The Winning Formula: How Dave Dombrowski Constructs Championship Rosters

By: Cian Hamell-Kelleher

@cian_kelleher3

Every team enters the Major League season with one goal in mind: To win a World Series. For some, this is unattainable and find themselves fighting for the number one draft pick, or "tanking". However, some executives have found ways to stay competitive year in and year out, none better than Dave Dombrowski. The current President of Baseball Operations for the Philadelphia Phillies has added another World Series appearance to his already impressive resumé.

(Damn kids always on them phones)

Dombrowski started off hot in his first few years as General Manager of the Montreal Expos (hey that's a cool team name, I bet they stick around for a while!) where in 1989 he traded three prospects to the Seattle Mariners for pitcher Mark Langston who would go on to post a 3.32 FIP (click on the highlighted stat to learn more about FIP) in 24 starts with the Expos as the team pushed for a division title, eventually falling short. Langston would later leave via free agency in the upcoming offseason. As for the prospects unloaded to Seattle, well they were a couple of guys named Brian Holman and Gene Harris that combined for a career 8.2 WAR. Oh yeah, and some lanky second round pick out of the University of Southern California named Randall, no shot he'll ever do anything, am I right? I'm sorry... what was that? You said five (5) Cy Young awards? How many strikeouts? Hall of what now? Oh... well I guess not every trade can be a winner.

After his tenure in Montreal, everywhere Dombrowski went, he constructed championship caliber rosters, so far going to five World Series and winning two (the fifth being this year's World Series with the Phillies) becoming the first executive in Major League Baseball history to reach the World Series with four different organizations. How has he done it?

It's quite simple actually, as a front office member, Dombrowski is like a greenhouse gas. He joins a franchise where he has the ability to make trades and signings. From there, he spends as much money and trades as many prospects as necessary to put the franchise in a position to win now regardless of future ramifications, often leaving franchises in disarray for the years to come. Similar to how at a time there wasn't a full understanding of the effects of greenhouse gasses on the environment, and a large percentage of products used on a daily basis contained them. Once we learned of their effects and the need to reduce them, it was too late, the damage had been done, we could only wait for the environment to heal.

There is no better representation of Dombrowski's philosophy as an executive than the Randy Johnson trade in Montreal. He is the embodiment of "Win-Now" and is not afraid to trade away an organization's top prospects to have a shot at winning, sometimes to a fault. Dombrowski knows that having a competitive ball club puts fans in seats, which in turn gives him more money to spend. And spend he does.

If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for milk to go with it; if you give Dave Dombrowski money to play with, he's going to build you a lineup that puts the fear of God in the eyes of any pitcher that opposes them. His teams are often known for their stellar one-through-nines and dominant rotations.

He joined the Florida Marlins' organization as the franchise's first General Manager in 1992. The Marlins were baseballs newest expansion team looking to get going in the Major Leagues for the 1993 season. It would not take Dombrowski long to turn the franchise into a winner.

In his first year, he found a young talent from Barranquilla, Colombia named Édgar Rentería whom he signed to a contract (pfffttt, I doubt this guy will ever hit a walk off in game seven of the World Series). In that same year, Dombrowski would select Jeff Conine from the Kansas City Royals in the MLB Expansion Draft, and halfway through the franchise's first full season, he traded future Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman to the San Diego Padres for young outfield slugger Gary Sheffield, along with acquiring flame-thrower Robb Nen from the Texas Rangers. Four moves that would solidify a base for the Florida Marlins for years to come.

Through their first three seasons, the Marlins would climb up the standings finishing with a 64-98 record in 1993 (6th in NL East), 51-64 record in the strike-shortened 1994 season (5th in NL East), and 67-76 record in 1995 (4th in NL East). Prior to the 1996 campaign, Dombrowski went out and signed veteran starting pitchers Al Leiter and Kevin Brown, along with center fielder Devon White. He also made the international signing of Liván Hernandez, who could make an immediate impact on the team. They would finish 80-82, good enough for 3rd in the NL East that season.

Entering the 1997 season Dombrowski understood that this was the year to win for the Marlins. In the winter he signed veteran outfielder Moises Alou (who would go on to finish top 10 in MVP voting that season). He would also make mid-season trades for young outfielder Cliff Floyd and reliable second baseman Craig Counsell. With the pieces added, Dombrowski was able to build a championship roster that shocked the baseball world winning the World Series in seven games over the Cleveland Indi... uh... *REDACTED*s behind the stellar play of Rentería and Hernandez, who claimed the World Series MVP.

