When I say that it is generally not worth spending lots of money, or trading much talent, in exchange for a relief pitcher, this is actually one of the examples I have in mind.

After the 2016 season, Dombrowski was trying to load up, doing Dombrowski things. He targeted Tyler Thornburg from Milwaukee, and gave up Travis Shaw and Mauricio Dubon for Thornburg.

Thornburg didn't pitch in 2017, and then pitched a total of 42 innings over the 2018-2019 seasons, with an ERA of 6.54.

Meanwhile, Shaw gave the Brewers two very good seasons, hitting 63 HRs with an OPS+ around 120 while playing 3B/2B/1B. Boston also gave up, in Dubon, a guy who plays all over the diamond and is at least having a career as a big leaguer. It was a pair of top 20 system prospects at a time when the Boston system was as good as there was in baseball (Moncada, Devers, Benintendi, Eduardo Rodriguez, Kopech, etc.).

Dombrowski just traded some of these guys like they were practically worthless - and Shaw was most certainly a valuable young player.

Happy for him that he had a legit career, saw him play in AA and you could tell he was from a baseball family. Hope he enjoys retirement.

The Mayor of Ding Dong City! He had a nice couple of years and then just fell off a cliff. Was very popular in Boston pretty much from day one.

That 2019 drop is wild. Looking at 2020, you can squint and imagine the short season cost him another year of why not tries from a team. He wasn't good but was way better than dreadful 2019, and in a full season, if not hurt, might have hit about 20 home runs, and that with his walk rate might have helped him survive his 2021 slump with the Brewers and get more of a look in 2022. But maybe not.

Boston also gave up, in Dubon, a guy who plays all over the diamond and is at least having a career as a big leaguer.

Just to followup on the Dubon angle for a moment... the Brewers would go on to trade Dubon to the Giants for Drew Pomeranz and Ray Black. Pomeranz had a great, albeit short run with the Brewers as a RP before running into some health issues (happened after he left as a FA). Black was a high-octane RP who could never stay healthy; I think he's retired now. Just Dubon for Thornburg would have been a fair trade, more or less. But throwing in a cost-controlled 3B who was coming off a league averagish season as a gift with purchase was totally out-of-whack.

Dombrowski's really never been good at building bullpens. He has a lot of strong attributes as a baseball executive, but identifying good RP is not one of them.

But enough about Dubon, Dombrowski, etc. Congrats to Shaw on an excellent career.

Shaw is one those guys that just has a random year or two of 30 hr/100 rbi and 4 WAR, but nothing much before or after. (My original comp for this is 1970 Cito Gaston.)

I guess the trick is to have this guy at the right time, which the Brewers certainly did.

Also that's a top-notch retirement statement.

Also that's a top-notch retirement statement.

Absolutely agree; good on him. He had a nice run....congrats Travis.

Racking up -0.7 WAR in just 19 PA last year was an amazing feat. Hard to see that record getting broken!

Dombrowski just traded some of these guys like they were practically worthless - and Shaw was most certainly a valuable young player.

Not nearly as bad but the Kimbrel trade had similarities. Manuel Margot a top-50ish prospect, was almost immediately more valuable than Kimbrel, and has certainly been more valuable than the 3 years of Kimbrel the Red Sox got. Logan Allen Javy Guerra haven't done much yet but they've made the Majors and are still young. Asuaje make the big leagues but didn't do much.

Dombrowski's track record is good but these are two where he overpaid for relievers.

Dombrowski has never had a particularly great track record in terms of assembling a bullpen.

Here are his stints as either general manager or president of baseball operations:

Montreal: 1988-91
Florida (now Miami): 1991-2001
Detroit: 2002-15
Boston: 2015-19
Philadelphia: 2021-present

I've got easier access to 2002-2022 data, so I'll just focus on that. Here are how Dombrowski teams' bullpens fared in wOBAA versus league average (BOLD indicates better than league average):

DET 2002: .351 vs .318 (28th)
DET 2003: .333 vs .320 (22nd)
DET 2004: .345 vs .322 (27th)
DET 2005: .317 vs .320 (15th)
DET 2006: .303 vs .322 (4th)
DET 2007: .321 vs .319 (21st)
DET 2008: .343 vs .320 (30th)
DET 2009: .327 vs .320 (23rd)
DET 2010: .320 vs .315 (17th)
DET 2011: .311 vs .306 (22nd)
DET 2012: .308 vs .304 (22nd)
DET 2013: .311 vs .303 (21st)
DET 2014: .331 vs .302 (29th)
DET 2015: .333 vs .305 (29th)
BOS 2016: .299 vs .309 (13th)
BOS 2017: .284 vs .311 (4th)
BOS 2018: .306 vs .312 (12th)
BOS 2019: .314 vs .318 (14th)
PHI 2021: .326 vs .310 (25th)
PHI 2022: .315 vs .304 (20th)

So his bullpens in Boston weren't complete dumpster fires (league average most years). Yet outside of his four years in Boston, he's posted only one year where his bullpen was better than league average since 2002. It's been his Achilles heal as a GM/PBO for most of his career.

Racking up -0.7 WAR in just 19 PA last year was an amazing feat. Hard to see that record getting broken!

Had to check -- in 2004, Josh Labandeira appeared in 7 games with the Washington Nationals, went 0-for-14 with 4 strikeouts and committed an error on one of his 6 chances in the field, all of which came to -.7 WAR in 14 PA.

Had to check -- in 2004, Josh Labandeira appeared in 7 games with the Washington Nationals, went 0-for-14 with 4 strikeouts and committed an error on one of his 6 chances in the field, all of which came to -.7 WAR in 14 PA.

That error was the last error in the history of the Montreal Expos. It came in the last inning in the field of the last game the Expos ever played.

The left-handed hitter appeared at the game’s highest level in each of the last eight seasons.

Wait, when did he play for Colorado?

Dombrowski has never had a particularly great track record in terms of assembling a bullpen.

As a Tigers fan who cringed every time Phil Coke or Todd Jones came in when the game was on the line, I hereby award this comment the RMc No S#@t, Sherlock Award!