Otto von Ballpark

Yeah, having just one year left on his deal (2020) seems important here. Like, he wanted an extension, they didn't want to give him one, but they didn't want him to spend a year as a lame duck either. Boston's had a lot of front office turnover the last 10 years, they seem more than willing to let a guy go like this, even one who just won a WS.

I don't know about that. The Red Sox shed $50+ mil in Sandoval, Porcello, and assorted miscellaneous non-contributor salaries this offseason (Nunez, Pearce, etc.). They'll still be way up there in payroll, but I doubt Dombrowski would see a need to go beyond 2019 spending levels in 2020.

I don't think so -- his minor league IL time doesn't count toward the 60: "time spent on a minor league 7-day Injured List or minor league 60-day Injured List does NOT count toward the minimum number of days a player must spend on an MLB Injured List if a player is recalled from an optional assignment" https://www.thecubreporter.com/book/export/html/3538 Basically, you can't recall a minor league player and then make their MLB IL placement retroactive. (Poppen last pitched in the minors on August 6 too, so even if it could be retroactive, he wouldn't be eligible to return until Oct. 6, two days after the start of the ALDS.)

True, but we only really have one at the moment (an eligible injured player to replace -- Gordon). Of course, any of Buxton, Marwin, Dyson, etc. could go on the IL too and become eligible for replacement -- but I'm guessing we want those guys in the postseason mix!

Sandoval and Rusney Castillo are still getting paid by the Red Sox, and both were signed by Cherington.

And Devers might be even better, at the same position...

He would have been allowed to spend the Zimmermann and Upton money that Al Avila spent, for sure. (And even the Pelfrey money. ) Remember, they were still a contending club, with 86 wins that first year after he left. At that point, maybe they're still respectable enough in 2017 that they don't have to salary dump Verlander and JD Martinez -- maybe they're even able to QO and re-sign JD, who is aging well so far in Boston. The whole coaching focus could have turned out different too, instead of Gardy/Anderson. Dombrowski may not be a trading savant, but he made a lot of good deals in Detroit, even beyond Cabrera and Scherzer: Guillen, Polanco, Fister, Sanchez, Price. Even got Fulmer and Boyd on his way out the door. His worst deal was sending away Suarez, although to be fair he kind of came out of nowhere for Cincinnati. No guarantees, of course, but I think these circumstances mitigate some of his culpability for the Avila/Gardy/Anderson 2019 Tigers.

"We'll see" about the Verlander and Moncada trades? Verlander has been awesome for multiple years and the prospects marginal at best. Sale already won Boston a World Series, and the Red Sox have a 3B who is arguably better than Moncada with equal years of control remaining. That's a pretty extreme standard of reserving judgement, no? Why not equally reserve judgement about the Falvey/Levine approach?

This might be another overstatement. Dombrowski traded Moncada (and the injured prospect Kopech), but Sale is still arguably better (and of course won them a WS last year). Beyond that, Dombrowski hasn't traded many/any prospects from Boston who have turned out elsewhere. Of course, he hasn't add many prospects either, which hurts. NYY added Torres and Frazier (and Sheffield, who turned into Chapman) in the Chapman and Miller deals back in 2016, but of course Dombrowski didn't have that luxury as his team was beating the Yankees that year. Beyond that, there's not necessarily a big gulf between the two clubs -- at least not until some of the current Yankee top prospects come up and contribute. And that's just better amateur scouting/drafting/signing, as opposed to actively dealing good prospects.

So not winning the AL East for 4 straight years is worth pointing out as a sign of core weakness? Tough crowd!

It's tough to get to the top, even with a good team, but I don't think it's too bleak for Boston. Sale is still pretty great, health scare aside. JD Martinez too. Price is decent. The extension for Bogaerts looks fantastic so far. Eovaldi was a reach, but he was a World Series winning hero and his contract shouldn't be crippling. As you allude to in your other post, Porcello, Sandoval, Pedroia, and Rusney Castillo are all still getting paid from the previous FO. But their deals are pretty much done by the end of 2019 or 2020 -- they'll still have the money to re-sign Betts if they want, or bid for a comparable superstar in FA.