This would be the beginning of the end for Dombrowski in Florida however, as after the championship season, ownership forced him to initiate a "fire sale" of the team, and a few years later Dombrowski found himself as the President and General Manager of the Detroit Tigers in 2001.

He was at the helm of a feeble Tigers team that lost 119 games in 2003, but his confidence never wavered. Dombrowski did as he always had and convinced a high-level free agent in Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez to sign with the Tigers in 2004 and within two seasons, he had the Motor City ball club in the World Series squaring off against the St. Louis Cardinals. Despite falling four games to one, the Tigers would stay competitive for the decade to come, as Dombrowski gutted the farm system to acquire future Hall of Famers Miguel Cabrera and Max Scherzer among other notable players and signed sluggers Victor Martinez and most notably Prince Fielder to a lucrative 9-year $214,000,000 contract. The team once again reached the World Series in 2012 but fell short, this time at the hands of the San Francisco Giants.

The Tigers would make the playoffs the next two seasons, but those years would be the last, as the franchise has yet to return to October since 2014. Dombrowski was released from his contract by Detroit ownership in August of 2015, halfway through what would be the Detroit's worst season since 2008. So where did he go wrong?

Well, honestly, nowhere. Dombrowski joined an organization and built a winner for the second time in his career. Postseason execution let him and the Detroit faithful down year after year.

The 2006 World Series hopeful squad won seven of eight games en route to the Fall Classic but imploded once they arrived. American League Rookie of the Year Justin Verlander led the team in innings pitched in the World Series, but also earned runs, surrendering seven in just 11 innings. Reliable regular season offensive options Magglio Ordonez, Ivan Rodriguez, Craig Monroe, and Curtis Granderson all must have left their bats at home, posting subpar performances around the board, and just like that the red-hot Detroit Tigers were shut down by a miracle Cardinals team.

2012 was much of the same. It was again Justin Verlander, this time Cy Young and MVP award winning Justin Verlander, that allowed five earned runs in four innings pitched in just one start. A disappointing performance from Prince Fielder and a preseason ACL injury to Victor Martinez stunted the the attack giving way to an easy sweep for the Giants who outscored the Tigers 14-6 in the four-game series.

I'm sure now that Dombrowski has been relieved of his duties he'll take some time off and enjoy unemployment. That's what you may think, and if so, think again. His time in the world of unemployment lasted two (2) whole weeks. Yup, 14 cycles of 24 hours. Before he was able to pack his bags in Detroit, Dombrowski had already been hired as the Boston Red Sox' next President of Baseball Operations.

In 2015 the Red Sox were headed for their third last place finish in four seasons in the AL East, with a World Series title sprinkled in 2013 (ahh the Band of Bearded Brothers). They did however have a few bright spots with a strong young core of future all-stars Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts leading the offense alongside seasoned veteran and Hall of Famer David Ortiz, and rookie left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez toeing the rubber alongside future Cy Young award winner Rick Porcello (Geez, I guess they're giving awards to anyone these days, huh? Apologies to Justin Verlander, Corey Kluber and more). With all the pieces there, Dombrowski wasted no time heading into the 2016 season, signing David Price and trading a package of prospects for all-star closer Craig Kimbrel to steady the pitching. They called up former first round pick Andrew Benintendi as well to get acclimated to a dominant Red Sox lineup that led all of Major League Baseball in runs per game, OPS+, and extra base hits, to name a few, leading to a first-place finish in the AL East with a 93-69 record. A loss in the divisional round would leave Boston heading back to the drawing board and preparing for another offseason under Dombrowski.

Dombrowski splurged once more in the 2017 offseason reaffirming his all-in attitude and belief in strong starting rotations by trading away a package of highly touted prospects that included Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for elite starting pitcher Chris Sale. He then signed gold glove first baseman Mitch Moreland to round off the lineup. Young third baseman Rafael Devers emerged as a promising bat in the second half of the season. The team saw similar success in 2017, once again winning 93 games and finishing atop the AL East. But an eventually career ending injury to franchise second baseman Dustin Pedroia would ensure the seasons were carbon copies as the Red Sox dropped their opening series to the future World Series champion Houston Astros.

Entering the 2018 season, Dombrowski had to find a way to get Boston over the hump, and would do so in classic Dombrowski fashion, signing slugger J.D. Martinez to a contract that would lock him up through 2022. The team came out of the gates blazing and never looked back. As the trade deadline approached Dombrowski felt the team lacked a few pieces that would put them in a sure position to win, trading away prospects to get Ian Kinsler and postseason heroes Nathan Eovaldi and Steve Pearce (who would win the 2018 WS MVP). Dombrowski had pulled all the right strings and brought a championship to Boston after only three and a half years on the job.

