The general manager of the Boston Red Sox, no matter the season or the circumstances, has but one mandate: Win or else. And nobody fit the job description better than Dave Dombrowski, the 63-year-old executive who has built a reputation and a successful career on precisely that mentality. With Dombrowski, there was no blockbuster trade too massive, no free agent too expensive, no contract extension too exorbitant and no prospect too promising to give up — if the move contributed to winning in the present.
But this summer, less than a year after helping guide the Red Sox to the World Series title after a 108-win regular season, the Dombrowski method reached its apparent endgame – with the Red Sox too bloated, injured and inflexible to fix.