Here’s your official Dave Dombrowski trades report card
Major League Baseball’s non-waiver trading deadline is little more than a week away. The Red Sox, in first place but flawed, have obvious needs and a president of baseball operations in Dave Dombrowski with a long history of wheeling and dealing.
Seems like an appropriate time to look at his significant trades since he joined the Red Sox in August 2015.
Teaser: He’s been better than you think.
Carson Smith
- Acquired along with Roenis Elias on Dec. 7, 2015, from the Mariners for Wade Miley and Jonathan Aro.
Smith has pitched exactly 2⅔ innings in two years for the Red Sox, which is 2⅔ innings more than I can recall him pitching. Perhaps his funky delivery should have foreshadowed arm problems. And so far, his recovery from Tommy John surgery has been a stark reminder that it’s not always an easy road back. This shouldn’t be written off as a total bust yet, though. Thanks to the 2014 Royals, there is more emphasis now on building potent bullpens, and there’s still hope for Smith, who is just 27 years old and was fabulous (2.31 ERA, 11.8 K/9) in his last season with Seattle. And the Red Sox gave up only Miley and Aro. There’s value in a league-average pitcher, you say? That is true. But Miley hasn’t even been close to league average since the Red Sox traded him, going 13-21 with a 5.45 ERA and a 77 adjusted OPS (meaning he was 23 percent below league average) in 264⅓innings for the Mariners and Orioles the past two seasons.
Grade: C
Tyler Thornburg
- Acquired on Dec. 6, 2016, from the Brewers for Travis Shaw, Mauricio Dubon, Josh Pennington, and Yeison Coco.
At least the Red Sox got 2⅔ innings out of Smith. Thornburg still hasn’t thrown a single pitch of consequence for the Red Sox since his shoulder conked out in spring training.
And the Brewers? They hit the jackpot. I’m not sure whether the Red Sox misevaluated Shaw or the trade lit a fire under him — the hunch is the latter given that he hit .194 with a .619 OPS in the second half last year — but the hard truth is that he has been an enormous reason the Brewers are a surprise contender this season. He’s hitting .295 with 21 homers and a .929 OPS. The latter two stats would lead the Red Sox. And did we mention he plays third base?
Grade: F+
Drew Pomeranz
Drew Pomeranz is 10-4 this season.
- Acquired on July 14, 2016 from the Padres for Anderson Espinoza
You can admit it. I understand. If you haven’t done a full 180 regarding your initially negative feelings for this trade, you’ve at least done, oh, a 178.5 or so.
No one that I know liked this deal last year. Pomeranz didn’t pitch well after the trade amid concerns about his health. The Red Sox gave up a highly-touted pitching prospect to get him in Anderson Espinoza, the latest small, flamethrowing pitcher to receive some absurdly hyperbolic Pedro Martinez comparisons. And yet when it was revealed that Padres general manager A.J. Preller was less than forthcoming about Pomeranz’s health, Dombrowski passed up a chance to reverse the deal.
Now we’re seeing why. Pomeranz has been beyond dependable this season, winning 10 games with a 3.51 ERA while striking out 9.5 batters per nine. When he’s on and dropping that Bruce Hurst curveball on hitters, he’s actually fun to watch.
Meanwhile, Espinoza has yet to throw a pitch this season after being shut down with forearm tightness in April, further evidence that there is enormous risk with any pitching prospect, especially one several steps from the majors. Right now, Dombrowski sure looks wise for not taking the do-over.
Grade: B
Craig Kimbrel
- Acquired on November 13, 2015 from the Padres for Manuel Margot, Javier Guerra, Logan Allen, and Carlos Asuaje.
This the deal that is often cited as the one in which Dombrowski gave up too much, and that’s understandable. He came to the Red Sox with the reputation of someone who had no qualms about dealing well-regarded prospects for veterans, and this deal, his first, fed into the fear that he would gut the farm system.
That hasn’t happened. Yes, he has traded several high-caliber prospects, but he did keep Andrew Benintendi as well as young core players Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts. And in retrospect, this deal doesn’t look like an overpay at all.
The cost, in terms of prospects and salary, for top-end relievers has skyrocketed since this trade, and the exceptional Kimbrel has been at the very top of the top end.
The best prospect included in this deal was Margot, but he was always going to get traded with Betts, Benintendi, and Jackie Bradley Jr. settled in the outfield. Dombrowski’s scariest trade has turned out to be one of his best.
Grade: A-
Brad Ziegler
Brad Ziegler now plays for the Miami Marlins.
- Acquired on July 9, 2016 from Diamondbacks for minor leaguers Luis Alejandro Basabe, and Jose Almonte.
A small deal by Dombrowski’s standards, but perhaps his best. Ziegler was a dependable reliever for the Red Sox when they desperately needed one, posting a 1.52 ERA in 29 appearances while striking out a career-best 9.4 batters per nine innings. There is some amusing mystery to this deal. Luis Alejandro Basabe, a non-prospect, is not to be confused with his brother, Luis Alexander Basabe, a tantalizing if raw prospect who went to the White Sox in the Sale deal. The prevailing theory in MLB circles is that since-fired Diamondbacks general manager Dave Stewart did indeed confuse the two, if he knew there were two Basabe brothers at all.
Grade: A
Chris Sale
- Acquired on December 6, 2016 from the White Sox for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe, and Victor Diaz.
Now this is how it’s supposed to work. It’s the quintessential win-win deal between a presumed contender (that would be the Red Sox) and a team in rebuilding mode (those other Sox). The Red Sox got a bona fide ace, not to mention their most compelling pitcher since Pedro Martinez. Sale’s starts are appointment viewing, and he almost never fails to give the audience what it desires.
As tough as it must have been to trade a franchise cornerstone of Sale’s ability and achievement, the White Sox have to be thrilled too. Moncada was the No. 1 rated-prospect in Baseball America’s midseason rankings and recently got promoted to the bigs. Kopech, who hits triple-digits on the radar gun like it’s no big thing, was No. 20 on that list.
One request that I know the reactionary Red Sox fans among us will have trouble heeding. If, say, in a half-dozen years Moncada looks like the second coming of Robinson Cano, Kopech develops into one of the league’s premier strikeout pitchers, and Sale is in some level of decline, can we resist retroactively griping about giving them up?
It used to drive me nuts when, in full hindsight mode 10 years after the deal, Red Sox fans would complain about the necessary 1988 trade that sent minor-leaguers Curt Schilling and Brady Anderson to the Orioles for Mike Boddicker. It took time for Anderson and especially Schilling to make it, while Boddicker was a frontline starter for two Red Sox playoff teams. That’s the risk of trading prospects, but it’s a deal, like the Sale swap, that brought immediate benefits. You make that trade, and this one, every time.
Grade: A, for both teams.
