Category: Sport Author : Joshua Lobdell Posted: July 26, 2009
Tags : Dave Dombrowski, Detroit Tigers, Mike Illitch
Dave Dombrowski is considered by many to be a baseball genius. He built the Montreal Expos into a potential winner, he won a World Series with the Florida Marlins, and he has taken the Detroit Tigers to a World Series. However now that he is finishing up his 8th year as head of the Detroit Tigers it doesn’t seem that he is the man to turn this club into a bonified contended year in and year out.
Let us start with the positive, when Tigers’ owner Mike Illitch hired Dombrowski the Tigers were arguably the worst team in baseball. Their farm system was devoid of any promising prospects and the Tigers themselves were little more that a minor league club.
Dave was able to take that team, make some excellent trades along the way (getting Placido Polanco from the Philes for Uggie Urbina who is rotting in a South American prison comes to mind) but it now seems that Dombrowski is not capable of turning this team into a constant playoff threat. More that that though Dave has made a few pretty big mistakes along the way that are handcuffing his ability to add pieces in 2009 to get this team back to a World Series.
To put it a little more bluntly Dave has spent far too much money on guys undeserving. In baseball with an owner like Illtich, it is not how much money one spends, but how he spends it. The simple fact here is Dave has now mad enough mistakes that they should cost him his job. Since Illitch is ready to cut back on payroll, due to the down economy, the money Dave wasted on guys who are not producing had limited the pieces he can add to his first place team.
A quick look at a few of the bad contracts Dave has signed and their contributions to the 2009 Tigers:
- Magglio Ordonez will make 19.2 million in 2009, his stats are .257 batting average, 5 home runs and 32 RBI’s
- Dontrelle Willis will make 10 million dollars in 2009, he has gone 1-4 with a 7.49 era and is currently on the Disabled list to to a anxiety disorder
- Nate Robertson will make 7 million dollars in 2009, he has gone 1-0 with a 7.71 era
These are all contracts that Dave signed and contracts that have blown up right in his face. That is 42.2 million dollars in guys signed to deals they do not deserve. We are not even including the guys on big deals who are hurt or who have gotten old.
The simple fact here is this 42.2 million dollars in wasted payroll is enough to sign any big time left handed batter that this offense so desperately needs.
Over the past three years this team has collapsed in the second half of the season. Even in the World Series year of 2006, the Tigers failed to win their division, and got hot during the playoffs. While that may be the fault of the Manager, Jim Leyland (another Dombrowski hire), the simple act here is the Tigers have had one of the highest MLB payrolls lately with little tangible results to accompany it. This seems to indicate that Dave’s time in Detroit has run its course.
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Jul 26, 2009
don't forget the 13 million they are on the hook for Gary Sheffield this year. ordonez, however was signed at the insistence of owner Mike Illitch. the nonsense last year involved with trading for Edgar Renteria and removing Brandon Inge from 3rd base were big time killers. and you might also want to mention the 13 million being spent on Carlos Guillen this year.
Jul 26, 2009
You failed to look at the big picture and market value of each player.
The Tigers have been in the playoff hunt each of the last 4 seasons. Last season, ended prematurely, but on August 1st they were only 6 games out of 1st place.
Nate Robertson deserved the contract he got after the 2007 season. Contracts are based on past performance, not future performance. Over a 4 year span, from 2004 to 2007, Nate accumulated 779.2 innings with a 4.48 ERA. His innings were the 13th most from a MLB pitcher in that time period. Nate got low balled if you compare his contract to pitchers with similar stats from 2004-2007, such as Jeremy Bonderman and Carlos Silva.
It's just silly to argue about Magglio Ordonez contract. Minus 2009, he's had a brilliant career. From 1999 – 2008, he was one of the best hitters in baseball.
Willis was signed in a hurry because he would of been a free agent after the 2008 season. The Tigers and fans alike wanted D Train locked up for a few years because we gave up a Andrew Miller to get him. In hindsight it was a bad contract, but at the time he was a well established pitcher who was only 25 years old.
Sheffield is probably a HOF candidate and when we traded for him he was one of the most feared hitters in the game. We didn't give up much to get him in that trade either.
The Renteria trade didn't work out at all, but DD was quick to replace him after one season, which was the smartest thing he could of done. Fixing his own mistakes is what DD has done very well. Trading for Galarraga and Jackson to fill the holes in our rotation was nothing short of genius. D'FAing Sheffield was another good move he made. We never really needed him after Cabrera trade from the year before.
Overall, DD only traded away one good player (Jurrjens), but has added about a dozen good players in the past 8 years. Like I said earlier, contracts are based on past performance. A player can never guarantee what kind of stats they will give you, whether their name is Vernon Wells, Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt, BJ Ryan, Kerry Wood, or Nate Robertson.
Jul 26, 2009
Some other central division GM's have made even bigger mistakes.
Such as Minnesota's trade of Garza and Bartlett for Delmon Young. This might turn out to be one of the worst trades ever. The Twins would probably be a 1st place team in the Central if they didn't make this trade. Bartlett was an All Star this year and is hitting .337 right now. Garza has been a rock solid starting pitcher and he's only 25 years old.
Tiger fans really need to thank Minnesota for that trade because after TB got Garza, Edwin Jackson became expendable. The Tigers got Jackson for almost nothing.
The White Sox traded away Javier Vazquez, who is pitching excellent for the Braves, for a bunch of minor leaguers. If they didn't make that terrible trade, they'd give the Tigers more of a challenge this year.