The news crashed into the Internet like an asteroid on Tuesday night. After consecutive last place finishes and so many cries from the fans to do SOMETHING, the Red Sox did SOMETHING and then some.
They named Dave Dombrowski their next president of baseball operations.
They said goodbye to GM Ben Cherington.
And just like that a new era is underway.
What happens next is anyone’s guess. Dombrowski certainly has a track record of success. He’ll take over team with a solid young core, and have the green light to pursue all the stars money can buy. It’s a pretty ideal situation for a baseball man and while it’s silly to just assume that he’ll lead the Sox back to the top, it’s just as silly to assume he won’t. In the meantime, I’ll just that say I’m looking forward to the Dombrowski Era. I’m optimistic about the Dombrowski Era. I’m anxious to see where he goes and what he does and what this roster will look like when pitchers and catchers report in six months. But before looking too far ahead let’s take a quick look back.
In the days since Ben Cherington “stepped down” there’s obviously been a lot of discussion about his legacy because that’s what we do here. As soon as someone leaves, we evaluate what they left and try to project how that will be remembered 10, 20 and even 50 years down the road. As soon as anyone — a player, coach, executive — becomes past tense they become history and there’s a rush among writers to start crafting that history because that’s what history is. It’s not always the truth. As Mark Twain once said: “The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.” As a more cynical Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “History is a set of agreed upon lies.”
In this case there are many arguments to be made against Cherington’s value as a major league general manager. He was afforded one of the highest payrolls in baseball and the Sox will have finished last in three of his four seasons on the job. Last summer he traded the majority of his rotation and was pretty much burned across the board. Last winter he tried to replenish that rotation and was pretty much burned across the board. His biggest signings — Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez, Rick Porcello and Rusney Castillo — haven’t panned out. He nearly ruined Xander Bogaerts with that still mind-numbing decision to bring back Stephen Drew. All in all there’s no question that Cherington deserved to lose his job and you can be sure he’ll have a lot of questions to answer before he’s offered another one. But in terms of legacy — let’s be serious— none of that matters.
When we talk about Ben Cherington in the here and now it’s important to focus on his shortcomings. A high-profile figure lost his job and the “why” needs to be at the forefront. It’s a fair and balanced way to present and argue the merits of his tenure — but honestly no one cares. Or no one will care.
The sting of three last place finishes will be long gone five years from now, never mind in 10 or 20 or 50 years. Those bad contracts will be nothing more than harmlessly bad contracts; there’s not a GM in any sport who doesn’t have a few under his belt (and without a cap the bad baseball contracts are always more forgivable). The decision to blow up the starting rotation and then leave it in ruins will disappear into a sea of other bad decisions made by other GMs between now and whenever “then” is. History will swallow up all of that. History only remembers what it wants to remember. And by the time it’s done, there’s only one aspect of Ben Cherington’s four years as Red Sox general manager that will stand the test of time. More specifically, one year, and within that one stretch of signings — Jonny Gomes, Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino, David Ross, Koji Uehara — and one case of catching lightning in a bottle.
The question of whether that fortunate season makes Ben Cherington a great GM or just a lucky GM is irrelevant compared to the fact that it makes him championship GM. And long after all these Internet retrospectives have faded, that’s how he’ll be remembered.
OK, Mr. Dombrowski. Now it’s your turn.
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