Dave Dombrowski’s title is longer than his last name, believe it or not, and while Mike Hazen has the official title of Red Sox general manager, the short version of Dombrowski’s job description includes two words:
The Boss.
This afternoon’s Red Sox game will be the 100th since Ben Cherington’s sudden and almost unprecedented departure and to this point in his career running things in Boston, Dombrowski has the best winning percentage of any Sox GM ever.
Small sample size, though.
He has not done much of note, not yet. Signing David Price to a huge contract was not a major coup given that the Sox are one of only a few teams that could afford the lefty. The Wade Miley for Carson Smith, etc., trade has not looked good. Dombrowski’s decision to bring back Clay Buchholz but let Rich Hill go has not worked, although the Sox may wind up having their cake and eating it, too, if the A’s put Hill on the market soon.
Dombrowski had to have some input into the decision to bench Pablo Sandoval, but Sandoval was not his signing in the first place, so that was not all that tough. Exiling Buchholz to the bullpen and Joe Kelly to Pawtucket? Previous administrations might not have been so quick to send a message.
The decision to bring back John Farrell as manager has worked out, too, and perhaps Dombrowski had something to do with Farrell’s willingness to act more decisively than in the past, and to look at different approaches to handling hitters and pitchers.
The new GM has to get some credit for not fouling anything up, for not trading away talent on the verge of stardom and minor leaguers with that potential. The Sox are learning the value of patience with young players, and their lack of it was a major factor in their finishing in fifth place three of the last four years.
Boston’s first GM was Eddie Collins in 1933. He started slowly, working with a denuded organization. Since then, Red Sox general managers have tended to make their marks quickly.
Dick O’Connell took over in September 1965 and two years later created the Impossible Dream. Haywood Sullivan bought the team and installed himself as GM in 1978 and — OK, OK that was the Boston Massacre season and such — immediately produced the winningest Sox team since 1946.
Lou Gorman was named GM in the summer of 1984. He put together the pennant winner of 1986 and the AL East champions of ’88 and ’90. Dan Duquette’s first year was 1994; Boston captured the AL East title in 1995.
Theo Epstein’s first season was 2003 — enough said. Cherington’s rookie year was 2012; his one good year was 2013.
This Dombrowski’s first full year. It will be David Ortiz’s last full year. The Sox need pitching, and it will be up to Dombrowski to provide it. He is 100 games into his new job, and his time has already come.
Baseball Jeopardy
Answers
1. The only Red Sox catcher to hit three home runs in a game.
2. The Hall of Fame hitter who has come the closest to batting .400 for a full season since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.
3. The last Red Sox hitter to be batting .400 or better after the All-Star break.
Questions below.
PawSox at home
The Pawtucket Red Sox, whose promotional schedule is one of the most creative in Triple-A baseball, are home all week. They play Toledo four times, then Louisville thrice. There is no obvious help for Boston’s starting rotation in Triple A. William Cuevas, Roenis Elias, Henry Owens, Sean O’Sullivan — they’ve been tried already and found wanting — and Brian Johnson has emotional issues to work out. … Mookie Betts is already tied for third on the Red Sox’ all-time list for home runs leading off a game. The two in Baltimore gave him four, one behind Johnny Damon and two behind Hall of Fame right fielder Harry Hooper. The record for one season is three, done by Nomar Garciaparra in 1997 on his way to winning Rookie of the Year honors. Like Betts and Mike Aviles in 2012, Hooper led off two straight games with home runs, except that they were on the same day. Hooper had leadoff homers in a doubleheader versus the Washington Senators on May 30, 1913. … Red Sox fans do see a lot of talent in a Boston uniform, although some of it changes clothes from year to year. Six of the top 10 in the American League batting race are either with the Sox now, or used to be. That group includes Xander Bogaerts, David Ortiz, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Dustin Pedroia — all current Sox. It also includes Victor Martinez and Josh Reddick, former Red Sox regulars. As tends to be the case with Boston, though, only two of the AL’s top 10 in ERA have Sox connections — Hill and Steven Wright — and neither are from the Boston farm system. … By the way, that 13-9 loss to the Orioles on Wednesday night was not unprecedented, but it was an oddity. The Sox had not hit five homers in a game and lost since Aug. 13, 2010, in Texas. Starting with 1994, Boston is 51-3 when it hits five or more home runs in a game.
Catching up with...
Mark Loretta, who excelled at second base in 2006, is a special assistant in the baseball operations department with the Padres; lefty Jeff Fassero, not one of Jimy Williams’ favorites during the 2000 season, is a minor league pitching coach for the Reds; former Red Sox third baseman and manager Butch Hobson (1975-80) is managing the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League.
