BOSTON — Dave Dombrowski, the new Red Sox president of baseball operations, thought enough of the franchise to pick Boston over other suitors.
Now he’s going to spend the next six weeks trying to figure out what’s worth keeping – in the front office, on the Fenway Park field and in the minor leagues.
“I’m not here to blow up the organization,” Dombrowski said at a Fenway Park news conference Wednesday, a day after he was hired. “They have a lot of good people here.”
Speaking a day after a mid-game shakeup that left General Manager Ben Cherington on the outs, Dombrowski said he would hire a general manager but was in no rush. He didn’t discuss the future of Manager John Farrell, who is on leave from the team after being diagnosed with what he said was a treatable form of cancer.
Dombrowski said he spoke to Farrell on Tuesday night – after Farrell underwent his first chemotherapy session – but just told him they would meet after the manager was healthy again. In Farrell’s absence, bench coach Torey Lovullo is managing the team, which entered Wednesday night with a 53-66 record, 14 games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East.
The Red Sox owner, John Henry, began the news conference with a statement that acknowledged the team’s failures in finishing last two of the last three seasons.
“As owners, we’re all responsible for the poor results we’ve had, and for results going forward,” Henry said. “Dave Dombrowski is an architect of team-building the right way. For almost three decades now he’s earned the respect of almost everyone in the game.”
The general manager of the Montreal Expos at age 32, Dombrowski won the 1997 World Series with the Florida Marlins and led the Tigers to the Series twice. But he was let go Aug. 8 with Detroit below .500.
Henry said he decided to pursue Dombrowski when he “became a free agent” less than a week after the Red Sox announced that Larry Lucchino, the president and CEO, would step down after the season.
Sam Kennedy was named Lucchino’s successor on the business side; he attended Wednesday’s news conference with chairman Tom Werner, prompting Henry to explain: “This is really our lineup for 2016 and beyond.”
Although Dombrowski would be installed above Cherington in the baseball decision-making, “Ben did not object” to discussing the job with him, Henry said.
Until Dombrowski was hired, the top Red Sox brass, including the new president, hoped Cherington would stay, they said. Cherington declined, and Tuesday night it was announced he would leave after helping with the transition.
“We think the world of Ben,” Werner said. “We are disappointed but respectful of his decision.”
Cherington said later he was surprised when Henry and Werner told him Saturday that they were pursuing Dombrowski, and thought it was time to go.
“I felt strongly that what was best for Dave, what was best for me, what was best for the Red Sox was the same thing, and that was a clean break,” he said.
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