f golf more or less coming out of surgery, so it was the wise dec | Forum

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123 Oct 31 '19
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. Nike Air Max Classic Bw Nederland . -- The prospects keep flying out the revolving door. But Dave Dombrowski doesnt care.He didnt come to Boston to pile up names on Keith Laws Top 50 prospects list. He didnt come to Boston to help his good friends in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, finish first in the International League.He came to Boston to spray champagne and ride the duck boats, as confetti floats out of the New England sky. And if that means paying a price that the other baseball decision-makers of his era are too cautious to pay, then guess what?Dave Dombrowski doesnt care.And so, on the day he gave up four more good-to-great young players to add Chris Sale to a star-studded Red Sox rotation, he justified that cost in eight simple words: We feel its a chance to win now.Win now. If his wife doesnt give him a win now T-shirt for Christmas, shes missing the easiest gift-buying opening of all time. Win now. Its now, more than ever, what Dombrowski is all about.This is what Dave Dombrowski was brought there for, one rival AL executive said Tuesday, as he and his peers around baseball did their best to digest this whopper of a deal. He was brought in there to take a good team with a good system and push them over the edge. And thats what hes done. This is a really good team.Wow. No kidding. And how good are they?Put it this way, the same executive said with a laugh. I think a lot of teams in the American League just went into sell mode now that they see the Red Sox are in go-for-it mode.Hey, did someone just say go for it? Those would be the president of baseball operations magic words, you understand, because nobody goes for it like Dave Dombrowski. At least not in the times we live in.Just in one day in December, he traded for Sale, made a deal for an impact reliever (Tyler Thornburg) and signed a free-agent first baseman/DH (Mitch Moreland). So if you sometimes look at Dombrowski and feel like hes a team-builder out of another era, youre not the only one.Hes not afraid, said a fellow we know as Trader Jack McKeon, now a special assistant to the owner in Miami but once a GM who used to dominate the winter meetings of the 1980s the way Dombrowski does now. If you want to make deals, youve got to gamble. Youve got to have a plan. When I came into San Diego, I had a plan to go get Joe Carter. Everyone said, You cant get him. I said, The hell I cant get him. One thing I learned from Charlie Finley -- if you need a piece, sometimes youve got to overpay. And thats what this guy is willing to do.But thats not what most GMs are willing to do here in the 21st century. They study. They analyze. They crunch the numbers. They crunch them again. And then they weigh whether their equity equals the equity coming back, according to the latest spreadsheets.Not that theres anything wrong with that. But its still refreshing to see a guy like Dombrowski who is still willing to charge into the nearest Neiman Marcus, plop down his credit card and say, This is what I want. Just tell me where to sign.What Dave has clearly shown over the years, said the AL exec quoted earlier, is that when he has the match [on a deal] and the match clearly makes his team better, hes not afraid of the players he has to give up. Hes going to make that deal.Everyone in this day and age is so tied up with the value of the player. But Dave doesnt look at it like everyone else. If it makes his team better, he doesnt let stuff like whos got one more year of control affect him. He doesnt let the minutiae affect him, is what Im saying. Hes not going to let the little things stand in the way.Maybe youre thinking right now thats how you run your fantasy team. But recognize this. Its not how most GMs run their real-life baseball teams. So when someone comes along like this, he is opening up himself to a level of second-guessing -- by fans, by prospect junkies, by social-media geniuses everywhere -- that not everyone is willing to live with.But have we mentioned lately that Dave Dombrowski doesnt care?Its a huge deal to make, one NL executive said Tuesday. That town will be fired up. And their depth of starting pitching now is incredible. But to keep blowing through prospects the way they have, with the way trades are evaluated now by everyone in the world, there will be blowback. In the short term, theyre really, really good. But in three or four years, when they have to reach for young players to replenish, theyre not going to be there. So there is a cost.So if this fearless casting for the biggest fish in the pond doesnt bring another parade or three for Dombrowski and his team, he is going to hear about that cost. But what has made this guy one of the best executives of his time? He doesnt hear that noise. He isnt intimidated by that blowback.What was his mission? His mission was to win now. So whats the problem here?In baseball, four years down the road is an eternity in many ways, Dombrowski said Tuesday. So you need to take advantage of that opportunity. Nothings guaranteed in life. If you make these moves, it doesnt guarantee that youre going to win. But I think you just keep taking a chance. You keep going for it as much as you possibly can. And hopefully, it works for you some day.He rolled these same dice in Detroit and never did win a World Series. But it tells you all you need to know about him, that what happened to him at his last stop clearly hasnt scarred him at all. And its rare to find