BOSTON - The Boston Red Sox formally introduced Dave Dombrowski as their new president of Baseball Operations on Wednesday.
Dombrowski was joined at the podium by principal owner John Henry, chairman Tom Werner, and successor to president Larry Lucchino after the 2015 season, Sam Kennedy.
The four took the stage to welcome Dombrowski to the Red Sox, with his wife and two children sitting off to the side.
"This is a great day for the future of the Red Sox," Henry began. "It is a tribute to our city and great fans that Dave has elected to join us as president of Baseball Operations."
Henry and Dombrowski have a long history. Dombrowski was general manager of the Marlins during the time Henry bought the team. Even back then, Henry had faith in Dombrowski based on his track record - Dombrowski improved the Expos as GM and then won a World Series with the Marlins before Henry's arrival.
Dombrowski worked under Henry for a few years before Henry sold the team and bought the Red Sox, and Dombrowski became president and GM of the Detroit Tigers.
Since then, the Red Sox have gone on to win three World Series, while Dombrowski took over one of the worst teams in the history of baseball and turned them into a playoff contender.
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The Tigers went to two World Series and two American League Championship Series under Dombrowski, though they failed to win a World Series. They also finished in first place in the American League Central over the last four seasons.
But 2015 was a struggle, and the Tigers decided to go another direction in early August. Dombrowski was out.
But one door closed and another one opened.
"On August 4 with the Tigers shake-up with Dave leaving, I spoke to Tom and Ben [Cherington] about having a conversation with Dave," Henry said. "Tom and I wanted to see if there was a fit for Dave within the Red Sox organization. Ben did not object."
On August 13, Henry, Werner, and Mike Gordon met with Dombrowski at the owners meetings in Chicago, where according to Henry, they "had a long discussion about the future, about baseball philosophy and whether or not there was a fit."
Clearly, it went well. The group, according to Henry, left the meeting feeling that Dombrowski could "strengthen" the organization as president of Baseball Operations.
"We realized that our baseball views were in fact going to be in sync, that Dave intends to balance scouting, data analytics, player make-up, and all the tools in his toolbox," Henry said. "We hoped that Ben Cherington would remain as general manager, but we knew there was a substantial risk he would not. This was our decision to make. Tom and I have an obligation to do everything we possibly can to win for this City of Boston and Red Sox fans everywhere. As owners, we are ultimately responsible for the poor results we've had over the last two years and results going forward."
Dombrowski certainly has his hands full with this roster. It's just as obvious to him as it is to everybody else that the Sox needed major changes on the mound in order to compete. And yes, it looks like there may be a few out-of-place position players.
But there was simply no passing up this opportunity.
"It's an extreme honor to join the Red Sox organization, one of the most prestigious organizations in baseball and professional sports," Dombrowski said in his opening remarks. "You look what the organization brings, first and foremost a thanks to John and Tom for bringing me here and the opportunity to work here and work with them in trying to build a world championship club. You look at the fan support that is here. Full house all the time. You're in a spot where you have a great front office with what they've done from a business perspective, and probably when you look at the most forward-thinking business operation in professional sports, right here, I'm looking forward to working with Sam and I know he's worked under the tutelage of Larry [Lucchino] for years and has been trained for this."
The Red Sox have an underachieving roster. That's a lot different than that of a team without talent. Dombrowski knows that he has plenty of resources to improve upon the team's last two disappointing seasons.
"You look at the ballclub," Dombrowski said, "it's a situation where there's a lot of great young talent breaking in at the major league level at this time. The minor league system has a lot of talent also. So when you start looking at opportunities that come around, there aren't very many opportunities like this that exist. So I could have waited, but to me there made no sense in waiting. It's a great opportunity to start when we met in Chicago with John and Tom and Mike Gordon was there too. We were in a spot they basically asked me if we offered you the job when would be the most opportune time to start. I basically said the sooner the better because it gives you a pulse of what's taken place the rest of the year and you can move forward from there."