Dombrowski Fired by Red Sox After Disappointing 2019
By Matt Collins
Sports Business Writer
After a century of being one of baseball’s lovable loser franchises, recently the Boston Red Sox have been no laughing matter, winning four World Series titles since breaking the “Curse of the Bambino” in 2004. Not only is winning four World Series titles in a 15-year time span an amazing feat, but it is magnified by the fact that their archrival, the New York Yankees, baseball’s most reviled and successful franchise, has only won one in the same period. With winning comes the expectation of a playoff appearance and at least 90 wins each year, and Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski is the latest victim of those excessive expectations.
Dombrowski was fired September 9, less than a year after the Red Sox had perhaps their greatest season ever, winning 108 regular season games and a World Series title in 2018.
Dombrowski’s downfall began with some shaky offseason moves. After free agent closer Craig Kimbrel signed with the Cubs, Dombrowski re-signed outfielder/first basemen Steve Pearce and starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi without doling out any cash to fix a thin bullpen. These offseason moves hadn’t worked out so far during the 2019 season as the Red Sox currently hold a record barely above .500 and are far behind in both the wild card races, effectively out of playoff contention after being eliminated in the division.
His fate was most likely sealed by a combination of bad luck and inaction. All of the Red Sox’s key pieces have had down years compared to 2018. Eovaldi has been shaky, and rotation aces Chris Sale, Rick Porcello, and David Price have all struggled. Superstar hitters Mookie Betts and JD Martinez have had decent years but nowhere near their previous production.
The final nails in Dombrowski’s coffin came when he made no moves at the trade deadline as the Red Sox were still in contention in July and went on an eight-game losing streak as the deadline neared Dombrowski’s tenure officially came to an end after a 10-5 loss to the Yankees on September 9.
The firing ends another chapter in a storied front office career that saw Dombrowski build a World Series champion (2003) Florida Marlins team and an AL Pennant winner (2006) with the Detroit Tigers as both president and general manager. The Red Sox hired Dombrowski in 2015 and he quickly bolstered the team with free agent signees like Price, Kimbrel, Sale, and JD Martinez. For his work Dombrowski was named MLB Executive of the Year in 2018.
But the sports world quickly forgets success when losing takes over and Dombrowski, 63, is seeking a job with a new MLB franchise in need of front office help. As for the Red Sox, they will be finishing the rest of a disappointing 2019 with their assistant general managers at the helm, according to team spokesman Kevin Gregg.
Contact Matt at matthew.collins@student.shu.edu