Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski called a report that he was told by ownership not to deal any of the team's top prospects at the trade deadline "totally incorrect."
A BostonSportsJournal.com story by Sean McAdam had said Dombrowski was told by ownership not to trade any of the organization's premier prospects at Monday's deadline. McAdam wrote that an "industry source confirmed Red Sox’ upper management and ownership made it clear to Dombrowski the organization’s premier prospects were not to be dealt."
"That's totally incorrect," Dombrowski told WEEI's "Ordway, Merloni and Fauria" show on Thursday. "We would talk about anybody when that came down it. We didn't think those types of impact players [that we'd deal for top prospects] would fit our organization. We were asked about our premium prospects often, but they weren't the type of deals that made sense. If the right deal came up we would talk about anybody. We were also in a mindset talking after the winter meetings that we needed to rebuild our system . . . "
Dombrowski dealt top prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech in the trade for Chris Sale, Anderson Espinoza for Drew Pomeranz and Manuel Margot in a package for Craig Kimbrel over the past two seasons. Third-base prospect Rafael Devers was called up last week and has had provided a boost to the Red Sox offense in his first five games, as has infielder Eduardo Nunez, acquired at the deadline from the Giants for what were considered mid-level prospects.