Red Sox: Grading Dave Dombrowski’s deals that shaped the 2018 season
The Boston Red Sox were in need of a General Manager to make moves that would bring home a World Series title – insert Dave Dombrowski.
The Boston Red Sox were in need of a General Manager after firing Ben Cherington, who was not getting the job done. Two weeks after getting relieved from his duties by the Detroit Tigers in August of 2015, Dave Dombrowski found himself on a contending team with a franchise that cared about winning and was willing to make moves to bring a title back to Bean Town. While it took four years to get the job done, it was well worth it.
Many remember the additions of Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez prior to the 2015 season. The Sandoval move was met with much dismay as he clearly was falling off as far as production is concerned. Neither contract can be put on Dombrowski as he was not the acting GM when the moves were made.
Many will remember the three major moves that were made in the Dombrowski Era in Boston. It will end eventually, but right now we’ll ride the wave.
Craig Kimbrel traded to Boston from San Diego for Logan Allen, Carlos Asuaje, Javy Guerra, & Manuel Margot
Arguably one of the best closers in the game, Craig Kimbrel led the league the last four years in saves during his time in Atlanta before getting moved to San Diego. After one sub-par season in Southern California, Kimbrel was moved to Boston for a package of four. While none of them have materialized into anything substantial, there is some hope that Logan Allen at the age of 21 could turn into something special.
Allen in 2017 finished up 14-6 in both AA and AAA with 151 strike outs in 148 2/3 innings of work. Allen also had a 2.54 ERA. If Allen has a good 2019 season, there’s a chance he makes his major league debut next year. Overall, was the haul worth the price for the Red Rocket?
Absolutely. Only one player has materialized into anything and only one has done any work in the majors. How has Kimbrel done? Kimbrel from 2016 through 2018 recorded a 12 – 7 record with 108 saves and compiled 305 punch outs in 184 1/3 innings of work, good enough for a 14.9 K/9 Ratio. Scary numbers only marred by a rocky 2018 postseason en route to winning the World Series, the first in five years for the Red Sox. After turning down a one year qualifying offer, his time in Boston has almost surely come to an end.
Overall grade?
A. . Trade. . Craig Kimbrel
Travis Shaw traded from Boston shipped out to Milwaukee along with Mauricio Dubon, Josh Pennington, & Yeison Coca for Tyler Thornburg
Everyone will remember this move as one of the worst moves in Red Sox history. Why? Dave Dombrowski decided to double down on the Panda at third base, which ended up resulting in a nightmare season-ending injury leaving a major hole in both the lineup and the field. How did Travis Shaw and the rest of the haul pan out for the likes of Tyler Thornburg?
Mauricio Dubon has continued on with super speed in the minors and will continue to carry on his high batting average because of his excellent speed. Dubon is probably a season or two away from being major league ready. I don’t think he’ll ever turn into a 30/30 candidate but someone with the ability to steal 40-50 bases could prove worthy especially while also hitting over .300. Anything is possible and the sky is the limit with this youngster.
Pennington hasn’t done much but Coca, at age 19, has shown major promise. Definitely someone to keep your eyes on going forward. In 3 – 4 years, it’s safe to say that he could be someone fun to watch in the future.
The major prize in the trade was Shaw, who ended up slashing .273/31/101/10 in his first full season in Milwaukee. So far in two seasons for the Brewers, Shaw has slashed .258/63/187/15. Putting up all that for just over $1.1 million dollars committed in salary. Scratching your head yet? We all were, after pulling out our hair of course. How in the world could a GM with such experience think that a slowing, under-productive Sandoval be the answer? We will never know. It made every Red Sox fan wonder if Dombrowski coming to Boston was a mistake.
What hurts the most is that the haul that Milwaukee got for the player traded seemed like true highway robbery. The boys in Bean Town got Thornburg, who never materialized in 2017, landing on the disabled list with season-ending surgery complaining about the pitching regiment before the season started during Spring Training.
‘Thornbust,’ I mean Thornburg, in 2018 was another wash. With a 5.63 ERA with 10 walks, 21 strike outs, six home runs allowed in 24 innings of work while also allowing 19 runs, 16 earned on 38 hits, this was not the answer.
It could also be argued that the Red Sox received someone who was damaged before he got there. TT never got comfortable in Boston and it could not have been more obvious. Complaining about pitching regiment? During Spring Training? Are you kidding me? This is your job. Unless you were so unprepared that you forgot to you know, stay healthy, or reveal whether or not you had an injury. I’m getting off topic here. How do we rate the TT trade in DD’s tenure? I think this one is a pretty obvious grade.
. Trade. . Tyler Thornburg. F
Chris Sale switches Sox from Chicago to Boston for mega-package including Michael Kopech & Yoan Moncada plus Victor Diaz & Luis Alexander Basabe
Luis Alexander Basade has done well in the minors and at 21 years old, he’s still got a couple of years before being major league ready. The major concern with him is getting on base more and trying to cut down on the strike out numbers which are still high at the lower stages of the minor league farm system. Again, he’s 21, plenty of time to see what happens.
