Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski addressed his future in two separate interviews this week, telling USA TODAY he's surprised to be on the hot seat and telling WEEI "there's no inside information" behind a Boston Globe column that intimated his days at Fenway Park are numbered.
“Well, I don’t want to say too much about it,’’ Dombrowski said of the speculation, in an interview with USA TODAY'S Bob Nightengale conducted over the weekend at Fenway, “but I am surprised. At least a little bit. I mean, we did win three divisions and a World Series."
As for Dan Shaughnessy's speculation in his Globe column recently that he'd be shocked if Dombrowski is back with next season and that the 63-year-old veteran baseball executive has "few friends inside Fenway's walls," Dombrowski dismissed the sources of that information.
“First of all, I’ve learned now throughout my time period that there’s just some writers I don’t read their articles,” Dombrowski told WEEI. “That’s a better way to do it, so you don’t know what they say at times. You hear about it through the grapevine. But it isn’t just related to me, it’s related to other things throughout the time period I’ve been here..."
“The people that make that type of decision are John Henry, Tom Werner [and limited partner] Mike Gordon, and I know they’re not getting information from them,” Dombrowski said.
Dombrowski told Nightengale the intense media and fan scrutiny has lived up to its billing since he took the job on Aug. 18, 2015. He has a year left on his contract.
“But I get it. This is a tough market. It’s been known as that. Growing up in this game, I was always told there are three markets that are different than everywhere else: Boston, New York and Philadelphia. And I’d have to say it’s probably lived up to be true.
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“It’s just a situation where you look back, somebody seems to get blamed for whatever happened. The fans have been great. And so has ownership. It’s just a [media] theme that always seems to take place."
As for criticism that he's depleted the farm system and compromised the Sox' long-term future with some of his trades that brought back major league talent for top minor league prospects, Dombrowski told Nightengale, “I thought that was what it was all about, trying to win championships.’’
And in hindsight, was the five-year, $145 million extension for Chris Sale, whose future is now very much in doubt, premature?
“I’m thrilled that Chris Sale is with us,’’ Dombrowski said. “People say, 'Oh, could they have waited to sign him?' Sure, but what if you wait and can’t sign him for the same dollar figures we put forth. We thought it was a realistic number."
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