McAdam: Why the firing of Dave Dombrowski came Sunday night instead of after the season

Ever since a Boston Globe report earlier this summer suggested that Dave Dombrowski was in jeopardy of not returning for the 2020 season, his job security has been a matter of open speculation -- both inside and outside of Fenway Park.

Indeed, in recent weeks, Red Sox ownership had come to the determination that Dombrowski was not the executive they envisioned running their Baseball Operations department in the future. With the organization about to enter a period of transition and some difficult decisions ahead on the horizon, Dombrowski's approach -- with a penchant for big moves, both in trades and free-agent signings -- and, by extension, his need for a big payroll, convinced the Sox they needed to make a change at the top.

That no one in the Red Sox organization -- on or off the record -- disputed the basics of the Globe story for weeks represented an ominous sign for Dombrowski.

Dombrowski's original five-year deal was set to expire after the 2020 season, but the Sox didn't want to go into next season with Dombrowski in lame-duck mode. Additionally knowing that they were going to make a change, they didn't want him tackling a number of issues this offseason, knowing that he was going to be around for the long-term.

And so, the determination had been made to inform Dombrowski at the end of the season that he wouldn't be returning.

But that timetable changed quickly Sunday night, according to an industry source.

Dombrowski was spotted on the field Sunday evening, having taken part in some pre-game ceremony. He was then seen leaving the field, cutting through Fenway's lower box seats, stopping to take a selfie with some fans and shake hands with others.

Somewhere between the stands in Fenway and the GM box -- located on the EMC Club Level, overlooking the box seats between home plate and first base -- Dombrowski apparently ran into someone at the ownership level and saw this as an opportunity to press for some clarification on his future.

(Both principal owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner were present at Fenway over the weekend, as they often are for series involving the Yankees. Team president and CEO Sam Kennedy, as is the case nearly every day, was also at the ballpark).

In a subsequent meeting, Dombrowski was told he would not be returning for the final year of his contract and he eventually left the ballpark.

After informing Dombrowski of the decision, the Red Sox had planned to keep the news from going public Sunday night and scheduled a press release for Monday.

But then some hints of the firing began showing up on social media. In some areas of the ballpark, workers got word of the move and began spreading the news. Fearful that news would break before they could issue the news on their own, the Sox hastily began making plans to confirm the news verbally in the immediate aftermath of the game, shortly after midnight.

The team then issued a press release Monday morning, making the firing official while also noting that ownership did not intend to hold a press conference to address the dismissal, or comment further on the move.

(Ownership was reluctant to answer questions about the firing, recalling that the team was criticized for some negative portrayals of former manager Terry Francona after Francona was fired in October of 2011, and thought it best to let the release speak for itself. Francona believed that ownership had been the source of such negativity, and his relationship some eight years later remains strained with those at the top of the organization.)

Sunday wasn't the first time that Dombrowski had sought some clarification on his future from ownership -- merely the last.

Perhaps mindful that Henry himself had vowed to get Dombrowski extended past 2020 on the morning of last fall's World Series parade, Dombrowski sought an extension on numerous occasions, only to be put off.

It's likely that even had the Red Sox been of a mind to extend Dombrowski, the two sides might have been at loggerheads over his compensation on a new deal.

Dombrowski had repeatedly told friends around the game that he considered himself underpaid relative to his career accomplishments -- he was believed to be paid somewhere in the $2.5-$3 million annually by the Sox -- especially in comparison to the salaries of the Chicago Cubs' Theo Epstein and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Andrew Friedman, both of whom make more than $7 million annually under their current deals.