The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
With Dombrowski in Boston, trades with Cashman could slow
NEWYORK >> Now that he’s with the Boston Red Sox, Dave Dombrowski doesn’t expect to bemaking a lot of trades with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.
During Dombrowski’s 13½ seasons as Detroit’s GM, the pair made several notable swaps. Cashman obtained outfielder Curtis Granderson from the Tigers in December 2009 and sent reliever Phil Coke and outfielder Austin Jackson to the Tigers as part of a three-team trade that included Arizona.
In another trade among those teams in November 2014, the Yankees dealt right-hander Shane Greene to Detroit in a swap that brought them shortstop Didi Gregorius from Arizona.
Then Dombrowski was fired by Detroit last August and hired two weeks later as Boston’s president of baseball operations.
“We probably made a lot more in the past than we will in the future,” Dombrowski said Thursday. “Can we? Yes. Will we? Probably not very often, I would gather. I’ve never been adverse to trading within the division, but still, it just normally doesn’t happen.”
Cashman and Dombrowski were at NYY Steak in Manhattan for “A Conversation with Baseball Rival Clubs,” a benefit both the New York Yankees Foundation and Red Sox Foundation. Their friendship goes back to Dombrowski’s nine seasons as Florida Marlins GM. In 1999, Dombrowski acquired third baseman Mike Lowell from the Yankees for pitchers Ed Yarnall, Mark Johnson and Todd Noel.
“Maybe make it a yearly event, once in Boston, once in New York, or maybe both,” Cashman said.
In a bit of news, Cashman said New York has talked to free agent first baseman Ike Davis about a minor league contract. Greg Bird, who was protection against another injury to Mark Teixeira, will miss the entire season following surgery to repair a torn shoulder labrum.
“We clearly have a need for an everyday first baseman at Scranton,” Cashman said.
Cashman also said righthander Masahiro Tanaka might start slowly when spring training opens next week. Tanaka had offseason surgery to remove an elbow spur.
“Probably will enter spring training maybe a little behind for precautionary purposes only,” Cashman said.
Preparing for his first spring training with the Red Sox, Dombrowski said his job with Boston is different than his previous experiences.
After the Red Sox finished last for the third time in four years (around a World Series title in 2013), they signed All-Star pitcher David Price to a $217 million, seven-year contract, acquired All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel in a trade with San Diego and signed outfielder Chris Young.
“When you have a great deal of resources, you have the ability to do many different things at top-level capabilities,” he said. “I’ve never been in that position before.”