Ben had spending restrictions two of his 4 years. He had to deal Marco Scutaro just to fit the contract of career third tier Cody Ross. He also dealt with a moratorium on long contracts for free agent pitchers over 30, something Dombrowski clearly didn’t when SS signing Price.
What always seems to be ignored is where these GMs started and the rules they had to play by. Cherington took over a talented team that simply had no desire to play baseball. Bloom took over a team with a payroll approaching a quarter of a billion dollars that was closer to .500 than the postseason. Both dealt with payroll resets.
But with Dombrowski, the whole “but he won 3 pennants and 108 games and a ring” does neglect that he took over a team with a solid core, an elite farm and he seemingly had no payroll limitations, unless you count the 2018 off-season when he was limited to spending some $320 mill on Sale, Bogaerts and Eovaldi.
What also gets list is Dombrowski’s last team that cost $240+ mill was actually barely better than Cherington’s last team…