Philadelphia Phillies: Dave Dombrowski’s history of win-now trades
The Philadelphia Phillies new President of Baseball Ops has a history of pulling the trigger on big trades
In his 32 years of wheeling and dealing baseball players, Philadelphia Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski has made some fairly significant trades. He’s traded away and for All-Stars and future Hall of Fame players, signaling a strong desire to win.
With Dombrowski’s hiring, we’re taking a look back at his history of big trades as a sign of what might come for the Philadelphia Phillies.
We begin with his four seasons as the general manager of the Montreal Expos, which began in 1988.
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Dombrowski’s first significant trade was not a great one on his part, but who could have foreseen a 6-10, 25-year-old becoming one of the greatest pitchers of his generation?
In1989, he traded Randy Johnson and two other players to the Seattle Mariners for All-Star pitcher Mark Langston.
Johnson would go on to win 303 games, five Cy Young awards, four ERA titles, a Triple Crown, and a World Series in 2001.
Dombrowski would also make two trades involving Gary Sheffield, first acquiring him as the general manager of the Florida Marlins and later for the Detroit Tigers.
Another future Hall of Fame player was involved in the first Sheffield deal when Dombrowski traded Trevor Hoffman and two other players to San Diego for Sheffield and reliever Rich Rodriguez.
Hoffman has cemented himself as one of the top five greatest relievers in the game’s history, recording 601 saves with a 2.87 ERA in 1,035 appearances. Like Johnson, he was a young player who didn’t have a long major league track record who was swapped for someone with proven Major League talent.