Red Sox: Grading Dave Dombrowski’s deals that shaped the 2018 season

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.