MLB Notebook: Dombrowski's in-season moves have been winners

Ten Thoughts about the Red Sox and Major League Baseball:

Over his long career, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has earned a reputation for making mega deals. He’s traded for Miguel Cabrera, David Price (in Detroit), Max Scherzer and Chris Sale, and traded away Prince Fielder and Randy Johnson.

In other words, he’s not afraid to go for the bold strokes.

But this season, Dombrowski’s second in Boston, some of his best moves have been smaller, in-season acquisitions.

(For now, we can agree the deal for Chris Sale – regardless of how Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech do in future seasons – was a good one. Sale gave the Red Sox a true No. 1, and the loss of David Price for much of the season made that acquisition all the more important. Similarly, it’s easy to say that Dombrowski badly erred in giving up on Travis Shaw – and that’s independent of the loss of reliever Tyler Thornburg for the entire season.)

Still, off-season deals tend to be bigger, more complex and longer-lasting in their impact. It’s easier to judge the more complementary moves from in-season, and it’s here that Dombrowski really did well.

Since the start of the year, Dombrowski claimed Doug Fister on waivers, traded for Eduardo Nunez, Addison Reed and Rajai Davis.

Fister has been a Godsend to the rotation, more than capably replacing Price in late July and giving the Red Sox a chance to win the vast majority of his starts. It’s not easy to obtain starting pitching (especially at next-to-no cost) during the season, but Fister, with a 4.19 ERA, has easily outstripped expectations.

Nunez had a .909 OPS with the Sox heading into Saturday and handled second base relatively well in Dustin Pedroia’s absence. Dombrowski took some heat for not addressing the team’s power shortage at the deadline, but he correctly anticipated that Nunez would fit in nicely with the team’s offensive approach. And Nunez’s eight homers in the first 31 games has been a pleasant bonus.

Reed has given the Sox a solid, experienced high-leverage reliever, even as his penchant for giving up solo homers (three in 14 appearances) is a little troublesome. And while Davis is more of a role player, he’s already made some contributions on the bases.

2. Now that September is here and teams are playing mostly within their division, it seems like a good time to marvel at the fact that the A.L. East has three terrific center fielders: Toronto’s Kevin Pillar, Tampa Bay’s Kevin Kiermaier and the Red Sox’ Jackie Bradley Jr.

I polled a handful of evaluators and asked them to rank the three.

The general consensus is that Kiermaier and Bradley are a tick ahead of Pillar.

“I think Kiermaier has the best overall range,’’ said one, “but Bradley has the best instincts and best arm.’’

Bradley’s throwing arm – which has been more accurate this season – is the strongest of the three, while Pillar’s arm is considered average.

Joked another in part admiration: “Pillar is like a rodeo clown out there, throwing himself around. He’s absolutely fearless with his body.’’

Over and over, those polled marveled at the jumps Bradley gets, seemingly headed for where the ball is going to go before it’s even hit.

“I don’t know how he does it,’’ said one, “but his breaks and ability to get there are like nothing I’ve ever seen.’’

3. With four weeks remaining in the regular season, not a single manager has been fired – a rarity. As Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports points out: not since 2006 has an entire season gone by without at least one change in the dugout.

Credit the second wild card, which keeps more teams nominally in contention – or least provides the illusion of such.

That doesn’t mean that some changes won’t be coming in the off-season. Brad Ausmus could be in trouble in Detroit, and the same goes for Terry Collins in New York.  You have to wonder about Bryan Price’s job security in Cincinnati, too, now that the Reds are headed for their fourth straight losing season and third consecutive last-place finish in the N.L. Central.

There may be others – John Farrell included – whose fate will be determined by what happens in the post-season.

4. After two-straight seasons of reaching the postseason, things do not look promising for the Blue Jays. Toronto seems destined to finish in last place.

That’s bad enough. But making things worse are the payroll commitments in the future (including another 58 million due to Troy Tulowitzki and $40 million more to Russell Martin) and a depleted farm system.

The Jays went for it in 2015, desperate to reach the postseason for the first time in 22 seasons, but in so doing, their farm system took a hit.

Two years later, they haven’t had time to replenish and the major league roster is aging. It hasn’t helped that Aaron Sanchez, of whom much was expected after a breakout 2016, has been hurt (finger blister) and limited to just 36 innings.

5. It’s noteworthy the Red Sox intend to get Michael Chavis some work at first base in the Arizona Fall League.

Chavis has played the left side of the infield in his pro career, but the fact the Sox want to at least take a look at him at first suggests two things:

First, they’re not entirely convinced that Sam Travis can be the everyday first baseman in 2018. Second, there exists some hope that Chavis, who has yet to play beyond Double A, could factor into the team’s plans as early as next season.

Travis had a somewhat disappointing season and didn’t show the kind of power usually associated with first basemen, hitting just six homers at Pawtucket with a .375 slugging percentage and only 20 extra-base hits in 304 at-bats.

That’s not to suggest the Sox have given up on Travis; the belief is his power will continue to develop. But it’s interesting Chavis has inserted himself into the conversation with a fabulous year (.916 OPS and 30 homers between Single A Salem and Portand).

6. Credit to the Orioles for working their way back into the wild-card picture, but it’s unlikely they remain there for long. The O’s simply don’t have the starting pitching to remain in contention the rest of the way. Many of the clubs fighting for the wild card have flaws, but the O’s have more than most.

7. Blake Swihart joined the Red Sox this weekend as part of the expanded roster call-ups, but his arrival almost seems like an afterthought. Two years ago, Swihart was viewed as the organization’s catcher of the future: an athletic, switch-hitting receiver with great potential. But injuries and underperformance have reduced Swihart’s stock to the point where he’s a mere extra, here to serve as an emergency catcher and little more.

His ankle seems to have responded better in recent weeks, and perhaps with some offseason rest, Swihart can re-insert himself into the picture next spring. For now, he serves as a cautionary tale on how quickly things can change for prospects.

8. The Red Sox have had taken a curious approach with Bryce Brentz. The outfielder enjoyed his best minor league season with 30 homers in 118 games and surely has performed well enough to warrant a September look. But the Red Sox keep deflecting talk of bringing up Brentz, maintaining that “it’s under discussion.’’

Most evaluators regard Brentz as far from perfect. He still strikes out too much and at 28, has lost the prospect tag. But it’s hard to think he couldn’t help out in the final four weeks by providing a righty power bat off the bench. Is there something else going on here?

9. Jacoby Ellsbury, who has three years and more than $68 million still due to him, has become the game’s most expensive fourth (or is it fifth?) outfielder with the Yankees. The emergence of Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks — to say nothing of rookie Clint Frazier, who's currently injured — has sent Ellsbury to the bench, where he’s a pricey pinch-runner or late-game replacement. It’s not inconceivable he could be left off the playoff roster should the Yankees reach the postseason.

10. The new collective bargaining agreement will mandate extra off-days in the schedule and also result in changes for game times. The rules are complicated, but teams are being told they need to move up start times on getaway games. The Red Sox, according to an industry source, want to avoid many weekday afternoon starts over concerns about parking in the Fenway area during the week as well as impacting NESN ratings, and are attempting to schedule 6:05 starts under such circumstances, rather than actual afternoon start times.

That won’t be well-received by visiting teams.