I agree he had a hand in both, although more for the pennants than the 2019 club, as he's been out of the org since 2015. It's possible that Dombrowski's 2019 Tigers would still feature an aging gracefully Verlander, and something better for the Zimmermann money. Maybe instead of shedding payroll and playing guys like Goodrum, he would have been actively pursuing his next Scherzer/Cabrera/Polanco type acquisition.

I think this is an over-simplification. Drombowski was in Detroit a long time. He took over an organization that was pretty awful and turned it around to have a decade of sustained success, including 2 pennants and acquiring/developing a few Hall of Famers. He took over a much better club in Boston but he delivered some great results quickly too. Let's pause before we declare the Levine/Falvey approach to be superior, shall we? Dombrowski also did quite well in trades for Detroit: https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2016/12/boston_red_sox_dave_dombrowski_5.html Yes, the Tigers biffed a couple contracts at the end, although only Cabrera really stands out as hamstringing the franchise, and of course it was Dombrowski who acquired him relatively cheaply in the first place and oversaw his performance jumping to new level. (And I wonder what ownership pressure was like at that point -- didn't Detroit ownership intervene to sign Prince Fielder a few years earlier, leaving Dombrowski to eventually clean up the mess, which he did fairly well.) Worth remembering the Jordan Zimmermann disaster was on Dombrowski's successor (as was Mike Pelfrey ). Detroit was heading for a dry spell although it's possible that Dombrowski could have maneuvered to avoid the current depths. (Dombrowski's successor arguably screwed up by dumping Verlander's contract the way he did too.) Yes, the minor league pipeline dried up and Dombrowski bears some responsibility for that, but after 15 years, even Falvey and Levine will likely have cycles like that. Hopefully they have multiple pennants and Hall of Famers on their resumes when it happens!

You and Morneau might be right, but I'm not sure the data is too meaningful. Morneau's best season -- 2010 -- he didn't play in August or September. 2009, he had a specific back injury that he tried to play through in August and September, etc. I wonder how much those events can skew things? And what's a normal variation in career half-season splits? Cuddyer is +.025 in the 2nd half for his career, Jacque Jones +.049. Kubel is -.036. Mauer and Hunter are pretty much even (less than .010 difference). From Morneau's "similar batters" list at B-Ref, contemporary Prince Fielder is +.025, Adrian Gonzalez +.042, Adam LaRoche +.071, and Aubrey Huff +.069. Thome is -.028, Willingham -.046. Of course, every player is different too.

That would get Kirilloff on the 40-man, but would not make him postseason eligible. And unfortunately, we couldn't petition to replace Buxton on the postseason eligible list then until Buxton spent a full 60 days on the IL. We still have Gordon on the AAA IL who we could petition to replace, but we might have designs on using his spot to make Miller or Graterol eligible. Otherwise, we could instead put Buxton on the 10-day IL so we can petition to replace him, and then find another way to open a 40-man spot (i.e. DFA'ing LaMarre or Diplan). Although I'm guessing the idea of a Kirilloff call-up is unlikely, in any case!

Yes, they are allowed to bring someone up from the minors, even now. It would be functionally no different than when they added Graterol and Miller on Sep. 1st -- clear a 40-man spot, and if necessary, petition to replace an injured postseason eligible player (likely Gordon?) once postseason rosters are due.

Yankees hit 3 home runs yesterday, in their 144th game -- now up to 268...

I wouldn't think so -- Ober only had 78.2 innings this year, versus 75 innings last year.

No, they do not.

Carlos Torres:

We're at home vs Washington, with the DH this week. Unless you are looking head to a possible World Series matchup!

On our off day? Can't Washington get to Minnesota on their own?

It's not bad (121 wRC+), but it's not all that notable either. For example, De Aza had a .352/.432/.609 (165 wRC+) for Rochester in the same league.

The spot could have been playoff eligible if they used it on a guy who was in the org on August 31st, and petitioned to replace an injured postseason eligible player like Gordon. (Like they would have to do for Miller or Graterol to make them postseason eligible, as neither was added to the 40-man until Sep. 1st.)

SteelDodo, you are correct, and Seth is incorrect. Rooker doesn't need a 40-man spot this winter, as he is not Rule 5 eligible until December 2020. Raley and Wiel at AAA are both Rule 5 eligible this winter, though. (Wiel was already eligible last winter and went unclaimed -- I wouldn't expect him to be protected this winter.)