Rumors had swirled that the Red Sox could be interested in Dombrowski ever since he left Detroit last month, especially since it came on the heels of Larry Lucchino stepping down as president and CEO of the team.
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The front office of the Red Sox now consists of Dombrowski and former Los Angeles Angels GM Jerry Dipoto, and Cherington – who won a World Series with the team in his second year on the job – could begin talking with clubs such as the Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Angels, Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners and others.
Watch our Partner Videos ▼. In 2013, the Red Sox won the World Series with Cherington as general manager. That might sting, but Dombrowski also has a reputation as an excellent talent evaluator, knowing which guys are expendable and which are worth holding onto.
Cherington leaves the team as general manager after taking over the post left by Theo Epstein in October of 2011. Ownership had given Cherington a vote of confidence despite several offseason moves that have backfired, while Dombrowski indicated that he had hoped Cherington would stay on in his position.
Dombrowski is well-known around the world of baseball thanks to his 37-year career, with Boston being the fifth team he’ll work for. It’s no secret that the Red Sox need to bring people in from the outside, but the fact that they got someone like Dombrowski to come is truly remarkable. The Tigers advanced to the postseason in each of the last four seasons.
“I do want to keep working and I enjoy what I do”, Dombrowski said after his release last week.
The timing of Dombrowski’s hiring – the Red Sox have 43 games remaining in their season and are on pace for a last-place finish – affords him plenty of time to evaluate Boston’s roster and staff without rushing into any final decisions. Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez was very good today. “I threw everything on the edge of the strike zone tonight and they hit it. So, maybe next game I’ll try to throw it down the middle, since that’s something they didn’t hit tonight”. One of Dombrowski’s baseball “wise men” in Detroit was Scott Reid, who worked with Dombrowski in both Florida and Detroit and was the Tigers’ vice president of player personnel. It gives you not only a better chance to win that game. “I think one thing that makes an organization good and baseball operations – which is my responsibility – is that you’re going to have disagreements about responsibilities and you’re going to have disagreements about players and trades and it’s very important that they’re expressed”. Dombrowski said the Tigers might not have relied on analytics as much as other clubs but said he always was open to using whatever tools he had at his disposal.
Dombrowski also added that he sees an enormous amount of potential in the talented minor league system that the Red Sox hold and is excited to get a head start on building a talented team for 2016 by joining now.
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[Terry Francona says he will accompany John Farrell to first chemotherapy treatment]. Corey Kluber gets the ball, and he’s 8-12 with a 3.34 ERA and 193 strikeouts this season. “We became friends not just in baseball but outside of baseball”.
