If there ever was a more classic example of "what have you done for me, lately?" you would be hard pressed to top Sunday's firing of WMU alumni Dave Dombrowski as president of the World Champion Boston Red Sox.

Some of this boggles the mind, especially juxtaposed against what's happening to Dombrowski's previous team, the Detroit Tigers. Dombrowski was hired to bring another championship to the Red Sox, a team that went 86 years before winning the World Series in 2004. Ten months ago, they won their fourth title in this millennium. Ownership said do what you have to do, which, in this case, meant mortgaging the future for the present. The Red Sox are struggling this season in third place, but are still 9 games over .500 at 76-67.

Now, Dombrowski, pretty much did something similar when he was running the Tigers. The goal was to win a title for Mr. I, (Mike Ilitch). That didn't happen and for final few seasons of Dombrowski's tenure, the Tigers tried to patch together a winner, but have been in rebuild mode for a couple of seasons. Today their record is 42-100.

Could a reunion happen in Detroit? That's entirely up to owners Marian and Christopher Ilitch. It was never really clear whether Dombrowski left or was pushed out of Detroit. Dombrowski's strength is not in drafting and building young teams into champions. He is more about acquiring assets to build champions. Remember the Tigers were pretty darn good for a long while, but that farm system, that's another story. Current Tigers GM Al Avila has had his contract extended, so he is probably safe, but again, you never know.

Here's a crazy idea. Remember, when the Tigers hired Bo Schembechler as team president. Most people only remember one thing Bo did. He fired beloved announcer Ernie Harwell. But if you're going to hire someone from another sport, how about Dombrowski running the Detroit Lions. How much could it hurt?

The next few months should be interesting, to see how this all plays out.

 

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