BOSTON — "I do not have any announcements," Dave Dombrowski said to begin his latest meeting with the media Thursday, and you could almost feel the eye rolls from all of New England. Of course he didn't.
Baseball's winter of discontent and disenchantment lingers on. The new manager has met with every current Red Sox, NESN has announced its spring training broadcast schedule and Andrew Benintendi has cut his hair. And here the Red Sox stand, the same team they [...]
BOSTON — "I do not have any announcements," Dave Dombrowski said to begin his latest meeting with the media Thursday, and you could almost feel the eye rolls from all of New England. Of course he didn't.
Baseball's winter of discontent and disenchantment lingers on. The new manager has met with every current Red Sox, NESN has announced its spring training broadcast schedule and Andrew Benintendi has cut his hair. And here the Red Sox stand, the same team they were the day the Houston Astros ended their season.
Obviously, Boston is not alone. The club's inactivity would merit more severe criticism were it occurring in a vacuum but, alas, most of the baseball world has embraced passivity this offseason. J.D. Martinez is still available. And so are Eric Hosmer and Yu Darvish and Jake Arrieta and Alex Cobb and Logan Morrison, on down.
One by one, the possible explanations for this stagnation have proved to be untrue. The free-agent frenzy didn't start when Giancarlo Stanton was finally traded. It didn't start when Shohei Ohtani signed. It didn't start at the winter meetings, over the holidays or in the new year. Where some label it discipline, others see collusion. Some wonder if the entire pay structure of the sport requires mending.
But even if most of baseball has stood pat, Boston's biggest competitors haven't. The Yankees were the team that landed Stanton. The Astros struck a deal for Gerrit Cole this past week to strengthen their rotation. On Jan. 18, the Red Sox are further from winning a World Series than they were the day they were eliminated by Houston.
"I like our ballclub," Dombrowski said, classifying it as "pretty good."
"When you get into the postseason, a lot of things can happen if you have a good club. I've been with clubs that are by far favored and they get into the postseason and they don't make it. A lot of things happen."
Dombrowski should not have to be reminded that "pretty good" isn't good enough in these parts because apparently it wasn't good enough for John Farrell as his manager. The postseason may be unpredictable, but preparing to enter it as an underdog isn't what one would call sound strategy. (The team with home-field advantage won all but two postseason series a year ago.)
Dombrowski made it clear that, comfortable as he may be with the current composition of his club, he isn't necessarily done this winter.
"The wintertime isn't finished yet," he said. "People know that we're interested in signing them with offers. ... We'll keep working at it."
In that regard, the Red Sox may have the most to gain between now and Opening Day at Tampa Bay. The market still hasn't matured for Martinez, and Boston may be able to get him for a relative bargain. Dombrowski noted that the lack of movement in the starter market may leave some good pitchers without legitimate suitors. Perhaps the Sox can jump in and get a steal there as well.
"We're going to be open-minded to try to add people like that if we can," Dombrowski said of bringing in starter depth.
Of course, that’s a precarious balance. What looks like a promising scenario for the Red Sox right now inverts the minute Martinez takes his talents elsewhere. ESPN reported this week that Boston's offer for Martinez resides around $100 million over five years — an obvious bargain for a player of his caliber. Offers like that, which don't fully flex Boston's financial advantages, figure to keep teams such as the Diamondbacks in the bidding for longer.
"There's no deadline," manager Alex Cora said. "We've still got time."
That won't be true for much longer.