Dombrowski press conference quotes

NWsoxophile · Nov 7, 2016

So if Leon is the catcher next year with Vazquez as the back up, why is Swihart being told to report as a catcher?

moondog80 · Nov 7, 2016

NWsoxophile said:
So if Leon is the catcher next year with Vazquez as the back up, why is Swihart being told to report as a catcher?

Because that's what he is, and that's where he has the most value. Granting the fact that his injury was not foreseeable, his move to LF was one of the most poorly thought out moves this organization has made in a while.

E5 Yaz · Nov 7, 2016

NWsoxophile said:
So if Leon is the catcher next year with Vazquez as the back up, why is Swihart being told to report as a catcher?

Because, given his injury, he wasn't likely to start the year in the majors anyway.

Besides, last offseason, it was supposed to be Hanigan and Vaqquez. Leon wasn't on the radar.

These things change

Hank Scorpio · Nov 7, 2016

NWsoxophile said:
So if Leon is the catcher next year with Vazquez as the back up, why is Swihart being told to report as a catcher?

Both may wind up being total noodle bats.

The wording on the E-Rod thing is a little confusing. Does the tweet mean Eduardo approached the Sox and asked to participate in winter ball, or the Sox asked him to go?

Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat · Nov 7, 2016

moondog80 said:
Because that's what he is, and that's where he has the most value. Granting the fact that his injury was not foreseeable, his move to LF was one of the most poorly thought out moves this organization has made in a while.

What makes you think it wasn't well thought out? Like the move or not, it doesn't seem like something done on a whim.

E5 Yaz · Nov 7, 2016

Bob Montgomery's Helmet Hat said:
What makes you think it wasn't well thought out?

Because he got hurt, silly.

Cesar Crespo · Nov 7, 2016

E5 Yaz said:
Because, given his injury, he wasn't likely to start the year in the majors anyway.

Besides, last offseason, it was supposed to be Hanigan and Vaqquez. Leon wasn't on the radar.

These things change

Good to have 3 catchers too. The chances one of Leon or Vaz don't stick are decent.

Surprised Sam Travis was mentioned so often and actually factors into their long term thinking. Granted it's just GM speak.

OptimusPapi · Nov 7, 2016

Is there a full transcript somewhere?

moondog80 · Nov 7, 2016

Bob Montgomery's Helmet Hat said:
What makes you think it wasn't well thought out? Like the move or not, it doesn't seem like something done on a whim.

Because his value was and is as a catcher, and his bat isn't good enough (yet) to justify playing in LF in Fenway after a few weeks of learning the position in Pawtucket.

MikeM · Nov 7, 2016

So no surprises.

Not sure how I feel about the patient approach here. Would prefer he went out and made a strong play on Jansen right out the gate rather then making another Kimbrel'like trade down the line. Walking away from those comments seems to better favor the probability we see that latter though.

Byrdbrain · Nov 7, 2016

moondog80 said:
Because his value was and is as a catcher, and his bat isn't good enough (yet) to justify playing in LF in Fenway after a few weeks of learning the position in Pawtucket.

His bat was better than anyone else they were putting out there at the time and he did just fine defensively until he had a freak accident.
With the emergence of Benintendi and the predictable coming to earth of Leon the right place for him to be this year and likely moving forward is at catcher.

E5 Yaz · Nov 8, 2016

MikeM said:
Not sure how I feel about the patient approach here. Would prefer he went out and made a strong play on Jansen right out the gate rather then making another Kimbrel'like trade down the line. Walking away from those comments seems to better favor the probability we see that latter though.

Jansen got a qualifying offer. I don't mind losing the low draft pick, but is Jansen the guy you want to spend it on?

As for the patient approach, I'd say that falls under the Pitino Rule ... what's true today isn't necessarily going to be true tomorrow.

Snodgrass'Muff · Nov 8, 2016

bosox79 said:
Surprised Sam Travis was mentioned so often and actually factors into their long term thinking. Granted it's just GM speak.

You're surprised that a guy who has hit at an impressive clip at every level since being drafted, and who was charging through the system before getting hurt last year is in the mix for a long term roster spot? He's limited to 1st defensively, and he's likely never going to be a 30 home run threat, but the kid hits a ton of line drives, has a good shot at being a 20 home run per year hitter, and would be a great compliment to Hanley as a primary DH, 1B backup if they want to go that route in 2018.

He'd also make a nice trade chip, and if that's what they are thinking, then yeah, talking him up also makes sense in that context, but Sam Travis has the bat to be worth a major league roster spot should they want to move forward with a similar roster construction to when Papi was still here. (Sad to type that in the past tense)

E5 Yaz said:
Jansen got a qualifying offer. I don't mind losing the low draft pick, but is Jansen the guy you want to spend it on?