Diaz has done nothing noteworthy while Michael Kopech has done the antithesis of that. After blowing through the minors, Kopech racked up 172 punch outs in a combined 134 1/3rd innings of work between AA and AAA. The total walks of 65 in that span is slightly alarming. If the control factor can work itself into the picture to go along with a 100+ mph fastball, you can expect this flamethrower to be in the league for years to come.
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Kopech managed to go 1 – 1 in 2018 in four starts before getting derailed with a major injury. Kopech tore his right ulnar collateral ligament which required Tommy John surgery putting him on the shelf for the 2019 season. His next chance will come in 2020. It’s possible he makes the starting rotation although we hope he can rehab in the minors and then come out throwing fire for many years to come.
The final, and at the time the most important piece of the trade, was prized star Yoan Moncada. Moncada started off on fire at the age of 21 in 2016 going 4/10 with one double, three singles, a run knocked in and three runs scored. He also struck out three times in that span. Moncada followed that up by going 0-for-9 with 9 strikeouts, raising questions if he was major league ready.
The Red Sox were inquiring about Chris Sale in Chicago and the package would have meant that Moncada would get moved.
Moncada has posted a combined .234/25/83/15 in two seasons in Chicago. Moncada will enter 2019 as an almost 24-year old and won’t hit arbitration until 2021. After getting paid just $555K in 2018, Moncada will be a steal for the club even after arbitration hits and won’t get a major payday for himself until after 2023 has come and gone unless Chicago pays for him through his arbitration years. Chicago lucked out with plenty of time left on his legs, they gave up a pitcher who has been unfortunately injured a couple times in his career.
With the Red Sox willing to make the move, Sale was on his way to Boston and was eventually traded prior to the 2017 season. Sale was lights out to start the 2017 season and returned in 2018 to lead Boston to it’s first World Series Title in five seasons. With Boston picking up his second team option for a very team friendly $13.5 million dollar option, the Red Sox will enjoy his services for at the very least one more great year.
While Sale has experienced late season issues with fatigue, there is no question that Boston can’t win the World Series in 2018 without his help. Sale in two seasons compiled silly numbers. With a 29 – 12 record in 59 starts with 77 walks and 545 strike outs in 372 1/3rd innings of work, good enough for a 13.2 K/9 Ratio. Those are video game numbers. While his production wasn’t as pretty in September in 2017, the Sox were smart to rest him in 2018 prior to their postseason run.
The Red Sox did not want to have the same thing happen two years in a row with their star pitcher on the shelf during the most important part of the season. Boston won a franchise best 108 wins in 2018 to total up 119 including the postseason. The Sox were the best team in baseball this year and a large reason for that was due in part to the expertise and flat-out dominance by the side arm throwing left-hander. Few pitchers have a slider as nasty as Sale.
Still, we have to wonder, how do we evaluate this trade? One player didn’t do anything, one has some potential, and two have the chance to be franchise players leading the team to potentially multiple postseason runs. Does Sale stay in Boston? More importantly to answering that question is, can Sale stay healthy? While the Sox are guaranteed one more season of Sale, they will still have over $19 million due to dead contracts.
Is it worth paying someone heading into his age 30 season? The Sox will have a payroll of $92.346 million before being able to consider Sale and a plethora of other major players that are due major contracts. Only time will tell if Sale can stay healthy or if he can remain with the Red Sox long term and perhaps maybe, if he plays his cards right, for the rest of his career.
How do we evaluate GM Dave Dombrowski for this move? Well considering we got Sale for only three seasons guaranteed, we’re left with this.
B. . Trade. . Chris Sale
Dave Dombrowski Grade
With three years of work in Boston under his belt and two great seasons, it’s only right that he would finish year three up with a World Series title. Hard to complain about the front office when they get you a title. The Sox now are in a tie with the Oakland Athletics for 3rd All-Time with 9 World Series Titles behind the Cardinals with 11 and the Yankees with 27.
Dombrowski has been able to get the Red Sox to finish the American League East Division in 1st place three years in a row, the first time that has happened in the team’s history. It’s the best run since the run of 1915 through 1918 where the team finished 1st overall in three of four seasons, finishing in 2nd the only other year. After finishing 93-69 back to back seasons, DD countered that with a team best 108 wins, 15 better than the prior two seasons.
It will be hard to see Dombrowski leaving Boston anytime soon especially after helping bring a title to Bean Town for the first time in five seasons. Will he have a long tenure? Perhaps. Only time will tell. For the time being, Sox fans can enjoy being fans of the current World Series Champions. If the team plays their cards right, they could go back-to-back.
B-. . Overall Grade. . Dave Dombrowski
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It will be hard to give him anything higher than that as Kimbrel has certainly played his last game as a member of the Red Sox. Thornburg has been a complete sham from the get go. Sale has been a gem minus the injuries. The Sox have offered Dombrowski a real contender in comparison to when he was the GM of the Tigers, who were barely staying afloat for years before their short stretch later on in his tenure. Still, we’re left with what could end up becoming one of the best runs by the Boston Red Sox, if not the best in their storied history.