Once Larry Lucchino and the Boston Red Sox parted ways, the recently fired Dave Dombrowski looked like as good a fit as any for their vacant president position.
Nevertheless, the speed with which the two sides agreed to terms surprised everybody. The Red Sox announced the hiring of Dombrowski (and the subsequent phasing out of GM Ben Cherington) on Tuesday night, and nobody beat them to the punch.
Dombrowski had a number of potential suitors. Besides Boston, Milwaukee and Anaheim had immediate openings in their front offices, Toronto had a job opening up, and the Mariners -- hell, Ken Rosenthal said "many within the game think Dombrowski will land in Seattle.