Red Sox: Dave Dombrowski is haunted by his Miami Marlins past

Current Red Sox president of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, won a World Series championship 20 years ago with the Miami Marlins. Unfortunately, he was a major part in that roster’s fire sale the following year.

While sitting in the Red Sox dugout, Dave Dombrowski said, “No, I don’t wear it at all. I’m not a big jewelry person. They’re big and they get in the way.” He was referring to the 1997 World Series ring that he won with the Miami Marlins when he was their general manager. He was largely responsible for that team’s young, talented roster but he was also responsible for the trading away of many of those talented players the following winter.

In Game 7 of the 1997 World Series on October 26th, Edgar Renteria drove in the winning run for the Marlins and secured them a championship. By December 25, 1997, Dombrowski had traded Moises Alou, Robb Nen, Devon White, Jeff Conine, Kevin Brown, Ed Vosberg, Dennis Cook, and Kurt Abbott. The ownership group of the Marlins at the time demanded that Dombrowski and his staff liquidate the roster and slash their payroll.

The Marlins still had their ring ceremony and banner raising in 1998 to honor the championship team. However, more than half the championship roster was now scattered elsewhere on other teams. Dombrowski and his assistant general manager then spent a number of weeks delivering the World Series rings to players in person.

"“I never thought of the 1998 Marlins as a defending world champion club,” Dombrowski said."

Now, Dombrowski is trying to win his second World Series title and is in a position where the team will largely stay in tact the following season. Dombrowski is in his second season with the Red Sox and has built the franchise’s first team to win back-to-back division championships.

For the Marlins, Dombrowski never had to chance to truly defend their title. With the Red Sox, Dombrowski has now defended the American League East division title and is hoping that next season he is defending the World Series title.

"“From an organizational perspective and everything that goes along with that, being in a position to try to win that second World Series would mean a great deal to me,” Dombrowski said. “I would like to do that. We didn’t really have a chance to celebrate very long that last time I was involved in it. We’ve had good clubs [since then]. It just hasn’t happened.”"

Through Dombrowski’s near 40-year career, his teams have made 7 postseason appearances and he has secured 3 pennants. He has also been to the World Series three times: once with the Marlins and winning, and twice while he was the general manager of the Detroit Tigers. In the 2006 World Series, the Tigers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals and in 2012, the San Francisco Giants swept the Tigers to add to their “even year magic.”

Dombrowski, even before joining the Red Sox, was known as a tinkering type of general manager. He is very active in the trade market and has even earned the nickname, “Dealin’ Dave.” This year, Dombrowski has added Eduardo Nunez and Addison Reed after the team needed a replacement for Dustin Pedroia as well as a proven bullpen piece.