Phils find their next president THE QUOTE $3.3B
Keeping an eye on the world of sports during the pandemic:
Whether rebuilding or reloading, small market or large, Dave Dombrowski, above, has been a big success at every major league stop.
His next challenging project: a Phillies team that’s gone nine years without a winning record.
Dombrowski joined the Phillies as president of baseball operations on Friday.
“This is a great day for the Philadelphia Phillies,” managing partner John Middleton said in a statement. “David Dombrowski is one of the most accomplished executives this great game has ever seen, and we are thrilled to welcome him to Philadelphia.”
Andy MacPhail is the Phillies’ current president and has planned to retire after the 2021 season. He said in October he would be willing to step aside sooner to make way for a new baseball operations boss.
The Phillies reassigned general manager Matt Klentak within the organization after finishing 28-32 last season. Joe Girardi remains as manager.
“Between David and Joe Girardi, we now have two of the best people in place to set us on the path back to where we want to be, and that is the postseason and contending for world championships,” Middleton said.
Dombrowski, 64, has led baseball operations for four teams.
His clubs have won four pennants and two Series titles.
Dombrowski was the youngest general manager in baseball history when he took over the Expos in 1988 at 31 years old.
He joined the Marlins in 1991 and was the chief architect of their 1997 World Series championship. Then he oversaw an ownership-mandated fire sale, helping to ultimately rebuild a Marlins squad that won another title in 2003.
Dombrowski turned a Tigers team into a perennial winner. The Tigers won four straight division titles from 2011-14 and AL pennants in 2006 and 2012. He joined the Red Sox in 2015 and made a number of key moves that led to a championship in 2018.
“I’m glad to be a Dallas Cowboy. I love it here. This is a phenomenal opportunity. Make no mistake about it. This is not where we intended to be. This is not where we’re going to stay.”
— Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy
Domestic sponsors already have contributed a record amount of money to help pay for the Tokyo Olympics. That’s at least twice as much as any previous games. But it’s still not enough. Now sponsors are being asked to pay millions more to cover some of the soaring costs of the one-year postponement.