BOSTON -- Dave Dombrowski sat behind a desk in a hotel suite at the winter meetings last December, a hot-off-the-presses copy of the new collective bargaining agreement in his hand, and claimed the Red Sox "don't have a driving force to make a big deal."
A day later, they traded for Chris Sale.
The point here isn't to rail against Dombrowski for being misleading. He hasn't survived 40 years in major league front offices by telegraphing every move. Sometimes, it's actually better for business if the Red Sox president isn't entirely transparent.
Let that serve as context, then, for what Dombrowski said last week.