The 2019 campaign was a letdown for the Sox, finishing in third place in the division and once again, before the season could come to a close, Dave Dombrowski was fired.

This time around, Dombrowski spent more time in the unemployment portal, lasting over a year before being hired by the Philadelphia Phillies to be their President of Baseball Operations in December of 2020 after the COVID shortened season.

Dombrowski found himself steering the ship for another team with deep pockets and a structured nucleus, his bread and butter. The Phillies had recently inked the polarizing former MVP Bryce Harper to a 13-year deal and five-tool catcher J.T. Realmuto in 2019, adding to a oft-.500 team. These additions added a single win to the Fightin's record climbing from 80-82 in 2018 to 81-81 in 2019. Other than esteemed arm Aaron Nola, the team lacked any sort of starting pitching, giving reason to sign former Met Zack Wheeler heading into 2020, and just like that, the table was set for Dombrowski to come in.

A disappointing sub .500 campaign for the Phil's in 2020 made way for the hire of Dombrowski, who would put on a clinic in Philadelphia. In his first season, he didn't make many moves. Dombrowski resigned Realmuto and shortstop Didi Gregorius, along with an offseason trade for fiery left-handed reliever Jose Alvarado from the Tampa Bay Rays. A mid-season acquisition of all-star pitcher Kyle Gibson would not give the rotation the life it needed, and an MVP performance from Harper proved tantalizing as the Phillies failed to make the postseason for the 10th consecutive season in 2021.

Dombrowski had a plan in mind going into the offseason, he was going to stock up on bullpen arms and bring in three-true-outcome hitters (hitters that strikeout, walk, or hit a homerun in majority of their at-bats). His first move was signing reliever Andrew Bellatti, who from 2015-2021 didn't throw a single pitch in the Majors, followed by former Los Angeles Dodgers reliver Corey Knebel. The addition of Brad Hand a few months later and the return of fire-baller Seranthony Dominguez from Tommy John surgery readied the stable of arms.

As for bats, Dombrowski went out and spent $179,000,000 on Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos to solidify the offense with power. Schwarber was the definition of a three-true-outcome hitter this season with the following statistics:

• 1st in Strikeouts (200)

• 2nd in Home Runs (46)

• 6th in Base on Balls (86)

• For a great visualization of this go to Schwarber's Baseball Savant page and look at the row containing his Barrel%, K%, and BB%

Castellanos on the other hand, saw little success over the course of the season, struggling to replicate the offensive production he found in Cincinnati's more hitter friendly, Great American Ball Park.

Success in the starting pitching department from Nola, Wheeler, and young left-hander Ranger Suarez, accompanied by the best bullpen showing under Dombrowski's watch in Philly complimented a consistent offensive attack, guiding the Phillies to a Wild Card spot and breaking their streak of a decade without reaching October. If not for the newly introduced postseason format, the Phillies would have been Fightin' to find plane tickets home, but instead they were able to take out the Cardinals in the Wild Card round, division rival Braves in the NLDS, and San Diego Padres in the NLCS on their way to the World Series where they will square off with the Houston Astros. Dombrowski has done it again.

Now that we're all caught up on major moves and events throughout Dombrowski's career, let's look for trends that have allowed appeared in his success:

1. Spend, Spend, Spend: Dombrowski has found the most success when ownership and upper management give him free reign to build a ball club. When he is allowed to go out and get the free agents that he desires, Dombrowski is able to form rosters that compete for championships year after year. Major contracts from Dombrowski include Moises Alou, Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, Justin Verlander, David Price, Chris Sale, J.D. Martinez, Kyle Schwarber, and Nick Castellanos that in total costed teams nearly $1.14 billion.

2. A Young Core: Dombrowski built a young core in Florida before the eventual fire sale so that can't be put against him. In Detroit, he drafted Curtis Granderson and Justin Verlander who would become key pieces in the 2006 World Series title run. In Boston, Dombrowski was given future league MVP Mookie Betts and future multi-time all-star shortstop Xander Bogaerts to build an offense around. His arrival to Philadelphia was made easier with former league MVP Bryce Harper and all-stars J.T. Realmuto and Aaron Nola all entering their age 30 season or younger.

With the World Series getting underway tonight, there is no better time to talk about the living legend that is Dave Dombrowski and his impact on front office philosophies around Major League Baseball. If the Phillies are to capture the title, giving Dombrowski his third World Series victory as an executive, there will be no other way to address him than as the greatest to ever do it.