Decisions before and after deadline offer insight into Dombrowski’s team-building approach
It's encouraging that the accomplished wheeler-and-dealer chose not to meet the asking price for Chris Sale. And now we get to meet Andrew Benintendi.
COMMENTARY
If you weren’t thrilled about how Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline went down for the Red Sox — after all of the Chris Sale rumors and anticipated chaos, the end result was the acquisition of Fernando Abad and the status quo — the script for that evening’s ballgame should have made you feel better. And not just about the big picture for this team — meaning the rest of this season and beyond — but in how Dave Dombrowski goes about his business of roster construction.
It might not have felt like it at, oh, 4:01 p.m., but Monday was a good day for the Red Sox. Picking up Abad, a 30-year-old who was having a fine season this year with the Twins and was exceptional in ’14 with the A’s, should help. He’s an easy upgrade over mediocre Tommy Layne (designated for assignment Tuesday) as the lefty specialist. When the Red Sox have won championships in recent years, one commonality between all of the titlists was an unheralded but reliable high-leverage lefty out of the bullpen in the postseason: Alan Embree in 2004, Hideki Okajima in ’07, and Craig Breslow in ’13. Maybe Abad can join that club this year.
But the best moments for the Red Sox on Monday — the most encouraging and reassuring moments — arrived hours after the deadline. Pardon the mini-game-story here, but consider this: Eduardo Rodriguez, the talented if occasionally bewildering 23-year-old lefthander, held the Mariners scoreless for six innings before allowing a single run in the seventh. The Red Sox lifted him off the hook and tied it at 1-1 in the top of the eighth on Aaron Hill’s first home run with the club, then took the lead in the top of the ninth on leadoff hitter Mookie Betts’s 21st homer of the season. In the bottom of the ninth, closer Craig Kimbrel, making his first appearance since July 6, nailed down his 18th save.
That’s good stuff without context. With context? It couldn’t have reflected any better on Dombrowski’s decision-making. Rodriguez probably would have gone in any deal for Sale or a more established pitcher. Hill, along with reliever Brad Ziegler and lefty Drew Pomeranz, was one of the ever-proactive Dombrowski’s necessary acquisitions in advance of the deadline – way back on July 7, actually. Betts was one of the young cornerstone players coveted in any potential trade. If you don’t think he is officially untouchable, you’re watching a different ballgame than I am every night. And Kimbrel’s return was a reminder that there are talented reinforcements coming — but from the disabled list rather than from another organization.
Of course, reinforcements are coming from within the organization as well — or at least one very interesting reinforcement who we’ve been waiting to meet. When news broke late in Monday’s game that the Red Sox would recall outfielder Andrew Benintendi from Double A Portland and platoon him in left field beginning Wednesday, the buzz was as palpable as it would have been with any reasonable trade the Red Sox might have made hours earlier, save, I suppose, a blockbuster for Sale.
The seventh overall draft pick a year ago and sixth in Keith Law’s midseason MLB prospect rankings this year, Benintendi has slashed .312/.378/.532 with 52 extra-base hits in 97 games at Salem and Portland this year. He is the first position player to jump from the Sea Dogs to the Red Sox in-season since Josh Reddick seven years ago. Reddick wasn’t quite ready then, but then Benintendi is a better prospect than the capable current Dodgers outfielder ever was. He might help, he might struggle — I’m confident it’s the former — but either way it’s going to be fun getting to know a player who draws comparisons to a young Mike Greenwell.
That Benintendi could have been part of a deal for Sale and instead ended up being the most interesting addition to the Red Sox is a neat summation of the craziness of deadline day. You never knew how it all might play out, especially with an accomplished wheeler-and-dealer like Dombrowski making the decisions, until it was over. But we did learn this: There is a point where he will say no. He did not meet the White Sox’ asking price for Sale, the 27-year-old ace who has 14 wins and little tolerance for uncomfortable nostalgia … and wouldn’t you love to know what exactly that price happened to be?
I’m convinced that had Chicago been willing to take him as the best prospect in a trade, Benintendi would have been joining an entirely different group of Sox yesterday. I suspect that Yoan Moncada — the No. 1 prospect currently in the minors according to Baseball America — was probably the tipping point between a deal and no deal. I have heard Dombrowski is sold on Moncada and sees him as an eventual superstar peer of Betts and Xander Bogaerts. Sure, Sale would have been a super acquisition. But how can you not be hopeful about what the Red Sox kept, and all that they already have?
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