Phillies make it official with Dombrowski
President of baseball operations out to end team’s losing seasons
Whether rebuilding or reloading, small market or large, Dave Dombrowski has been a big success at every major league stop.
His next challenging project: a Philadelphia 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.
Philadelphia reassigned general manager Matt Klentak within the organization after finishing 28-32 last season. Joe Girardi remains as manager.
The 64-year-old Dombrowski has led baseball operations for four teams over more than three decades in the majors, taking a trio of franchises to the World Series. His clubs have won four pennants and two Series titles. Mets: The Mets have told Jerry Blevins they intend to agree to a minor league contract that would bring the lefthander back to New York. If added to the 40-man roster, the 37-year-old would get a $1.25 million, one-year contract, the same potential deal he had in 2020 with San Francisco. Brewers: Milwaukee acquired minor league left-handed pitcher Leo Crawford to complete the trade that sent former All-star reliever Corey Knebel to the Los Angeles Dodgers. When the trade was announced Dec. 2, the Dodgers received Knebel for a player to be named or cash.
Dodgers: Los Angeles promoted Clayton Mccullough to first-base coach for the 2021 season.
Rangers: Texas re-signed right-hander Jimmy Herget to a major league contract and designated outfielder Scott Heineman for assignment.
Note: The winning bidder on more than $1 million worth of memorabilia from a recent auction of Johnny Bench’s personal collection is returning the items to the Hall of Fame catcher, with whom he’s been friends since 1967. Businessman Alan Horwitz successfully bid for Bench’s 1975 and ’76 World Series rings last month. He also bought the catcher’s 1970 and ’72 NL MVP awards, 1968 NL rookie of the year award, 1969 All-star Game bat and several of Bench’s 10 Gold Glove awards.