Winter Meetings interview: Dombrowski, Farrell

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining us. As you know earlier today, the Red Sox acquired left-hander Chris Sale from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for four players: right-handed pitchers Michael Kopech, Victor Diaz, infielder Yoan Moncata and outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe. Here today we have Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and manager John Farrell to take your questions.Q. Dave, could you talk about how quickly this trade all came together and how hard was it to trade some of the prospects you traded today?DAVE DOMBROWSKI: Well, I guess you can look at it, at quickness in a couple of ways. At times we’ve talked about Chris Sale throughout the last couple of years. We really didn’t have any ongoing conversations. We had the CBA being negotiated and I think a lot of things were on hold. I got a call Friday night when I got back home 6:00 from Rick asking if we were going to be in — that he was going to move him, he felt, at this point. After the CBA they were committed to making some moves in the organization, did we have interest. I said, Well, of course we have interest in Chris Sale, anybody in baseball would have interest in Chris Sale. It would be a matter of what you were looking to acquire and we talked a little bit. He said, Well, we’re going to get away from some of the things that we’ve asked for in the past. I said, Well, we’re prepared to give up a lot, which we know. And we went through some of the names. He talked to me Friday night, kind of put one thing in motion, if we would give up one player. Called me again Saturday, we had another name. And then we talked numerous times over the last few days. So it accelerated, started on Friday with this deal. As far as the players we gave up, first of all, in Rick’s case, I tip my cap, very professional, handled the situation well, very direct. We want back and forth, made calls when he said he would, so I tip my cap to him, he did his homework. This is one of these deals where we’re absolutely thrilled to have Chris Sale on board with us. We feel it gives us a chance to win now. He’s under contract for three years. Our rotation, we feel, is very strong. We think we have solidified our bullpen earlier in the day. We gave up some good, young talent and there is no question. We gave up two of the better prospects in baseball in Moncata and Kopech. We liked the other two guys, but it came down to a point where we thought this gave us a significant chance to win. And you never can tell what happens if you can, first of all, make it to the postseason. But, secondly, if you get there, do you progress from there. We saw last year we did not, but we think it gives us the best chance to do it. And it’s not just for a one-year type of deal. But if I was in Rick’s case, I would be very happy with the return I got because those are good, young players.Q. Dave and John, just a thought on having Chris now in this rotation to go with Price and company and what it means to the team and to you, John, going forward and what can you tell us about Chris Sale from your perspective?JOHN FARRELL: Well, the best thing is we don’t have to face him across the field anymore. I think that’s number one. But I think we’ve found ourselves in a great position to acquire such an elite starter. He deepens the rotation, to go alongside with David and Rick, Eddie, Drew. We’ve got a deep rotation. But I think the one thing that this is a reminder and certainly a repeat is how aggressive our ownership and Dave are going to be to allow us and enable us at field level with a chance to win every year we take the field.DAVE DOMBROWSKI: Well, really to echo what John just said, it deepens the rotation, it makes our bullpen strong, thankful to our ownership to give us the opportunity to do the same thing that we did. Our staff did a tremendous job. I think really it puts us in a spot where we go out there and feel good about our ball club. You never can tell what takes place, I see that Joe Maddon is over there, we would like to duplicate what he did last year, that’s your ultimate goal year in and year out and that’s what you want to accomplish.Q. Obviously Chris Sale adds a lot to the rotation, but what is it specifically that he brings that makes him such a dominant pitcher?JOHN FARRELL: In between the lines, he pitches with an edge. His numbers and performance speak for themselves but I think there is maybe a persona that he projects certainly across the field. That’s what you feel. That’s the image that the team will reflect or take with him when he’s on the mound. And that edge and that competitive nature that he has, I think anytime you can add those types of personalities to go along with the abilities, you’re getting the premium type of players that you hope to have on your roster.Q. John, talk about what you accomplished today with the moves that Dave was able to do? How much better of a team are you today than you were last year when you were good enough to win the division?JOHN FARRELL: The one thing that’s been so forthright about Dave is that there is really no hiding behind the fact of what our needs are and how we’re going to go about to achieve it. We’ve been able to do that. We’ve improved our pitching staff on the whole, we know that. So in light of David Ortiz’ retirement, how we were going to improve our team, we felt like pitching was the priority and really have been able to do that over the last couple of days here.Q. Dave, you certainly faced questions about David Price’s postseason history when he was signed last offseason. Chris doesn’t have any. Was that a concern at all as to how he might respond to the postseason pressures?DAVE DOMBROWSKI: Not really, I think that Chris Sale is a premium pitcher, he’s pitched in big games, won big games. When I talked to him …

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