Dombrowski joins Red Sox as VP of Baseball Ops, Cherington steps away

Big news breaking tonight as the Red Sox shake things up majorly. Bringing in Dombrowski was a needed move with Lucchino leaving but I'm stunned about Cherington. I was the minority of fans who thought it was more Lucchino's fault the last two years and that Ben deserved a chance on his own. Now we will never know. Will be interesting to watch that's for sure.

Thanks,
Jeff

I heard this while I was listening to the game during a drive tonight. I wish Ben well, but a major change was needed. He will get another chance with another team. Should be an interesting winter!

The GM musical chairs game has started and I hope the Phillies join in.

Just when I thought it was impossible to dislike the Red Sox more.

Sayonara, Manuel Margot.

Adios, Henry Owens.

So long, Brian Johnson.

Adieu, Anderson Espinoza.

Shalom, Rafael Devers.

Auf Wiedersehen, Michael Kopech.

Arrivederci, Yoan Moncada.

Adeus, Javier Guerra.

....et cetera.

Jaypers said:

Sayonara, Manuel Margot.

Adios, Henry Owens.

So long, Brian Johnson.

Adieu, Anderson Espinoza.

Shalom, Rafael Devers.

Auf Wiedersehen, Michael Kopech.

Arrivederci, Yoan Moncada.

Adeus, Javier Guerra.

....et cetera.

Click to expand...

Yep, all to enter into overpaying vet contracts. The most overrated executive in baseball and now he will have another blank check.

Jaypers said:

Sayonara, Manuel Margot.

Adios, Henry Owens.

So long, Brian Johnson.

Adieu, Anderson Espinoza.

Shalom, Rafael Devers.

Auf Wiedersehen, Michael Kopech.

Arrivederci, Yoan Moncada.

Adeus, Javier Guerra.

....et cetera.

Click to expand...

This is what I'm afraid of. :-?

I'm not opposed to Dombrowski being hired for the position that he was, but I am extremely disappointed Cherington is stepping down as GM. Cherington was a huge part of building our 2013 WS team, and even though the last 2 seasons have not been up to standards, I strongly beileve he had a long term plan to build a large nucleus of young minor league talent to play in Boston for a long time. The Red Sox "are not supposed to have bridge years" but if we want a winning team for a prolonged period of time then we have to have a couple...and Cherington knew this. I think that's why his bullpen this year was a disaster (didn't want to pay Miller if we weren't making the playoffs the next couple of seasons), and his rotation was a mess (granted it hinged on potential but the FO philosophy of no 30+ year old pitchers kind of limited what Cherington could do). I also beileve that the veteran FA signings of Sandoval and Ramirez were not entirely to blame on Cherington, but the FO instead (Lucchino I'm looking at you). But to their defense, what other options were there at 3rd base? Either sign Headley (Yankees may have beat them to it?) or try Middlebrooks for 1 more season. (Yeah, that worked out well for San Diego...he's now one of the Chihuahuas best hitters!) which means we don't get Ryan Hannigan which means when Vasquez went down we now are screwed at the C position for the whole season. Ramirez was a good signing assuming he would have played an average at best LF and stayed healthy....but he was the best bat available and for a team that was the worst offensive team in baseball the previous season, it made a lot of sense. The Porcello extension I can't defend, it was wayyy too much money for a #3 starter...but it wouldn't have looked nearly as bad if he had at least pitched to that of Wade Miley has this year....still time left for him to figure it out.

Cherington did a great job of making our farm system the best maybe it's ever been. The trade for Rodriguez helped get us a future ace, and his international signings helped us net some of the better prospects in baseball in Devers, Moncada, Espinosa, etc...and Castillo looks to be a well above average 4th OFer the way he's playing.

That's where I'm a bit worried though, that Dombrowski will gut the system because of pressure to 'win now', which ironically is the same reason we have finished in last place the previous couple of years. With that said I'm not opposed to him making trades for a legit #1 or #2 pitcher. [Margot, Guerra, Teddy Stank/B. Johnson, and Cecchini for Ross and Kimbrel come to mind]. I do however hope he does not trade away our top notch talent in Espinosa, Benintendi, and Moncada because those kind of players do not come around often.

I hope his tenure here works out for the best, but I am holding my breath. I think Cherington will easily find a GM position with a low payroll team and be similar to an Andrew Friedman type GM. I have heard rumblings of a Frank Wren potential GM candidate and if that happens, well I'll have to find a new team to root for.