that strength of purpose in his line of work.I think theres some credence to that old saying, Flags fly forever, the AL exec said. So I give Dave a lot of credit. Hes not afraid of what somebody might say three, four, five years from now. To win a championship, this is just the gamble you take. If you end up on the top of the heap, you dont have to worry about what you gave up. And if you dont, you have to wear it. But Dave is never afraid to wear it.In his latest blockbuster, Dombrowski gave up two potential stars in Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech, plus two other intriguing young players in Luis Basabe and Victor Diaz. He has unloaded a slew of the top 20 prospects he inherited 15 months ago.But think of it this way. What does he have to show for it? Probably the best rotation in the American League. Thats what.Sale ranks first among all active American League pitchers in career WHIP (1.01). His new top-of-the-rotation co-star, David Price, ranks second (1.14). Theyre also 1-2 in Fielding Independent Pitching. And they rank first and third, respectively, in career ERA and strikeout-to-walk ratio.So thatll work. And we should probably add that their, ahem, No. 3 starter,?Rick Porcello, just won the Cy Young Award.But you should also think of what Dombrowski did this way: He controls Sale and Porcello for the next three years, Price for the next six years and most of his best young position players for the next three to five years. So where were all of his hot prospects going to play anyhow?They didnt have room for all those guys, one assistant GM said. And thats what gets lost here. Not all those prospects are going to actually play on your club. ... People forget that young major leaguers are more valuable than prospects. And the Red Sox have more of those good young major leaguers than just about anyone. And you dont have to wonder about them, because theyre already in the big leagues.So as happy as the Chicago White Sox might be with their haul -- a package every scout and executive I surveyed liked better than Washingtons offer for Sale, by the way -- just remember this:Dave Dombrowski doesnt care.To win, said Trader Jack McKeon, youve gotta wheel and deal.And on Tuesday, one of the great wheelers and dealers of his time struck again. Nike Air Max 95 Sale Nederland . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said. Nike Air Max Korting . Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. http://www.airmaxkopennederland.com/uitverkoop-air-max-720.html .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable.Rory McIlroy is targeting a Dubai Desert Classic hat-trick and a third consecutive win in Dubai as he returns to a familiar hunting ground this week. The world No 2 heads to Emirates GC as defending champion after his three-shot win last year, following on from a maiden professional victory at the same venue in 2009.McIlroy is also a two-time winner in Dubai at the DP World Tour Championship, most recently in November to end the year as Race to Dubai champion for the third time in four years, with the Northern Irishman previously referring to the city as being like a second home.  The four-time major winner suffered another near-miss at the Desert Swing opener in Abu Dhabi last month, where a tie for third was his fourth top-three finish at the event in the past five years, but feels his game is in better shape heading in to this week.  Rory McIlroy returns to Dubai this week as the defending champion Theres a couple little things that I took from Abu Dhabi and worked on last week, McIlroy told a pre-tournament press conference. Hopefully youll see my game just a little bit sharper.Ive just been trying to work a little bit on my putting, trying to get a little more consistent with that.But the ball-strikings right there. With those slight adjustments, another weeks practise, hopefully I can play a bit better than what I did in Abu Dhabi.The game feels good and Im looking forward to getting started. It (Dubai) seems to bring out my best golf. McIlroy king of Dubai? A llook back at McIlroys wins in Dubai I guess the last couple of times Ive played here Ive done pretty well, so Im sort of going for three in a row in Dubai with winning here last year. Nike Air Max Tailwind 8 Kopen. McIlroy begins his title defence alongside Louis Oosthuizen and former Dubai champion Henrik Stenson, who returns to action having pulled out of the Qatar Masters.Stenson underwent knee surgery in December and missed last weeks event to continue his recovery, but features in the event he last won in 2007. Stenson finished in a tie for third at the Desert Swing opener in Abu Dhabi I dont expect to be 100 per cent this week, either, but it should be good enough once again, Stenson said. Its going to be that way for the next couple of months I guess.Its just finding that balance, how much you can do, and just keep on icing it and keep on doing the exercises and eventually youll be out of trouble.It was hard to miss Doha last week. I was ashamed to miss it, but felt like I had to give it a rest last week. I couldnt go straight back into playing 11 days of golf more or less coming out of surgery, so it was the wise decision. Hopefully Im good to go this week and its great to be back.Watch the Dubai Desert Classic throughout the week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf. Live coverage gets underway on Thursday from 4am.  Or watch without a contract, from £6.99 with NOW TV Also See: McIlroys record in Dubai Desert Classic Power Rankings Recap: Rorys R2D victory Golf live on Sky Sports 4 ' ' ' 
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