Rome was not built in a day.
Neither is a championship-caliber team. Just look at the excellent work of Detroit Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowski, the architect behind several successful organizations.
Dombrowski’s World Series championship came in 1997 with the Florida Marlins. He used a large payroll to put together thefastest expansion team at the time to win a World Series. Afterwards, ownership forced him to rebuild on a dramatically reduced budget. This rebuilding process was accelerated because he used World Championship players as trade bait. Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, and Gary Sheffield became Derek Lee, A.J. Burnett, and Preston Wilson. Lee, Burnett and Juan Pierre (acquired in a trade for Wilson) would become the core of a team which would win the World Series in 2001.
The most recent Marlins championship team helped lay the groundwork for a team with young, high-ceiling players, which should allow them the opportunity to repeat history. Traded away were Josh Beckett, Carlos Delgado, Paul LoDuca, Luis Castillo, and Juan Pierre. In return the Marlins have built up a good young core of players.
After the 2001 season, Dombrowski left South Florida for Detroit, where he did not have the luxury of rebuilding through trading proven championship-caliber stars. Consequently, success did not come as fast, highlighted by the fact the Tigers lost 119 games in 2003. It took four years of losing before they fielded a winning team.
Look at Detroit now. Dombrowski has put together a stable of quality young arms. Two 23-year old pitchers, Jeremy Bonderman (trade, 2002) and Justin Verlander (first round, 2004) have already combined for 16 wins this season and look to be a strong one-two punch for years. Joel Zumaya (11th round, 2002) has been a force out of the pen. In addition, Dombrowski has focused on being strong up the middle, offensively and defensively, with the acquisitions of catcher Ivan Rodriguez (free agent, 2005), shortstop Carlos Guillen (trade, 2004), and center fielder Curtis Granderson (third round, 2002).
The final key to Dombrowski’s success was hiring Jim Leyland as manager this past winter. Leyland has taught their young core group how to be winners both on and off the field. The free-agent signings of Rodriguez, Kenny Rogers, and Todd Jones have helped develop the young, talented pitching staff.
At times Dombrowski has been lambasted by the media and fans alike for both immediate failures on the field and high-priced free agent signings. There were outcries when he signed Magglio Ordonez for $105 million and Rodriguez for $40 million. Many called for his head when he signed the 41-year-old Rogers to a two-year deal worth $16 million. Sometimes you need to overpay free agents in order to get them to sign with a losing franchise.
Dombrowski’s five-year plan has worked successfully, thought not as quickly as it did in Florida. However after four year of losing, he has the Tigers in position to contend for the next several years.
As told to The Examiner’s John Keim. Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden provides an exclusive column to The Examiner each week, ranging on topics from the Nats to the state of Major League Baseball.
