Dombrowski series: Final thoughts, and what others think
The series wraps up today, but before I get to the thoughts of some other Tigers bloggers out there, I want to clear something up.
I've heard from lot of people who have looked at the series by Tony Paul of the Detroit News and thought he copied the idea and research from this blog. He assures me that is not true. We both had a series written and planned for the week before the Winter Meetings because that is when it makes the most sense to profile the general manager's moves to try to get in his head. Mine started a few days earlier. So, nothing to see here. No controversy to be found.
As for Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski, the only question that remains is whether I still believe he is the man for the job. In other words, he was a builder; is he a maintainer? I don't know if anyone knows the answer to that quite yet, because he has seldom been asked to oversee a franchise changing generations of players without having a fire sale and rebuilding process in the middle.
But given the Tigers should have a rather sizeable turnover in their roster in 2010 and 2011, I view Dombrowski as the right general manager for that job. If he really bungles things, we'll have our answer. But I see little reason to believe he will.
Lee Panas, Detroit Tigers Tales
Dave Dombrowski has been a relatively good general manager for the Tigers but he is not without flaws. On the positive side, he transformed one of the worst teams in baseball history into a pennant winner within three years. They have also been a competitive team for three of the last four years and it’s hard to blame the 2008 train wreck on Dombrowski. Dombrowski is a bold and decisive GM and a good evaluator of talent. He has emerged as a clear winner in most of his biggest trades. He has also been successful in drafting and signing difficult to sign players such as Cameron Maybin and Rick Porcello. Pitching has always been his main developmental focus and the results have been favorable.
On the down side, Dombrowski has been too quick to award questionable extensions to players such as Dontrelle Willis and Carlos Guillen. He also has a poor track record of developing position players with Curtis Granderson being the only draftee of his tenure who has become a solid regular. The combination of these two factors has led to an aging team with a bloated payroll.
Dombrowski faces a challenging task in retooling the team the next couple of years but it should not be as difficult as the mess he inherited. With several burdensome contracts coming off the payroll after next season and a generous owner, he has an opportunity right the ship fairly quickly. If he succeeds again, I’ll put him back in the very good GM category.
Matt Wallace, Take 75 North
When Dombrowski came to Detroit, he inherited a team whose cupboard was bare and got down to fixing it pretty quickly. Sure, the talent he gave up to do so subjected us to the 2003 season. His emphasis on developing pitching, however, allowed the Tigers to turn things around quickly. It's not only provided the Tigers with talent directly; it's also allowed them to ship out promising prospects in return for position players they needed to fill holes in the major league roster. The talent brought in hasn't always worked out as hoped, but it's commendable how rarely the players shipped out have come back to haunt Double D. The emphasis on pitching continues to be evident in the system today. The Tiger prospects with the highest probability of being stars are Jacob Turner and Casey Crosby and the Tigers' top prospects after those two are pitcher-heavy as well. It would be interesting to know if his emphasis on pitching is what has led to the organization struggling to supply the big league club with major league talent. The Tigers drafted Curtis Granderson in the first draft Dombrowski oversaw and no other position player he's signed or drafted has become a regular starter for the team. Here's hoping that streak will be broken soon with guys like Alex Avila and Scott Sizemore. Even if those two don't pan out, a steadier stream of Latino players coming from the Tigers' Dominican and Venezuelan squads will likely help in that regard. Overall, I think Dombrowski has developed a farm system that has fairly consistently been in the bottom half of the league as far as talent. At the same time, I think it's also been a farm system that has been consistently underrated. It's true they have usually only had one or two impact talents at a time but those impact talents have been paid off in a big way for the club. He's also turned a lot of the midgrade prospects the team has developed into either useful role players or useful trade chips. That's important to remember when you evaluate Dombrowski and the farm system he's developed. The purpose of a farm isn't to light up they eyes of prospect watchers. It's to provide talent to your major league club in any way possible. The Tigers have been a contender three of the last four years and the farm system - directly or indirectly - has been a big part of that.John Parent, Tigers Tracks
When assessing the performance of Dombrowski, I find it difficult to know if my judgment is clouded. Any Tiger fan over the age 25 is well aware of the terribly long, painful run of bad teams in Detroit. I’m inclined to praise Dombrowski for bringing the Tigers back to relevance, let alone prominence. But am I giving him too much credit based on the failures of regimes before his?
