Dave Dombrowski has built good bullpens in Boston

Dave Dombrowski was known for two things when he came to Boston and we were warned about them by every fanbase that had rooted for a Dombrowski-led team. The first is that he will never be afraid to trade prospects to improve the major-league roster. That has proven very true, though the downside of this strategy has been overstated by many in this writer’s opinion. That’s not what we’re talking about today, however. Instead, I want to talk about reputation point number two: His bullpen building. As the Red Sox know fairly well, one of the consistent characteristics about Dombrowski’s Tigers teams in particular was that the bullpen was a fatal flaw. In fact, it prevented them from getting to the promised land at least a couple of times. It had Boston fans worrying when he first took over the team, and there are still some whispers around the local fanbase and really around the league about his inability to build a bullpen. The thing is, however, it’s not really true.

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