The Latest Breaking News from Dave Dombrowski

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A few months ago, Noah Song was sitting in his room at his rental house in Jacksonville, Fla., when he got a text from Bobby Applegate, his former pitching coach at the Naval Academy.

Noah Song threw and performed agility drills on a back outfield wearing Philadelphia Phillies shorts and T-shirt, a far different different uniform for the 25-year old

PHILADELPHIA — Trea Turner owned the stage, but the venue belonged to the man wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a brown blazer with elbow patches. John Middleton went out of his way to make this something other than his day. But that’s what it was.

Last month — nobody seems to recall the exact date, but it was between the end of the World Series and Thanksgiving — Dave Dombrowski, Sam Fuld, and Rob Thomson flew to Florida, sat down at Trea and Kristen Turner’s dinner table, and talked.

SAN DIEGO — As Dave Dombrowski packed his garment bag Wednesday and checked out of the Manchester Grand Hyatt, he might have considered borrowing a line from Michael Corleone near the end of The Godfather.

SAN DIEGO — Four years ago, John Middleton gassed up his private jet — the white Bombardier Challenger with a Phillies “P” on the tail — and flew to Las Vegas twice to meet with Bryce Harper and help close the largest deal in franchise history.

SAN DIEGO — Here at baseball’s annual Winter Meetings, it doesn’t take long to understand the hottest issues on the table.

SAN DIEGO — The Phillies got their man.

PHILADELPHIA — Years ago, before John Middleton became the face of the Phillies’ ownership group, Jimmy Rollins equated him with George Steinbrenner. It’s a comparison that Middleton never minded. Because the late Yankees owner was notoriously obsessed with winning, a trait that is admirable to a former college wrestler-turned-billionaire baseball…