BOSTON — Dave Dombrowski couldn’t help but laugh when asked about the state of the Detroit Tigers’ farm system.
The former Tigers president and general manager was introduced Wednesday afternoon at Fenway Park as the Red Sox’s new president of baseball ops, and the conversation ultimately shifted to prospects.
One big question mark surrounding the hiring of Dombrowski is the handling of the farm system. He made a handful of blockbuster trades with the Tigers that, in part, helped deplete Detroit’s system. Now, inheriting a Boston system that’s considered one of the best in Major League Baseball, some are fearful he’ll do the same with the Red Sox.
However, the Red Sox and Tigers have been in different positions. Up until this season, Detroit had been a perennial World Series contender. That ultimately leads to big deals. There’s not as much pressure to keep young players in the farm system when the major league core is already intact like it was in Detroit.
“We used the farm system a little bit different when I was in Detroit,” Dombrowski explained Wednesday at his introductory news conference. “We had the pedal to the metal to try and win a world championship and unfortunately we fell short of that. We traded a lot of our good young talent at that time. We just recently replenished it a little bit.”
(Of course, it should also be mentioned that some of Dombrowski’s Detroit deals netted returns of players like Miguel Cabrera and Max Scherzer, too.)
In Boston, where the Red Sox appear destined for their third last-place finish in four years, there’s an ongoing rebuilding process already in progress. A core has been built with players like Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, Blake Swihart and Eduardo Rodriguez already in the majors.
“Ideally, with the farm system, if you can bring up your own homegrown players, it’s that much better,” he added. “You know the players, you know their talents, you get to know them inside and out. It also gives you costability with players. …Â The reality is, if you have a strong farm system, that’s the best place to start because it gives you the foundation to go in a lot of different directions.”
Dombrowksi’s main goal now, of course, is to build around that core through a multitude of ways, even if that means dipping into that prized pool of prospects, as the Red Sox still have an impressive array of players at the minor league level in addition to the aforementioned “prospects” who now call Boston home.
Really, Dombrowski’s goal is to continue the process already in place. The framework has been built, and there’s no questioning the work done to build up the organization at the lower levels. What the Red Sox can do to complement that and sustain success and stability is what ultimately will define Dombrowski’s time with the Red Sox.
“We want to (have success) in a way that we sustain that and you try to do in right fashion where year and year out, you can (compete),” he said. “I think that if your total focus is just trying to win at a particular time at all costs, you end up trading a lot more players than you normally would. I think right here, the foundation to do it the right way is already in place.”
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