Dombrowski has pulled off many shrewd moves. The acquisitions of Carlos Guillen, Placido Polanco, Jeremy Bonderman, and Nate Robertson via trade have been nothing short of great successes for Detroit, no matter the declining performance of guys like Guillen and Robertson in recent years.
Through free agency, he added big names like Pudge Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez, and Kenny Rogers. While he had to overpay to get those players to sign, the rewards of each of those contracts have far outweighed the monetary risks. I don’t think you will find an objective opinion that would say those contracts were bad ones, considering all the Tigers have gotten in return on their investment. Even Magglio’s 2009 season, while disappointing, was worth the price for the success of 2006 and 2007. Those signings signaled to the baseball world that the Tigers mattered again, and that hadn’t been the case in a very long time.
As will be the case with any general manager, it’s the smaller deals that often pay the biggest dividends. Bringing back Ramon Santiago as a free agent has cost the team very little money and Santiago has provided depth on the infield that has proven invaluable. Last year’s deal for Adam Everett is another prime example as Dombrowski was able to land a top-tier defensive shortstop for just $1 million. The move to bring Todd Jones back to Detroit as the closer solidified the back end of the bullpen and again was a relatively inexpensive move.
Obviously, all the deals haven’t been winners; no GM has ever been perfect. Any critic can (and should) point to the Jurrjens/Renteria deal. They will lament the lengthy and pricey extensions given to Dontrelle Willis, Robertson, and Gary Sheffield. I can agree with all of those points.
Though Jurrjens was not projected to have the kind of success he has had in Atlanta, Renteria was not the right choice to play shortstop. Dombrowski was trying to make a run at the title; there is no shame in that. He knew the team had an opportunity to push for a championship, and he mortgaged a bit of the future to try to get there. Those trades don’t always work, but it’s a risk worth taking.
The facts are that the 2010 Tigers are facing a financial crunch. The big extensions given to declining players have painted the team into a corner. Obviously when most of these deals were signed, the national and local economy was much brighter and Mr. Illitch’s money was flowing a bit more freely. The good news is that following the upcoming season, the vast majority of these deals will expire and the team should once again have the financial flexibility to assemble a competitive club.
Overall, I am pleased with the job that Dombrowski has done since taking the reigns eight years ago. I remember well the helpless, hopeless feelings of watching the team rattle off losing season after losing season. The successes of 2006, 2007, and even 2009 have made the Dombrowski era in Detroit a good one. Too many other clubs in similar markets have failed to produce a consistently competitive club, through his overall good moves Dombrowski has put the Tigers back on the baseball map. Now I just hope he can keep them there.
Dave Dombrowski has been a relatively good general manager for the Tigers but he is not without flaws. On the positive side, he transformed one of the worst teams in baseball history into a pennant winner within three years. They have also been a competitive team for three of the last four years and it’s hard to blame the 2008 train wreck on Dombrowski.
Dombrowski is a bold and decisive GM and a good evaluator of talent. He has emerged as a clear winner in most of his biggest trades. He has also been successful in drafting and signing difficult to sign players such as Cameron Maybin and Rick Porcello. Pitching has always been his main developmental focus and the results have been favorable.
On the down side, Dombrowski has been too quick to award questionable extensions to players such as Dontrelle Willis and Carlos Guillen. He also has a poor track record of developing position players with Curtis Granderson being the only draftee of his tenure who has become a solid regular. The combination of these two factors has led to an aging team with a bloated payroll.
Dombrowski faces a challenging task in retooling the team the next couple of years but it should not be as difficult as the mess he inherited. With several burdensome contracts coming off the payroll after next season and a generous owner, he has an opportunity right the ship fairly quickly. If he succeeds again, I’ll put him back in the very good GM category.
