DUKE KNOWS JILTED FEELLING CHERINTGTON FACES
Dave Dombrowski has been on the job two months shy of two years, so he’s hardly a newcomer anymore.
But these next six weeks, between now and the July 31 trade deadline, are his latest and best chance to make an impact move or tweak that would forever shift this team out from the shadow of
Ben Cherington and into a Dombrowski production.
Dombrowski has always been generous in praising Cherington for the core of young players and pitchers he inherited in Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., Dustin Pedroia, Eduardo Rodriguez, Christian Vazquez and Joe Kelly. The farm system was also flush with talent, both in the high and low minors, and Dombrowski used many of those Cherington pieces to trade for the likes of ace Chris Sale and closer Craig Kimbrel, as well as Drew Pomeranz, Carson Smith and Tyler Thornburg.
Few incoming executives are greeted by such a cornucopia of talent, which is one reason ownership has applauded Dombrowski’s aggressive moves — including signing David Price to a long-term contract — as necessary to guarantee championship contention in the short-, rather than the long-term view.
Should Dombrowski and the Red Sox succeed by at least appearing in a World Series this season or by 2019, he will no doubt hear from some corners that he won with Cherington’s team, not his own. That’s an illogical but natural argument. Ultimately, it’s also pointless, since the average fan is only going to want to go to the championship parade.
It’s also a tad premature, so until and unless it happens, a more useful exercise is looking back at the last time the Red Sox underwent a baseball operations overhaul as significant as the one the team experienced on Aug. 18, 2015, when Dombrowski replaced Cherington.
The last major overhaul came in spring training 2002, when the current ownership replaced Dan
Duquette with interim GM Mike Port and then, one year later, Theo Epstein. The similarities are rather striking.
Whether or not you agree with Duquette’s claim that he had done most of the “heavy lifting” and left behind a “turnkey operation” for new ownership and baseball operations staff when he was let go after the 2001 Red Sox season, there’s no question the talent he left behind was instrumental in turning the Red Sox from contenders to champions by 2004.
Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek, Derek Lowe, Johnny Damon, Nomar Garciaparra were, to say the least, key contributors to the 2003-2005 surge in which the club reached the playoffs three seasons in a row, a franchise first, under the leadership of Epstein.
Epstein, of course, did more than turn Duquette’s key. He made the 25-man roster far deeper, replenished the farm system and made strategic strikes that led eventually
to the 2004 and also ’07 championships.
For the first one, Epstein added Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Keith Foulke, Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, Doug Mientkiewicz, Orlando Cabrera and Dave Roberts. The tales and exploits of the Epstein Era and its two championships, followed by the 2013 championship won by Epstein’s heir, Cherington, are well known to us all.
So, in examining a championship won under Dombrowski with a team comprised of many key Cherington leftovers, Duquette has a unique understanding of how Cherington might feel if that day comes.
In Duquette’s mind, the trophy Epstein was able to hoist in 2004 in St. Louis could not have been forged without him.
“Red Sox fans knew that the club had a good team” Duquette said of the roster he left behind. “We were pretty solid contenders from ’ 98 on. In ’95 we made the playoffs, in ’98 we made the playoffs, in ’99 we made the playoffs, so it’s the first time (we) made them in consecutive years (since 1915-16). Then 2001 wasn’t the greatest year but the 2002 team was a very talented team, had a couple of 20-game winners and won more than 90 games that year, so we had done a good job.
“We left the new ownership group with a turnkey operation — a good major league team and depth in the minor league system, and they were able to complete the job and win the World Series.
“We had done a lot of the heavy lifting.”
Duquette said he had heard former Red Sox CEO and president
Larry Lucchino give him credit publicly for Duquette’s contributions.
As to how he’s viewed now, Duquette said: “That’s not for me to judge but I was proud of the work our staff did in putting together a lot of the key elements to the organization. That was a good organization. Some of the investments the club made in international scouting matured, and they were able to trade for the final pieces they needed to win a championship.”
Duquette said his actions, not his words, should speak to whether or not he deserves credit.
“One way to evaluate an executive is how the company does immediately following his tenure,” Duquette said. “A lot of times that’s a good way to judge if the execu-
tive did a good job with the company because any good executive will set up the club for success, and also for long-term success.”
Which leads to the question of who would get the credit should the Red Sox win it all this season or very soon.
Naturally, Duquette wouldn’t allow himself to be drawn into that.
