Dave Dombrowski Lambasts Red Sox For Firing Him
Two things can be true; The Red Sox were right to fire Dave Dombrowski and he has every right to feel slighted and bitter by it. The Red Sox won the World Series in 2018 and fired him the following August. Sorry, but that’s the truth.
Dombrowski is a fantastic short window general manager. If your broken core needs to go win a title quickly, Dombrowski can put the rest of the pieces together and get the job done. Long term? Yeah, the Detroit Tigers still suck. Dombrowski spent 13 years in Detroit. Towards the end, there was zero young talent and they are still suffering today. Sorry, that’s just the truth.
Dombrowski, as he should be, is on his high horse today because the Phillies are in the World Series. Dombrowski had some words to say about his time in Boston.
“I don’t think I was treated right,’’ Dombrowski told Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports. “It hurt. It didn’t end the way I hoped or was handled.’’
“I didn’t anticipate that,” he said. “Also, I didn’t want to leave. Anytime that it happens, it’s one that’s jarring. Sure it is. You realize you don’t have any control over it, the decision has been made, so you just accept it and move on. You’re not pleased. I came home at that time, I remember, and just walked in during the fourth inning or fifth inning of the game because I just grabbed my stuff and came home. I’m never home at that time. It was a jarring time period for me, sure.”
Nobody wants to talk about it but the Red Sox were a bad baseball team after that 2018 World Series win. They had no remaining young talent and were flexed out payroll-wise. Boston had the 4th pick in the draft in 2020, Alex Cora was facing a ridiculous suspension, and the franchise was essentially forced to trade Mookie Betts to repair the damage that was done. Sorry, that’s the truth.
2018 was worth it but he should know exactly why he was fired. You can argue that he deserved a larger window but we already know the end result. It’s called the Tigers and John Henry rightfully passed on that experience.
Again, that isn’t to say Dombrowski isn’t a fantastic general manager. He took advantage of signing Kyle Schwarber because Chaim Bloom acted like a coward. Dombrowski has big balls and that’s why he wins. Sorry, that’s the truth.
The Phillies are an 87 win team that got hot at the perfect time. Dombrowski made some great decisions like Schwarber, Nick Castellanos, and Brandon Marsh. However, 90% of this roster also has nothing to do with Dombrowski. Of course, two things can once again be true. The Phillies are not in the World Series without trader Dave. The Phillies owner took jabs at Boston for letting Dombrowski go.
“The biggest thing was that he needed to be reassured, having been burned in Boston,” Phillies owner John Middleton told Nightengale. “When you win the 2018 World Series title, and you’re fired the following August, you can’t go through that process and have it not affect you psychologically and emotionally. Dave needed to know that he wasn’t going to walk into a situation where I was going to flip on him.
“I still don’t have any idea why John Henry fired him,” Middleton said. “I really don’t understand it. But I’m grateful he did. We wouldn’t have Dave Dombrowski and we wouldn’t be in the World Series.”
The World Series starts Friday. Dombrowski is probably already in the Hall of Fame but if he wins a World Series with a third organization, that puppy is a cold stone lock. I’m truly happy for Dave.
Side note: Just because someone got fired doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right thing for both parties. Go look at Bruce Cassidy right now in the NHL. Bruins are 6-1 to start the year. Golden Knights are 6-2. Both first place in their division. Post for another day but something to ponder.
