Dave Dombrowski is running baseball operations for the Red Sox largely because former general manager Ben Cherington made a series of expensive mistakes with free agents.
Cherington gave Rusney Castillo a $72.5 million contract in August of 2014 and then a few months later invested $183 million in Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval.
Castillo has been exiled to Triple A since 2016, Sandoval was released last season, and Ramirez has been just slightly better than a league average player over three seasons.
So if Dombrowski is making sure he has the correct read of the market before committing a huge deal to J.D. Martinez or Eric Hosmer, it’s understandable.
“I don’t know that we’re just going to sit and wait. It just depends upon different alternatives and information we get on a daily basis really is what it comes down to,’’ Dombrowski said on Saturday at the annual Christmas at Fenway event.
More of that information has come in since the Winter Meetings ended on Thursday. But with Hosmer and Martinez represented by the same agent, Scott Boras, the Sox can’t play one against the other.
But Dombrowski has the advantage of knowing the Sox are one of the few teams with a glaring need for a power hitter who can afford the sort of contract or Hosmer or Martinez command.
Dombrowski reiterated that the Sox are seeking one impact hitter.
“We do think that some of the players that we have, in fact quite a few of them, will have better offensive years this year,’’ he said. “That’s also part of it.
“Could we get two hitters? Well, yeah, we can get two hitters. I tried to answer that question clearly at the Winter Meetings where our thought process was . . . we’re focused on one person.’’
Dombrowski acknowledged the Sox were involved with Carlos Santana, who agreed to three years and $60 million with the rebuilding Philadelphia Phillies on Friday. “We did have some interest in him; we did express that,’’ Dombrowski said. “We weren’t necessarily prepared to go to the dollar amount that was there.’’
Team president Sam Kennedy doesn’t believe ticket sales will be too affected by the inaction.
“There’s a greater correlation to the prior year’s performance,’’ he said.
But Kennedy admitted a splashy deal would have helped. Saturday was the first day for ticket sales.
“We’re in this for the long haul,’’ he said. “When spring training rolls around hopefully we’ll have the roster that we’re looking forward to putting together right now. We need to be patient. It’s not easy for us or our fans.’’
Scott is back at it
Lefthanded reliever Robby Scott, who underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery on Oct. 11, played catch for the first time on Saturday. The brief workout took place in the weight room above the clubhouse.
“I was cleared to start throwing and I brought my glove with me just in case,’’ Scott said. “I felt great.’’
Scott said he has been dealing with elbow issues for several years and that bone chips were removed as part of the procedure.
“The way I threw [Saturday], it hasn’t been like that in a long time in terms of range of motion,’’ said Scott, who also got married two weeks ago.
Scott was in Boston this week for the team’s holiday caravan. He enjoyed getting a chance to know new manager Alex Cora.
“It’s been fun. Just to be able to sit down and have a 30-minute conversation that’s not about baseball is great,’’ Scott said. “It was about life and how the wedding went.
“Not once did I feel like I was talking to the manager. It was like I was talking to a friend or a teammate. For the group of guys that we have, that will be big.’’
Cora goes on the road
Cora is headed for Fort Myers and Miami this week to personally connect with some players before going home to Puerto Rico for the holidays. Matt Barnes, Jackie Bradley Jr., Sandy Leon, David Price, and Chris Sale are among the players who live in the Fort Myers area. Ramirez, Scott, Deven Marrero, and Eduardo Rodriguez are in Miami . . . Rodriquez, who had knee surgery on Oct. 17, is making good progress and should be ready to throw off a mound at some point in spring training. The belief is he will return to the majors in late April . . . The Red Sox will be sending a plane to Puerto Rico in late January to assist people who are just now recovering from Hurricane Maria. It was part of the agreement the team made when it hired Cora.
Cora has yet to reach out to Bill Belichick, Bruce Cassidy, or Brad Stevens but has plans to do so. He particularly wants to talk to Stevens, who was 36 when he was named coach of the Celtics. “He’s young like me,’’ said Cora, who is 42. “There’s a lot to learn from guys like that.’’
Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @peteabe.
