Red Sox look to offseason with goal of repeat championship
BOSTON(AP) >> The last time Dave Dombrowski built a World Series champion, he had to start dismantling it before the celebratory champagne had a chance to dry.
He’s hoping to defend the title for real next year.
“It is significantly different than the last time,” he said on Thursday, four days after the Red Sox won their fourth title in 15 years and Dombrowski earned a ring to go with the one he won with the binge-and-purge Florida Marlins of the late 1990s.
“This will be the first time in my career that we will be going to spring training as the defending champions,” said Dombrowski, who avoided the term after selling off the stars that won it all in Miami in 1997. “Sometimes when guys become free agents they receive offers they can’t refuse. But we’d like to keep this team together.”
After winning the Series in five games on Sunday night, flying back to Boston on Monday and then holding their increasingly routine duck boat parade through the city on Wednesday, the Red Sox are the last team in the majors to start the offseason and think about the 2019 roster.
Already, the team has exercised its option on Chris Sale, and David Price decided not to opt out of his deal. Eduardo Nunez also exercised his option to return, forgoing free agency.
But key parts of the team that won a franchise-record 108 games