Dombrowski, almost with envy, reacts to Thomas-Irving trade

CLEVELAND -- As word of the Isaiah Thomas/Kyrie Irving deal began circulating at Progressive Field early Tuesday evening, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski approached a table of Red Sox beat writers seated together in the media dining room.

“Wow," said Dombrowski. “This is a pretty big deal, isn’t it?"

You could see a look of admiration in Dombrowski’s eyes. As an executive who’s made more than his share of big trades in his long baseball career -- enough to earn him the nickname “Dealer Dave" -- he had an appreciation for what Danny Ainge had just pulled off.

“It’s a huge deal, when you start seeing superstar names involved," said Dombrowski a bit later, after the trade had been made official, “particularly for clubs that are so competitive with one another. So, sure, it piques your interest. It gets your mind wandering."

Dombrowski, who previously served as either GM or president of baseball operations in Montreal, Miami and Detroit, said he couldn’t recall making a deal of this magnitude with a rival.

“Normally when we’ve made trades, they’ve been where one club is in a pennant race and another one’s not," said Dombrowski. “But it really does pique the interest if you were ever in a position to go ahead and do it. I think you would only (make a blockbuster with your closest competitor) if you felt it helped you."

Dombrowski said he never pulled out of a proposed trade with a rival. But he quickly added one had never materialized.

“I can’t say it ever scared me away," he said. “The couple of times we did have conversations were when we were in a rebuilding mode and you were trading somebody (off) and you really didn’t have type of concern.’’

He noted that the dynamics that exist in the NBA – the presence of a salary cap, the ability to deal draft picks – don’t exist in MLB.

“It’s a lot different,’’ he acknowledged. “Of course, I don’t understand all the rules with the salary cap in the NBA; it’s quite complicated.  And in this case, you had a player (Irving) who wanted to be traded and he made that obvious. So you’re in a position where you’re going to make the best trade for you.’’

The biggest deal of his nearly 40 years in baseball was probably the one in which he acquired Miguel Cabrera from his former team -- the Marlins -- for the Tigers, a swap that included eight players in all, including a young Andrew Miller, in December of 2007.

Like the Thomas-Irving swap, the Cabrera deal came about in a short period of time.

“Actually, it was a very quick process, which is kind of surprising for that type of trade," he said. “It really was a deal that was discussed and consummated within 24 hours. We kind of jumped in after some other deals (the Marlins had lined up fell through). We were in a position to move very fast. The deal was actually done very quickly."

As a resident of Boston for the past two years, Dombrowski follows the other sports teams in town, and purely from a fan’s perspective, is excited about the deal.

“I think it’s exciting," he said. “I’ve always been a sports fan, period, so you have a tendency to follow your own teams (in town) and having a chance to some of the people involved, you root for them."

Interestingly, while Dombrowski has had a couple of social interactions with coach Brad Stevens, he’s yet to have contact with Ainge.

“I met Danny years ago…when he was playing baseball (for the Toronto Blue Jays)," chuckled Dombrowski. “I haven’t had a chance to interact with Danny, but I look forward to it."