Sources: Ownership ordered Dombrowski to keep top prospects out of deadline deals

In the run-up to Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline, the Red Sox made two acquisitions – infielder Eduardo Nunez last week, and reliever Addison Reed on Monday morning – that were useful moves, but hardly qualified as the sort of blockbuster deals normally associated with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

Despite ongoing questions about David Price’s elbow, the Sox were never involved in trade talks centered around either Yu Darvish or Sonny Gray, who were dealt to the Dodgers and Yankees, respectively. Nor were the Sox active in looking for a bat to upgrade the underperforming lineup.

There was a reason the moves made were relatively modest.

Two teams that dealt with the Red Sox leading up to the deadline got the distinct impression Dombrowski was not in a position to include any of the Red Sox’ top prospects in any deals. And, indeed, another industry source confirmed Red Sox’ upper management and ownership made it clear to Dombrowski the organization’s premier prospects were not to be dealt.

Since being hired, Dombrowski has made 10 trades involving 23 prospects and the exodus of young players from the organization has evidently concerned ownership.

The industry source further added the edict didn’t create any philosophical tension between Dombrowski and his superiors in the Red Sox organization. Still, it’s telling that upper management/ownership felt the need to inform Dombrowski it was worried about the organization’s thinning prospect inventory and instructed him to leave it untouched.

With Dombrowski having built the Sox back to contender status (the team won the division in his first full year and owns a slim lead in the East now), it’s clear Boston ownership believes it must guard its best prospects to guarantee a fresh flow of young (and inexpensive) reinforcements to the major league roster for seasons to come. Principal owner John Henry is known to believe strongly in the importance of a fertile developmental system to ensure long-term viability.

It’s likely Henry and Co. don’t want to see the Red Sox transformed into the Tigers, the organization Dombrowski ran before coming to Boston. The Tigers now have an aging, expensive roster with a number of veteran players in decline, and a farm system that has been depleted.

Presumably, the marching orders took players such as Rafael Devers, first baseman Sam Travis, third baseman Michael Chavis and lefthander Jason Groome, among others, off the table and limited what moves Dombrowski could make.

The Red Sox gave up two lower-level pitching prospects (Shaun Anderson and Gregory Santos) to land Nunez, with Anderson, a 2016 third-round pick, viewed by some as a borderline Top 20 prospect. They then packaged three minor league pitchers for Reed (Jamie Callahan, Gerson Bautista and Stephen Nogosek). Of the three, only Callahan had pitched above Single A and none was considered one of the best 20 prospects in the organization.

“We like the guys we traded,’’ said Dombrowski, at the time the Reed deal was announced. “But we didn’t give up any of our premium guys.’’

Most of the names linked to the Red Sox before the deadline were so-called rentals (players in the final year of their contracts and headed to free agency), which, by definition, require less in return since their stay with their new clubs will be brief with no control beyond the end the current season.

On Monday, Dombrowski maintained that it was merely coincidence that both players the Sox acquired were rentals.

“It just so happened that those were the guys who were primarily available,’’ Dombrowski said. "That really appealed to us. (Players with contractual control beyond this season) didn’t really didn’t scare us off as much as it just so happened that (the rentals) were the guys who fit with what we were looking to do.’’

When Dombrowski was hired in August 2015, he was charged with turning around the franchise’s fortunes with the Sox headed for their third last-place finish (sandwiched around a surprise 2013 title) in four seasons.

Dombrowski earned a reputation in his previous stops (Montreal, Florida and Detroit) as an executive only too willing to trade tomorrow’s potential stars for already established players, and he quickly followed that blueprint with the Sox.

A few months after being hired, Dombrowski sent four prospects to San Diego for closer Craig Kimbrel. Last winter, he packaged arguably two of top dozen prospects in the game (Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech) along with two younger minor leaguers to land ace Chris Sale.

Both Kimbrel and Sale have been excellent acquisitions, regardless of player cost. And the trade that sent Anderson Espinoza to the Padres for Drew Pomeranz – criticized heavily at the time, in part because Dombrowski passed on the opportunity to rescind the deal after it was found that the Padres weren’t forthcoming when it came to Pomeranz’s medical history – has worked out as the lefty has become the Sox’ second-best starter this year, while Espinoza recently underwent Tommy John surgery

But other deals made by Dombrowski have been decidedly less fruitful. A deal last December that sent third baseman Travis Shaw and three well-regarded prospects to the Brewers for reliever Tyler Thornburg has turned disastrous, with Shaw providing the kind of offensive punch at third (24 home runs) that the Sox have lacked until last week’s arrival of Devers. Thornburg, meanwhile, underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery earlier this summer and won’t pitch a single inning for the club this year.