Closer Lee Smith (1988-90) is a roving pitching instructor in the Giants' farm system; Bill Mueller (2003-05), involved in a lot of Red Sox history during his three years in Boston, is the assistant batting coach for the Cardinals; and first baseman Casey Kotchman (2009) is batting .266 for Buffalo of the International League.
The local connection
Tyler Beede (Auburn) may be on track for a promotion to Triple A from the Giants' Double-A affiliate in Richmond. He has allowed only five earned runs in 22 innings in his last three starts, good for a 2.05 ERA. On Friday night versus Bowie, Beede allowed only one hit in eight innings in a 3-0 victory.
Ryan O’Rourke (Worcester, St. John’s) was 1-0 with a save in May pitching for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in Rochester. O’Rourke’ ERA for the month was 2.35. Lance Zawadzki (St. John’s) is back on the active roster for Lancaster of the independent Atlantic League and was 2 for 14 with a homer in his first four games. Bryan LaHair (Worcester, Holy Name) is with Somerset of that league and went 8 for 41 (.195) in his most recent 10 games.
Oliver Drake (Gardner) has not allowed an earned run in his last eight relief appearances for Norfolk (Orioles, Triple A). He is 0-1 with eight saves, including one Friday night against Pawtucket, and has a 2.61 earned run average for the Tides. Mike Ahmed (Holy Cross) was 6 for 19 in his six most recent games and hit .323 over a 10-game span for the Dodgers’ Class A team in Rancho Cucamonga. John Andreoli (Shrewsbury, St. John’s) was 5 for 20 in his most recent six games for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs.
Ben Libuda (Auburn, Worcester State) is 0-1 with a 4.61 ERA for the Traverse City Beach Bums of the independent Frontier League. He had a rough outing on Friday night versus Florence, giving up four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Jeopardy questions
1. Who is Jason Varitek? He hit three homers in Kansas City on May 20, 2001, two off Brian Meadows and one off Mac Suzuki in a 10-3 Boston victory.
2. Who is George Brett? The Royals' third baseman batted .390 in 1980. Tony Gwynn of the Padres was batting .394 in 110 games when the 1994 season ended prematurely because of a labor stoppage.
3. Who is Nomar Garciaparra? He was batting .403 after the first game of a doubleheader on July 20, 2002, then went 0 for 5 in the second game, dropped to .396 and never got to .400 again. Garciaparra finished at .372 and won the American League batting title.
—Contact Bill Ballou at william.ballou@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillBallouTG.
Dave Dombrowski’s title is longer than his last name, believe it or not, and while Mike Hazen has the official title of Red Sox general manager, the short version of Dombrowski’s job description includes two words:
The Boss.
This afternoon’s Red Sox game will be the 100th since Ben Cherington’s sudden and almost unprecedented departure and to this point in his career running things in Boston, Dombrowski has the best winning percentage of any Sox GM ever.
Small sample size, though.
He has not done much of note, not yet. Signing David Price to a huge contract was not a major coup given that the Sox are one of only a few teams that could afford the lefty. The Wade Miley for Carson Smith, etc., trade has not looked good. Dombrowski’s decision to bring back Clay Buchholz but let Rich Hill go has not worked, although the Sox may wind up having their cake and eating it, too, if the A’s put Hill on the market soon.
Dombrowski had to have some input into the decision to bench Pablo Sandoval, but Sandoval was not his signing in the first place, so that was not all that tough. Exiling Buchholz to the bullpen and Joe Kelly to Pawtucket? Previous administrations might not have been so quick to send a message.
The decision to bring back John Farrell as manager has worked out, too, and perhaps Dombrowski had something to do with Farrell’s willingness to act more decisively than in the past, and to look at different approaches to handling hitters and pitchers.
The new GM has to get some credit for not fouling anything up, for not trading away talent on the verge of stardom and minor leaguers with that potential. The Sox are learning the value of patience with young players, and their lack of it was a major factor in their finishing in fifth place three of the last four years.
Boston’s first GM was Eddie Collins in 1933. He started slowly, working with a denuded organization. Since then, Red Sox general managers have tended to make their marks quickly.
Dick O’Connell took over in September 1965 and two years later created the Impossible Dream. Haywood Sullivan bought the team and installed himself as GM in 1978 and — OK, OK that was the Boston Massacre season and such — immediately produced the winningest Sox team since 1946.
Lou Gorman was named GM in the summer of 1984. He put together the pennant winner of 1986 and the AL East champions of ’88 and ’90. Dan Duquette’s first year was 1994; Boston captured the AL East title in 1995.
Theo Epstein’s first season was 2003 — enough said. Cherington’s rookie year was 2012; his one good year was 2013.
This Dombrowski’s first full year. It will be David Ortiz’s last full year. The Sox need pitching, and it will be up to Dombrowski to provide it. He is 100 games into his new job, and his time has already come.
