium haul? If a genuine top of the rotation, no-doubt ace becomes available, isn’t a cost-controlled 26-year-old lefty with a first-round pick pedigree who just made his first All-Star team someone who would have appeal in a trade? If the Red Sox really were in on Sale, making Pomeranz (or Eduardo Rodriguez) part of the return package would make sense. The Red Sox rotation would be very lefty-heavy with Sale, Pomeranz, and David Price, not that we’re getting way ahead of ourselves or anything.
5. All right, I give up. I have no idea what is going on with David Price, and neither do all of the sports-radio wannabe psychologists. I don’t think he’s emotionally fragile: He’s had too much prolonged success in his excellent career for that to be the case. I don’t think it’s his stuff: Despite his rise in homers and hits allowed this year, he’s still averaging 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings. He’s had fleeting moments of brilliance: His FIP (3.35) suggests he’s pitching better than his ERA indicates (4.51), and he’s had some fine performances that felt sub-par because the Red Sox ended up losing.
6. But there’s no excuse for getting knocked around by the Twins (they’d long ago have been relegated to the International League if this were soccer) like Price did Saturday night. That was the tipping point for me. This needs to be solved, now. His starts were anticipated to start the year. Now we sort of wince when we realize it’s his turn in the rotation. This isn’t how it was supposed to be, and I have no idea how it became this way.
7. I’ve about had it with the pretzel logic and oblivious hypocrisy from those who suggest the Red Sox should trade prospects because 1) not all prospects amount to much (this is where Will Middlebrooks and Ryan Lavarnway, neither of whom were ever MLB top-50 prospects, are inevitably cited) and 2) the Red Sox have a young core in place with Betts, Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr. I mean, aren’t they the case for keeping prospects? I know this much: I don’t want to find out if Yoan Moncada really is the next Robinson Cano from afar unless an established and genuine star comes to Boston in return.
8. Rick Porcello is 13-2 with a 3.57 ERA, a 125 adjusted OPS, and is yet to lose this season at Fenway Park. Hanley Ramirez is the reigning American League player of the week, is now slashing .282/.362/.459 with 13 homers — five in his last five games — and plays a genuinely smooth first base. Some of Ben Cherington’s worst deals — the ones that essentially cost him his job — suddenly don’t look so bad, do they?
9. I am not, however, counting on relief pitcher Joe Kelly to make the John Lackey deal seem salvaged. I’ll trust Clay Buchholz again before I trust Kelly. That 2014 deadline deal with the Cardinals is irreparably awful, though we should note that Allen Craig does have a .937 OPS in 21 plate appearances for the PawSox this year. So there’s that.
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