Dave Dombrowski’s removal by the Boston Red Sox serves as a reminder that this is the time when those jobs are most in jeopardy. Which MLB GM might be next?
When the Boston Red Sox this week fired Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball operations, it caught many by surprise. Less than a year ago, Dombrowski had led the team to a World Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The move reveals the truly shaky nature of front office management positions. In that respect, 2019 has been an unusual season, since Dombrowski’s departure marked the first removal of any MLB GM or field manager since the season’s start.
It almost certainly won’t be the last. Since the end of the 2014 season, an average of six MLB GM or equivalent positions have changed annually.
By that standard, the post-2018 turnover — which saw new leadership for the Dodgers, Giants, Mets, and Orioles — was actually a relatively calm winter. Compare that to the craziness that followed the 2016 season, which saw new leadership teams installed in Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Toronto, Cleveland, Seattle, Anaheim, Oakland, and Minnesota.
Which current front office leaders are most likely to follow Dombrowski to the axeman this fall? The victims are likely to share several characteristics. They will probably head up under-performing teams — preferably chronically under-performing ones – they will be at or close to the end of their working agreement, and they’ll be working for an ownership team that did not hire them.
With those terms of jeopardy in mind, several current GMs or team presidents loom as potentially endangered, threatened or questionable. Here’s a look at some of those executives whose job security might be in trouble.