Simply put: At 23-21, the Boston Red Sox are not where they want to be right now. But that doesn’t mean Dave Dombrowski is ready to blow things up.
The Red Sox’s president of baseball operations joined NESN’s “Red Sox First Pitch” pregame show on Tuesday night to discuss the state of the organization. In his conversation with host Tom Caron, Dombrowski revealed he spent Monday’s off-day meeting with several members of Boston’s staff: manager John Farrell, assistant general managers Eddie Romero and Brian O’Halloran, and vice president of baseball research and development Zack Scott.
“We sat down (Monday) for over a couple hours,” Dombrowski told Caron. “I (had) already talked to some of our scouts and just kind of (went) over our club to try to get it to fit together a little bit.”
Dombrowski also addressed rumors that Farrell’s job might be in jeopardy, which stemmed from a column by FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal after the Red Sox dropped three out of four to the Oakland Athletics. In doing so, Dombrowski gave a vote of confidence for his skipper, who is under contract through the 2018 season.
“Well, we won a divisional crown last year,” Dombrowski told Caron. “He managed very well for us at the time. I think that John, as well as everybody else, is frustrated by our performance and that we haven’t taken off, but we’re not buried, either. I mean, we’re four games out of first place and we really haven’t been in a flow.”
Dombrowski pointed to tough-luck injuries to guys such as David Price, Pablo Sandoval and Brock Holt — as well as Hanley Ramirez not being able to play first base because of an injured shoulder — as reasons for Boston’s slow start.
“It’s one of those where I think to pin those things on John Farrell are just not fair,” Dombrowski said. “I think we’re in a position where he’s managed well, he’s managed divisional champions. I think we’re in a position — we have a good club. We just need to get in a better flow of things.”
Boston got back on the winning track Tuesday with an 11-6 win over the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park, and after the game, Farrell gave his own take on the get-together with Dombrowski.
“I think there were just some internal discussions on our roster, where we stand today, how we can improve, what internal options are available to us, how do we address certain guys on our roster currently to make some necessary adjustments to try to get some consistent production,” Farrell told reporters, via WEEI.com.
“But to also re-emphasize the things that are going well here and not just to pick out all that is wrong, because there’s a number of things that are going right, and some of those things were on display here (Tuesday night).”
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
