Dumb move by Dombro
Failure to specify speaks volumes
The day will come when Dave Dombrowski’s high horse is on permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame, right there with Babe Ruth’s 60th home run ball, Armand LaMontagne’s Ted Williams sculpture and the uniform Hank Aaron was wearing when he hit his 715th homer.
For the time being, both of them — Dombrowski and his high horse — can be viewed at Fenway Park on a daily basis.
And just to be clear, both of them — Dombrowski and his high horse — are made of wood.
What a complete waste of time it was for the Red Sox to roll Dombrowski into the interview room yesterday in order that the team’s president of baseball operations could “discuss” his reasons for firing manager John Farrell. The team had sent out a press release at 9:25 a.m. — “John Farrell Will Not Return as Red Sox Manager in 2018” — and a little later came word Dombrowski would be available at 11 at Fenway.
Dombrowski said nothing beyond 93 different versions of “I’m not going to get into specifics.”
That’s one version for every Sox victory during the 2017 regular season. Nice touch, that.
But one thing we can conclude from this press conference, though Dombrowski didn’t come right out and say it, is that David Price now runs the Red Sox.
Price has more power than the next manager of the Red Sox, more power than High Horse Dave. We can only hope Price wasn’t driving as he was listening to Dombrowski’s press conference, and, if he was, we hope he pulled over to the side of the road. He must have been laughing his off.
Price, as we all know, verbally assaulted NESN analyst Dennis Eckersley this season during a Sox charter flight to Toronto. Teammates cheered. Farrell, flailing badly as he tried to keep his clubhouse, never offered anything in the way of a team apology to Eckersley.
Dombrowski was asked, yesterday, to speak to Farrell’s role in Price-Eck and if now, finally, anyone wearing a uniform can finally offer an apology.
“I’m not going to get into the specifics, I’ve already told you that,” Dombrowski said. “Uniformed personnel . . . I don’t know that any, who that would be. At this point, I have no idea because really, right now, talking from a staff perspective . . .”
Dave, Dave, Dave ... Price never apologized, Farrell never apologized. Does it bother you that that never happened?
“Well,” said Dombrowski, “I talked about that situation. I’m really not going to get into any more public . . .”
Me: “You didn’t really talk about it. You just said, ‘We’re moving on from it.’ There was never any talking about it.”
Dombrowski: “So we’ve moved on.”
So there. Congratulations, David Price. You win. Bigly. John Farrell is gone, as he should be, and you now have more power than the next manager of the Red Sox, as it should not be.
“I don’t really choose to get into the particulars,” Dombrowski said. “I think it’s our right to do that.”
That last quote was chosen randomly from Dombrowski’s press conference. As to what it was in response to is irrelevant, since it was pretty much his answer to everything. And that, Red Sox fans, is a gigantic Boston cream pie smooshed right into your faces by a man who would appreciate it very much if you would continue to support the Sox with your hard-earned entertainment dollars but otherwise sit down and keep your mouths shut.
That 2.9 million fans paid their way into Fenway Park this season means nothing.
That the Sox had the fourth highest local TV ratings this year among Major League Baseball markets (albeit it with a 15 percent drop) means nothing.
Shortly before the end of the regular season, the Red Sox announced an increase in ticket prices for 2018.
Shortly after the end of the postseason, the Red Sox announced they are firing John Farrell as manager.
The two go hand in hand. If the Sox are going to raise ticket prices, you’d think they’d offer some transparency to their fan base. That used to be the case. And now?
“I’m not going to get into the specifics.”
Translation: “Buy your tickets, take your seats and shut up.”
It’s worth noting that neither principal owner John Henry nor chairman Tom Werner had a quote attached to the press release announcing Farrell’s ouster. And while president/CEO Sam Kennedy attended the press conference, dutifully standing off to the side, he quickly exited the room after Dombrowski’s half-hour dodge ball session without commenting.
When it comes to baseball matters, only Dave Dombrowski speaks.
Well, him . . . and David Price, the pitcher who received thunderous applause after his stellar relief outing in Game 3 of the Division Series but later danced around two separate questions about how it must have felt to get that kind of support.
And the Red Sox wonder why they have a “likability” problem on their hands.
I have some ideas, but I’d rather not get into specifics.
‘I don’t really choose to get into the particulars. I think it’s our right to do that.’ — PRESIDENT OF BASEBALL OPS DAVE DOMBROWSKI