“Ben left a really good team, with really talented young ballplayers,” Duquette said with his trademark deep laugh. “Ben has a lot of talent. He won the executive of the year in 2013, and he should have. He deserved it, he earned it.”
The fickle finger of fate?
The news of Dodgers star Yasiel Puig being handed a one-game suspension for flipping the bird to Cleveland fans brought to mind the story of the Red Sox’ most recent digit-al offender.
During the Division Series of 2003, the Red Sox returned to Fenway after losing the first two games in Oakland. In Game 1, reliever Byung-Hyun Kim came into the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with the Red Sox holding a one-run lead. He got two outs — but he also walked one and hit a batter, and sure enough, after Kim was relieved, the A’s tied the game and then went on to win it in 12 innings.
Kim became the poster boy for ineffectiveness, so when the team was introduced one by one to the at Fenway Park crowd before Game 3 days later, he was greeted by a thunderous cascade of boos. At first Kim touched his cap and smiled, but then he raised his right hand and extended his middle finger and only his middle finger, still smiling.
The gesture created a ruckus. Immediately after the game Kim, via the Red Sox, released a statement: “I apologize to the fans of the Red Sox, the people of New England and baseball fans throughout the world. It was an instant, reflexive reaction that I regret.
“I appreciate the passion our fans have for baseball in Boston; all of us depend on them and their support. I am very sorry.”
Kim’s teammate Mike Timlin, who had been introduced just before Kim, expressed his mortification.
“I was standing right next to him. I was personally embar- rassed. He’s a man. He’s got to control his actions.
“I was embarrassed for myself and for the Red Sox.”
The Moustakas watch
Beginning tomorrow night in Kansas City, keep a close eye on third baseman Mike Moustakas and how the Royals fare over the next three to four weeks. The lefthanded-hitting third baseman is a free agent this offseason and is in the midst of his finest offensive season yet. Last week, he hit his 18th home run, just four off his career high. Always an aboveaverage defender, Moustakas will be a hot commodity for a team in the predicament of the Red Sox, who need to upgrade at third base. The Royals, however, are not out of the wild card picture. Despite having a higher than usual amount of significant players in their last season before becoming free agents, they will not move to sell mode unless the team goes in a free-fall.
Loosening the reins a bit
In a move that at first calls to mind that moment at a wedding when one of your elderly relatives decides to shake it on the dance floor to Drake — slight embarrassment at first, quickly followed by enormous pride — Major League Baseball is going to let its hair down and allow players to let their freak flag fly this summer. That’s right, according to Yahoo! Sports, on Players Weekend, Aug. 25-27, players can put their nicknames on their jerseys, wear loudly colored shoes and/ or wear a personalized patch that’s a shout-out to somebody who helped that player in his development.
In recent years players have chafed at the conservative restrictions MLB has in place for variations in uniforms. There’s little doubt that depending upon the reception — how can this not be a hit? — it may lead down the road to players being allowed more room to express themselves. That should only help the sport trend younger, a significant and needed goal for the sport.
According to the memo Yahoo obtained, the nicknames used by players may not be deemed “inappropriate or offensive.” Items allowed to be altered include spikes, batting gloves, wristbands, compression sleeves and catcher’s masks. As always, fabrics or items in the color of white will not be allowed, so as not to interfere with the umpire’s ability to track the ball.
At the end of the weekend, players’ jerseys will be sold, with proceeds going to the Youth Development Foundation, a joint initiative between the MLB Players Association and MLB.
Rizzo makes like Rickey
Sure hope you caught that Anthony Rizzo had a smile on his face when he compared himself to Rickey Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. This, after hitting leadoff home runs in his first two starts.
“I’m statistically the greatest leadoff hitter of all time,” Rizzo said, according to MLB.com. “I’d like to retire there and talk smack to everyone who tries to do it. You just go with it, it’s fun. To go back to back there (in the first), the dugout is really loose. Statistically, by the books, to lead off the game, I’m the best there ever is, right now.” . . .
With almost no hoopla, Cleveland’s Corey Kluber increased his career strikeout total to 1,005 in his 148th game last week. Only six other pitchers in major league history have cracked 1,000 strikeouts in fewer games than Kluber: Kerry
Wood (134), Tim Lincecum (136), Roger Clemens (143), Stephen Strasburg (144), Dwight Gooden
(145) and Hideo Nomo (147).