I don't put much stock in the 2015 team looking good on paper. The 2014 team went 71-91. We replaced Lester and Lackey with Porcello and Kelly. We added Miley and Masterson. We added guys like Ross and Ogando to the bullpen. The 2015 pitching staff was a major gamble. Everything needed to go right.
The offensive underperformance of Hanley and Panda couldn't be predicted. But putting Hanley in left might have to be described as an experiment at best.
There were just way too many X factors IMO. When you have that many X factors projections are not going to be reliable.
It was reported at the time that the Red Sox were angry, not with Damon, but with Boras, because he said he would give them a chance to match the Yankees offer, but didn't do so.
It may not be Dombrowski's fault, but it will be his funeral.
When the games begin DD will be treated no differently from Ben. The team has to perform, or he wears it.
I can agree with that. But the GM works for the owners. Red Sox ownership has maintained the payroll at a high level year in and year out for many years now - presumably some of that is to please the fans. No hardcore rebuilding years like Theo had to work with, with the Cubs.
A big part of Ben's mandate, obviously, was to field contending teams.
Maybe it's just me, but I find it depressing when a bunch of people are calling the team's new head of baseball operations names before his first full season has even started. I could understand it if it was June and the team was sucking, but this is December.
The Sox were over the cap in 2015. So 2016 is Year Two.
2016 is also the last year of the current CBA.
Personally I think John Henry doesn't care so much about the tax cap these days.
The problem with this position is that, whether it was Cherington's idea or not, the Sox did spend a ton of money on Hanley, Panda, Porcello and Castillo, and none of them performed.
And as MVP says, the Sox also charge the highest ticket prices.
Kimmi, I was a Ben supporter up until 2015. And I do agree with you that he did a lot of good things.
The short version of why I think Ben had to be replaced comes down to this:
When you're the GM of the Boston Red Sox and blessed with one of the highest payrolls in the game, you can't finish last two years in a row. No matter what the underlying reasons and explanations are, that is a crushing failure.
Duquette was not a bad GM, he procured some great players, we had some good years under him. But ultimately he failed us. He couldn't finish the job. Also from what I understand in his latter days he had somewhat of a mental breakdown and became something of a paranoid creep.
He also reportedly shunned the team's legacy and didn't want players from the past anywhere near the park.