If they're getting him for a 4-5 year deal at about 15 million per? Yeah, absolutely. The more expensive it gets beyond that, the less excited I am about the idea, but I'd happily surrender a pick in the late 20's to lock him up at something near that price as the bullpen ace and give the team a two year window (at least) of him and Kimbrel anchoring the pen.

iayork · Nov 8, 2016

One thing about Dombrowski that we might have learned over the past year is that he's much more straightforward than the traditional Sox leadership has been. Where we're used to reading entrails and parsing tiny nuances in GM comments,last year Dombrowski basically said what he wanted to do, and then went and did it, no misdirection, no shifting positions. I don't know enough about his history with other teams to say if that's his normal approach, but his relationship with other GMs suggests that it is. It feels a little disconcerting to not have to kremlinology everything we hear, but it's neat to know his roadmap too.

Cesar Crespo · Nov 8, 2016

Snodgrass'Muff said:
You're surprised that a guy who has hit at an impressive clip at every level since being drafted, and who was charging through the system before getting hurt last year is in the mix for a long term roster spot? He's limited to 1st defensively, and he's likely never going to be a 30 home run threat, but the kid hits a ton of line drives, has a good shot at being a 20 home run per year hitter, and would be a great compliment to Hanley as a primary DH, 1B backup if they want to go that route in 2018.

Na, I'm surprised he factors into their long term thinking and they are worried about blocking him by signing an EE. I can see Moncada being a reason you wouldn't want to sign someone long term but not Sam Travis. Sam Travis doesn't seem like a guy you build around or would heavily factor into your 2017 plans.

simplicio · Nov 8, 2016

Happy to hear Devers is going to ST. I think he's in Boston to start 2018 if not before then.

I don't think 4-5 years @15 million gets Jansen; probably a dozen teams would be happy to pay that. I'd happily go to 6-7 years as I think he'll agree well, but I think the chance of him leaving LA is minute.

grimshaw · Nov 8, 2016

iayork said:
One thing about Dombrowski that we might have learned over the past year is that he's much more straightforward than the traditional Sox leadership has been. Where we're used to reading entrails and parsing tiny nuances in GM comments, last year Dombrowski basically said what he wanted to do, and then went and did it, no misdirection, no shifting positions. I don't know enough about his history with other teams to say if that's his normal approach, but his relationship with other GMs suggests that it is. It feels a little disconcerting to not have to kremlinology everything we hear, but it's neat to know his roadmap too.

I love it all too, and since plans are so conservative this off-season, he isn't backing himself into a corner by talking about major needs.
I don't know if he cost himself some money with Price last year by declaring his hunt for an ace or not, but that probably won't happen this year.

I'm very relieved that he is at least publicly lukewarm on EE and seemingly against locking up the DH slot at this point with subpar options.

MikeM · Nov 8, 2016

E5 Yaz said:
Jansen got a qualifying offer. I don't mind losing the low draft pick, but is Jansen the guy you want to spend it on?

Of all the visible options on the table, yeah. Jansen is the guy i really want, and i state that as somebody who's usually not all that crazy about pricey and long term deals on relievers. Even in the 5/$85m range, for me this is just a right guy, right time, and right surrounding circumstances type of scenario to take that risk plunge. Especially if we are standing pat on the starting rotation.

Plus I may have been pro-Kimbrel trade last winter, but I hardly want that to become something that's viewed as a normal type thing.

Snodgrass'Muff · Nov 8, 2016

bosox79 said:
Na, I'm surprised he factors into their long term thinking and they are worried about blocking him by signing an EE. I can see Moncada being a reason you wouldn't want to sign someone long term but not Sam Travis. Sam Travis doesn't seem like a guy you build around or would heavily factor into your 2017 plans.

His wRC+ by year and level:

2014 (A-): 140
2014 (A): 124
2015 (R): 144
2015 (A+): 146
2015 (AA): 140
2016 (AAA): 120

He's been remarkably consistent and if you think he's a 20-30% better than league average hitter that's on the verge of being ready for the majors, yes, you do worry about blocking him with an expensive contract for a guy who would also be limited to DH and some 1st base. Not to mention old enough that his decline could start at any time, and may have begun last season.

For all the bluster about how good of a hitter Encarnacion is, he was 34% better than league average overall. If Sam Travis is 75% of that production at 2.5% of the cost (assuming Encarnacion gets $20M per year), you should be fine with that trade off.

