The Boston Red Sox find themselves on the brink of irrelevance in the American League Playoff race with about six weeks remaining in the regular season.
It’s a far cry from the team that won 108 games and earned the World Series title last season. It could also have wide-ranging ramifications for the organization moving forward.
Recent reports suggest that respected team president Dave Dombrowski could potentially be on the hot seat this winter.
It’s surprising in that Boston earned the AL East title in each of his first two seasons in that role before hoisting the World Series trophy last year.
In talking about being on the hot seat, Dombrowski indicated that he’s pretty darn surprised.
“Well, I don’t want to say too much about it,’’ Dombrowski told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, “but I am surprised (to be on the hot seat). At least a little bit. I mean, we did win three divisions and a World Series.”
Boston entered Wednesday’s action with a 67-60 record and six games out of the final wild card spot. It’s also a whopping 16 games behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees.
Dombrowski has received justifiable criticism since Boston’s World Series season.
The team pretty much stood pat during the winter. The only real exception here was signing now-injured starter Chris Sale to a five-year, $145 million extension back in March.
Criticism of Dombrowski once again made its way to the front burner during July’s trade deadline. In need of rotation and bullpen help, the Red Sox didn’t make one big move to help them contend heading into the dogs days of summer.
Whether any of this means the well-respected personnel guy is really on the hot seat remains to be seen. We’ll find out soon enough.