In a move stunning both for its timing and its meaning, the Boston Red Sox fired Dave Dombrowski late Sunday night. Dombrowski, the team’s President of Baseball Operations, helped build a team that won 108 games and the World Series just 11 months ago.
The Red Sox promoted vice president Raquel Ferreira and assistant general managers Brian O’Halloran, Eddie Romero and Zack Scott to run their team on an interim basis.
The organization seems to consider the wild success of 2018 to be in the past. The misery of the present, with Boston eight games out of a playoff spot with only 19 games to go, is more of an issue.
Ferreira, in her 21st year with the organization, will become the highest-ranking female official in MLB history.
News: Less than one year after winning the World Series, the Boston Red Sox have fired president Dave Dombrowski and are elevating assistant GM Eddie Romero to head of baseball operations. Story at ESPN: https://t.co/KLkki68qMI
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 9, 2019
Short but sweet
The Red Sox have a history of this sort of thing.
Dombrowski was hired in August 2015 to replace Ben Cherington, whom the team also fired within two years of a World Series victory.
Though many key parts of last year’s World Series winner were in the organization before Dombrowski arrived, he supplemented them well. He traded for Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel and signed J.D. Martinez and David Price. All four were massive contributors to the title run. He also hired manager Alex Cora.
Red Sox majority owner John Henry released a statement thanking Dombrowski for his time.
“Four years ago, we were faced with a critical decision about the direction of the franchise,” Henry said. “We were extraordinarily fortunate to be able to bring Dave in to lead baseball operations. With a World Series Championship and three consecutive American League East titles, he has cemented what was already a Hall of Fame career.”
Red Sox officially release the Dave Dombrowski news. John Henry says in statement DD “cemented what was already a Hall of Fame career.” Release also says “there will be no formal media availability regarding today’s announcement.” So owners won’t take questions, at least not yet.
— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) September 9, 2019
Looking forward
Dombrowski’s hire was seen as a win-now move — he aggressively built an American League champion club in Detroit previously. And he certainly accomplished the success the Red Sox wanted.
This move, conversely, might signal that Boston is willing to go into a period of development and rebuilding. Ferreira, Romero and Scott are holdovers from the Theo Epstein regime, under which player development was an emphasis.
Star center fielder Mookie Betts will be a free agent at the end of next season. Could this be a signal the Red Sox would trade him for prospects? Time will tell, but Dombrowski won’t be around to decide.
John Henry hires Ben Cherington to develop the farm system.
Henry fires Cherington and hires Dave Dombrowski to win now.
Henry fires Dombrowski to develop the farm system.
And people still question why Theo left? pic.twitter.com/Kpg1ZzbnRb
— Dave Sheridan (@ToughDSheridan) September 9, 2019
