BOCA RATON, Fla. — Prepare for pain.

Dave Dombrowski was not being sadistic when he signed off from the general managers’ meetings yesterday by mentioning that “at some point, we’re going to most likely do something that is painful one way or the other.”

And be sure that he was not telegraphing owner John Henry and the Red Sox partners that they better prepare themselves for sticker shock over an elite free agent.

Like a doctor approaching a patient with a smile and a needle of unknown size hiding behind his back, Dombrowski is softening us up for a different kind of transaction. He is not trying to pretend this isn’t going to hurt, but he is letting us all know the Red Sox are going to pull off a trade — or two or three — that will cost the team a potentially sky-high price in big league talent or top prospects, and possibly both.

That this is what Dombrowski was brought on board to do is not quite the point. His job comes down to pain tolerance. Everybody’s is different — you’ll have to scroll down for mine — but in the end, Dombrowski’s is the only one that counts.

And if I had to bet, his tolerance is very high.

By every account, the Red Sox told all 29 teams this week they are in wheel-and-deal mode.

Frankly, that could mean anybody and everybody is available.

A trade for Cincinnati closer Aroldis Chapman, for example, would no doubt be greeted with huzzahs all around if, and only if, the Red Sox do not get fleeced by the Reds. Such a significant deal would require names that are known well beyond the circle of prospects mavens or the casual fan — like somewhere along the outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. or first baseman Sam Travis continuum — but there is no chance it would include the ballclub’s two best young and proven major leaguers, either Mookie Betts or Xander Bogaerts.

Other deals could, though.

It’s unlikely, but not impossible, the White Sox told Dombrowski they would trade ace Chris Sale for a return package that included Betts or Bogaerts. Nobody truly has a clue of whether or not Dombrowski is willing to go as far as making the excruciating decision of trading one of those two.

He was asked this week how attached he feels to the players he inherited, especially younger ones he did not draft and did not get a chance to see play all that much. He said he’s “mixed on that,” and “if you’re in a spot where you can improve yourself, you still do that.”

Still, he knows the top Red Sox prospects “are good and there’s also more hesitation because you don’t really know 100 percent what you’re trading. So I kind of go back and forth on that.”

Nowhere in his carefully calibrated, leaving-all-doors open response did he say he would fall in line with the internal assessments and judgments he inherited when he arrived on the scene in the middle of August.

And remember Dombrowski’s reputation, which he has lived up to with blockbuster deals while with the Marlins and the Tigers, was he was quite willing to trade prospects in order to better the team in the short term.

Frankly, without access to the whiteboard in the Red Sox suite this past week, it’s guesswork and speculation to declare what too high — too painful — a cost in talent really means without knowing what the return would be for the Red Sox.

A deal the Red Sox were mulling as they flew out of Florida yesterday easily could have evaporated by the time their plane landed in Boston. Or the talks could be consummated five minutes from now.

In the meantime, I’m sharing my personal pain tolerance thresholds, ranking them on a spectrum from Don’t Even Think About It to Go Right Ahead.

Don’t Even Think About It: Betts, Bogaerts and outfielder Andrew Benintendi.

That Does Not Feel Good At All: Catcher Blake Swihart, second baseman Yoan Moncada, right-handed pitcher Anderson Espinosa, left-handed pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, third baseman Rafael Devers and Travis.

Not So Bad: Bradley, outfielder Manuel Margot, outfielder/first baseman Travis Shaw.

Go Right Ahead: First baseman Hanley Ramirez, third baseman Pablo Sandoval, right-hander Joe Kelly, left-hander Wade Miley.

Up to 29 other teams, each with talent the Red Sox have inquired about acquiring, have their own pain-tolerance rankings.

Weighing pain and one’s tolerance for it is all part of the life of a baseball franchise and its general manager.

Without pain, there is no gain.

Both are coming to the Red Sox.