And that's not to say that Encarnacion isn't likely to be the better hitter over the next few seasons. He absolutely is, and he brings a ton more home run power to the table which has some value that may not show up perfectly in a look at the pair using wRC+, but if they are intending to use the DH slot as a primary DH, they might actually be better off planning on Sam Travis and saving the money they would have spent on Encarnacion to address other needs, like the bullpen.

MikeM · Nov 8, 2016

simplicio said:
I don't think 4-5 years @15 million gets Jansen; probably a dozen teams would be happy to pay that. I'd happily go to 6-7 years as I think he'll agree well, but I think the chance of him leaving LA is minute.

I don't see him getting more then 5 years, but you could be right he doesn't leave LA. Hence why I'd prefer a non-patient approach there. If we get him doing that great. If not you obviously move on to Plan B.

I just don't see DD's plan B there being a "settle" job. Not with the gamble he's taking on the starting pitching, which is already going to be one injury and a Buchholz implosion away from another potential Pomeranz trade. He's going to go out and get somebody he really likes if we are talking just a one spot upgrade here imo, even if the cost is deemed high.

grimshaw · Nov 8, 2016

I have been all in on Jansen, especially after seeing what the Indians did with Miller and Allen this post season, but I wonder if there is some internal minor concern about Kimbrel and non-save situations if they do go that route. Would Jansen need to be the closer in order to sign, or does money talk no matter what?

It's hard to tell if the struggles are just small sample size stuff or mental adjustment.
Maybe he just needs to be juiced up for a high leverage situation, so an Andrew Miller type role could suit him rather than a locked in 8th inning set up guy.

Cesar Crespo · Nov 8, 2016

Snodgrass'Muff said:
His wRC+ by year and level:

2014 (A-): 140
2014 (A): 124
2015 (R): 144
2015 (A+): 146
2015 (AA): 140
2016 (AAA): 120

He's been remarkably consistent and if you think he's a 20-30% better than league average hitter that's on the verge of being ready for the majors, yes, you do worry about blocking him with an expensive contract for a guy who would also be limited to DH and some 1st base. Not to mention old enough that his decline could start at any time, and may have begun last season.

For all the bluster about how good of a hitter Encarnacion is, he was 34% better than league average overall. If Sam Travis is 75% of that production at 2.5% of the cost (assuming Encarnacion gets $20M per year), you should be fine with that trade off.

And that's not to say that Encarnacion isn't likely to be the better hitter over the next few seasons. He absolutely is, and he brings a ton more home run power to the table which has some value that may not show up perfectly in a look at the pair using wRC+, but if they are intending to use the DH slot as a primary DH, they might actually be better off planning on Sam Travis and saving the money they would have spent on Encarnacion to address other needs, like the bullpen.

I don't want EE anyway and would rather the team sign a league average bat for a 1 year contract to buy time for Travis, Dubon and Moncada. Rereading the quotes, he did say long term so that doesn't eliminate the possibility of signing one. And Fwiw, Sam Travis has a pretty significant L/R split.

Devers will be in Portland next year too, and while not likely, I guess it's feasible he could actually be in Boston sometime next season.

Minneapolis Millers · Nov 8, 2016

If you can put a transcendent bat into the DH spot, as we did for a decade+ with Papi, it makes sense to have one guy fill it. I'm not sure that mid-30s EE will be that kind of guy. Decent chance he will continue to be a real power threat, but...
1. He's not as good as Papi was (and he's RH when we really could use a LH mid-order bat).
2. We do have other bats coming this year and next.
3. It's smart to have the DH spot available not just to platoon a couple of players but to give Pedroia and Hanley a breather from the injury-inducing rigors of fielding.

I think DD's remarks reflect this. A one-year deal for a veteran bat like Beltran's makes sense. A 4-5 year deal for EE probably does not.

JBJ_HOF · Nov 8, 2016

Why do we need a "LH mid-order bat" when Edwin is just about better than all of them save for Ortiz... Harper... Votto....?

Benintendi, Bradley, Moncada, Swihart, Devers

Cesar Crespo · Nov 8, 2016

JBJ_HOF said:
Why do we need a "LH mid-order bat" when Edwin is just about better than all of them save for Ortiz... Harper... Votto....?

Benintendi, Bradley, Moncada, Swihart, Devers

3 of those players won't be on the team to start the year, one will be a rookie, and the other struggled in the 2nd half.

Buzzkill Pauley · Nov 8, 2016

JBJ_HOF said:
Why do we need a "LH mid-order bat" when Edwin is just about better than all of them save for Ortiz... Harper... Votto....?

Benintendi, Bradley, Moncada, Swihart, Devers

The Sox don't "need" a LHH power bat, but the don't "need" EE either.

