Money, talent drive Red Sox
He oversees the highest payroll in baseball, so of course, he’s expected to win.
That team is in the American League East, one that the veteran executive believes is the toughest to have success.
And by running a pro team in Boston, arguably the most demanding market in North America, the pressure is relentless even when it wins 108 games during the regular season.
So you better believe Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was in the middle of the raucous celebration in the visitors’ clubhouse late Thursday night after Boston had rather easily dispatched the World Series champion Houston Astros in five games to claim the American League pennant.
A Red Sox team that had won three-consecutive AL East titles needed to go deeper than early playoff exits which had been the case the past two seasons and Dombrowski was well aware of the demands of his market and expectations from a team that began 2018 with much optimism.
“It’s tough to win 108 games anywhere,” Dombrowski told the Toronto Sun shortly after Boston’s 4-1 win at Minute Maid Park, sealing the deal on their ALCS win.
“Our guys did a tremendous job this year. We faced two very good ball clubs in the post-season already. Both won over 100 games. And I know we’re going to face another good one as well (NL champion). We’d really like to win four more games.”
That they’ve won 115 overall — three against the Yankees in the ALDS and four more against the defending champs — already is testament to the team Dombrowski has helped build and maintain.
The guts of the roster were players drafted by Blue Jays vice-president of baseball operations Ben Cherington back when he was Red Sox GM but Dombrowski has refined and re-stocked a team to make it good enough to keep a leg up on the Yankees and more importantly remain competitive year after year.
“The American League East is tough,” said Dombrowski, who led the Red Sox to division titles in each of his three full seasons in Boston.
“It’s probably the toughest division in baseball. It’s a real gauntlet when you have to go through it. It’s a challenge and you have to be willing to invest and continue to improve.”
The Red Sox have certainly done that under his watch.
It was Dombrowski who signed J.D. Martinez to a fiveyear, US$110 million deal last winter and watched him hit 43 homers in the regular season and then a huge one off of Astros ace Justin Verlander on Thursday to give the Sox the early lead.
It was also Dombrowski who pushed for the signing of Game 5 winner David Price following the 2015 season. That wasn’t without controversy, of course. given the price tag ($217 million US over seven seasons) and his playoff form reversal (0-for-9 in 11 career post season starts prior to Thursday’s mammoth maiden breaker.)
“It doesn’t surprise me because he’s just really good and he was so determined to do it,” Dombrowski said in reference to Price’s six shutout innings in Game 5. “His confidence never wavered. It makes me happy for him.
“I couldn’t wait to congratulate him because I know what this means to him. He’s worked so hard and he’s had such a good career and then you get to see him be able to enjoy the type of performance he had today. I’m just so thrilled for him.”
Time will tell, but Dombrowski’s biggest move might have been the one he was putting the finishing touches on a year ago this week.
The Red Sox president had already fired John Farrell, despite the fact the manager had led the team to backto-back division titles and a World Series win in 2013. And in his place, he hired then Astros bench coach Alex Cora to a three-year deal.
As these things go, the signing was met with an unhealthy dose of skepticism up in Beantown. It didn’t bother Cora in the slightest, however. He went to work blending some of the informational tools he had honed while in Houston and mixed in his own motivational and personal skills to get the most out of the team.
When asked specifically about the managerial change, Price said he didn’t want to dump on Farrell but then he kind of did anyway.
“I don’t want it to be a comparison between manager (Farrell) and AC (Cora) … but AC has been huge for us all year long,” Price said. “You know, AC just fits this group really well. And he did it before our first day in spring training, just getting everybody on the same page and making sure everybody has that same one common goal. And he’s been phenomenal for us.”
Cora’s impact was certainly felt throughout the ALCS, most notably in the dramatic Game 4 win on Wednesday.
He seemed to push all the right buttons and motivate his players in the right way to compile a combined 7-2 post-season record over a pair of 100-game winners in the regular season.
And now the Red Sox are off to the World Series for a fourth time in 15 years. It’s the first under Dombrowski, who got his start as a GM with the Montreal Expos. And he’s got the fresh champagne stains to prove it.