Baseball Jeopardy
Answers
1. The only Red Sox catcher to hit three home runs in a game.
2. The Hall of Fame hitter who has come the closest to batting .400 for a full season since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.
3. The last Red Sox hitter to be batting .400 or better after the All-Star break.
Questions below.
PawSox at home
The Pawtucket Red Sox, whose promotional schedule is one of the most creative in Triple-A baseball, are home all week. They play Toledo four times, then Louisville thrice. There is no obvious help for Boston’s starting rotation in Triple A. William Cuevas, Roenis Elias, Henry Owens, Sean O’Sullivan — they’ve been tried already and found wanting — and Brian Johnson has emotional issues to work out. … Mookie Betts is already tied for third on the Red Sox’ all-time list for home runs leading off a game. The two in Baltimore gave him four, one behind Johnny Damon and two behind Hall of Fame right fielder Harry Hooper. The record for one season is three, done by Nomar Garciaparra in 1997 on his way to winning Rookie of the Year honors. Like Betts and Mike Aviles in 2012, Hooper led off two straight games with home runs, except that they were on the same day. Hooper had leadoff homers in a doubleheader versus the Washington Senators on May 30, 1913. … Red Sox fans do see a lot of talent in a Boston uniform, although some of it changes clothes from year to year. Six of the top 10 in the American League batting race are either with the Sox now, or used to be. That group includes Xander Bogaerts, David Ortiz, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Dustin Pedroia — all current Sox. It also includes Victor Martinez and Josh Reddick, former Red Sox regulars. As tends to be the case with Boston, though, only two of the AL’s top 10 in ERA have Sox connections — Hill and Steven Wright — and neither are from the Boston farm system. … By the way, that 13-9 loss to the Orioles on Wednesday night was not unprecedented, but it was an oddity. The Sox had not hit five homers in a game and lost since Aug. 13, 2010, in Texas. Starting with 1994, Boston is 51-3 when it hits five or more home runs in a game.
Catching up with...
Mark Loretta, who excelled at second base in 2006, is a special assistant in the baseball operations department with the Padres; lefty Jeff Fassero, not one of Jimy Williams’ favorites during the 2000 season, is a minor league pitching coach for the Reds; former Red Sox third baseman and manager Butch Hobson (1975-80) is managing the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League.
Closer Lee Smith (1988-90) is a roving pitching instructor in the Giants' farm system; Bill Mueller (2003-05), involved in a lot of Red Sox history during his three years in Boston, is the assistant batting coach for the Cardinals; and first baseman Casey Kotchman (2009) is batting .266 for Buffalo of the International League.
The local connection
Tyler Beede (Auburn) may be on track for a promotion to Triple A from the Giants' Double-A affiliate in Richmond. He has allowed only five earned runs in 22 innings in his last three starts, good for a 2.05 ERA. On Friday night versus Bowie, Beede allowed only one hit in eight innings in a 3-0 victory.
Ryan O’Rourke (Worcester, St. John’s) was 1-0 with a save in May pitching for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in Rochester. O’Rourke’ ERA for the month was 2.35. Lance Zawadzki (St. John’s) is back on the active roster for Lancaster of the independent Atlantic League and was 2 for 14 with a homer in his first four games. Bryan LaHair (Worcester, Holy Name) is with Somerset of that league and went 8 for 41 (.195) in his most recent 10 games.
Oliver Drake (Gardner) has not allowed an earned run in his last eight relief appearances for Norfolk (Orioles, Triple A). He is 0-1 with eight saves, including one Friday night against Pawtucket, and has a 2.61 earned run average for the Tides. Mike Ahmed (Holy Cross) was 6 for 19 in his six most recent games and hit .323 over a 10-game span for the Dodgers’ Class A team in Rancho Cucamonga. John Andreoli (Shrewsbury, St. John’s) was 5 for 20 in his most recent six games for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs.
Ben Libuda (Auburn, Worcester State) is 0-1 with a 4.61 ERA for the Traverse City Beach Bums of the independent Frontier League. He had a rough outing on Friday night versus Florence, giving up four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Jeopardy questions
1. Who is Jason Varitek? He hit three homers in Kansas City on May 20, 2001, two off Brian Meadows and one off Mac Suzuki in a 10-3 Boston victory.
2. Who is George Brett? The Royals' third baseman batted .390 in 1980. Tony Gwynn of the Padres was batting .394 in 110 games when the 1994 season ended prematurely because of a labor stoppage.
3. Who is Nomar Garciaparra? He was batting .403 after the first game of a doubleheader on July 20, 2002, then went 0 for 5 in the second game, dropped to .396 and never got to .400 again. Garciaparra finished at .372 and won the American League batting title.
—Contact Bill Ballou at william.ballou@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillBallouTG.