Ramirez, Betts, Young, Pedroia, Travis

The conventional wisdom would be that the Red Sox benefit from a LHH slugger not only as an oppo field threat to use the Monster, but also because Britton is the only top-shelf LHP remaining among the Sox AL East rivals.

JBJ_HOF · Nov 8, 2016

Too bad the Red Sox aren't getting a LHH slugger, they hardly exist anymore. The Red Sox would be getting a slightly above average LHH while passing over an elite RHH slugger who hits RHP better anyways.

Hopefully Moncada and Devers bring that to the table in mid-2017 and mid-2018.

Minneapolis Millers · Nov 8, 2016

JBJ_HOF said:
Too bad the Red Sox aren't getting a LHH slugger, they hardly exist anymore. The Red Sox would be getting a slightly above average LHH while passing over an elite RHH slugger who hits RHP better anyways.....

But they'd be getting that lesser LHH (or switch hitting) bat for fewer years and $$$, right?

rembrat · Nov 8, 2016

bosox79 said:
3 of those players won't be on the team to start the year, one will be a rookie, and the other struggled in the 2nd half.

Seriously. I love the offseason where young kids are THE ANSWER. Benintendi isn't proven. Bradley is inconsistent. Moncada can't hit a curveball. Swihart is the 3rd catcher on the depth chart. And Devers.. really? Devers? He's going to be 20.

I really hope DD is just posturing w/r/t EE incase a market never develops for him or he wants out of Toronto and he can swoop in with his best Cashman impression because there is a huge Papi sized hole in the lineup and if it isn't filled we better hope the pitching gets better.

NoXInNixon · Nov 8, 2016

It's just not possible for the Red Sox to start the season with proven quantities at every position. They have limited resources with which to make improvements. I would rather see them use those resources to improve the bullpen or back end of the rotation, where there certainly isn't immediate help coming, than in the lineup which is already a strength and probably does have reinforcements coming.

Snodgrass'Muff · Nov 8, 2016

NoXInNixon said:
It's just not possible for the Red Sox to start the season with proven quantities at every position. They have limited resources with which to make improvements. I would rather see them use those resources to improve the bullpen or back end of the rotation, where there certainly isn't immediate help coming, than in the lineup which is already a strength and probably does have reinforcements coming.

Yep. Even with the luxury tax likely to go up, they only have so much money to spend and it shouldn't be used on someone like Encarnacion. Between his age, the drop in his production last year, the lack of a serious need and the likely cost, I don't think Dombrowski is posturing.

The offense will go from the best in baseball, to probably just top 5 or so, which is still plenty good enough. And that's assuming none of the kids who are going to spend time filling in that Ortiz shaped roster spot bring much to the table next year since they'll be breaking in.

Use that money to build a stronger pen and maybe improve the bench if there's anything left over.

JBJ_HOF · Nov 8, 2016

rembrat said:
Seriously. I love the offseason where young kids are THE ANSWER. Benintendi isn't proven. Bradley is inconsistent. Moncada can't hit a curveball. Swihart is the 3rd catcher on the depth chart. And Devers.. really? Devers? He's going to be 20.

I really hope DD is just posturing w/r/t EE incase a market never develops for him or he wants out of Toronto and he can swoop in with his best Cashman impression because there is a huge Papi sized hole in the lineup and if it isn't filled we better hope the pitching gets better.

They aren't the answer but they are good lefty bats in the pipeline that shouldn't have you worried about the handedness of what you are aquiring now. The freaking GM was talking about Devers.. really... competing at third base... less than 24 hours ago.

amfox1 · Nov 8, 2016

Tim Britton ‏@TimBritton 6m6 minutes ago
Dombrowski also indicated the Red Sox will tender Fernando Abad.

Van Everyman · Nov 8, 2016

Are we sure he didn't say that he would release a tender Fernando Abad?

joe dokes · Nov 8, 2016

rembrat said:
Seriously. I love the offseason where young kids are THE ANSWER. Benintendi isn't proven. Bradley is inconsistent. Moncada can't hit a curveball. Swihart is the 3rd catcher on the depth chart. And Devers.. really? Devers? He's going to be 20.

I really hope DD is just posturing w/r/t EE incase a market never develops for him or he wants out of Toronto and he can swoop in with his best Cashman impression because there is a huge Papi sized hole in the lineup and if it isn't filled we better hope the pitching gets better.

Ultimately, it's all posturing. It's not like there's some rule that says, "If a team's General Manager announces that the team is not looking for a full-time Designated Hitter, then said team will not be permitted to use a player it later acquires as a Designated Hitter."

Dombrowski press conference quotes

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