Philadelphia Phillies: Dave Dombrowski favors familiar faces

Philadelphia Phillies executive Dave Dombrowski has a history of reuniting with his former players.

When you’ve been leading baseball teams for 32 years like Philadelphia Phillies President of Baseball Ops. Dave Dombrowski has, you’re going to run into some of your former players.

But Dombrowski has a habit of either signing or trading for star players that he’s had on previous teams.

After starting his career as a general manager in Montreal, Dombrowski was hired to lead the expansion Florida Marlins club. In 1997, he acquired Cliff Floyd from Montreal, whom he drafted with the 14th overall pick in 1991. Floyd had yet to fully break out in Montreal, but his career took a big step forward after joining the Marlins.

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At the end of the ’97 season, Dombrowski traded for another one of his former Montreal players, acquiring Moises Alou in a four player deal.

Several times in Detroit Dombrowski traded players and reacquired them for the Tigers, including in 2008 with Kyle Farnsworth and the 2012 Omar Infante trade (when he reacquired him from the Marlins five years later).

One of Dombrowski’s first blockbuster trades involving one of his former players was the 2006 Gary Sheffield trade with the New York Yankees.

Dombrowski had traded for Sheffield in 1993 with the Marlins in a deal that sent future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman to San Diego. After later trading Sheffield away for Mike Piazza in 1998, Dombrowski reacquired him in 2006 for Detroit.

Another blockbuster involving a former Dombrowski player is the 2007 Miguel Cabrera deal. Cabrera, who played for Dombrowski’s Florida Marlins, was traded by the Florida Marlins with Dontrelle Willis to the Detroit Tigers for Dallas Trahern, Burke Badenhop, Frankie De La Cruz, Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, and Mike Rabelo.

That trade is probably the best deal in Dombrowski’s career given Cabrera’s success and the ultimate lack of return for the Marlins.

When Dombrowski went to Boston, he reacquired Doug Fister and Kan Kinsler, both of whom he had in Detroit.

Most notably in Boston were the signings of two more former Tigers: David Price and J.D. Martinez. Dombrowski acquired Price from Tampa Bay in 2014 when he sent Willy Adames and Drew Smyly to the Rays for the former Cy Young award winner. Just over one year later, Dombrowski signed Price to lead the Red Sox rotation.

In the case of J.D. Martinez, Dombrowski first signed the young outfielder as a free agent out of Houston in March 2014. It was in Detroit where Martinez’ career took off as both a big time power hitter and a consistent .300 hitter for the Tigers.

In 2018 with the Boston Red Sox, Dombrowski gave Martinez a five-year $110 million contract.

So, is this a sign to come with Dombrowski in Philadelphia? As a talent evaluator he clearly knows what he likes and he’s bold enough to go get it, no matter what the price. Coming up later this week we’ll look at some of Dombrowski’s former players who could be a fit for the Phillies.