Nick

Kike has made me blow up twice on this forum. First was Cora's insistence that he lead off. After getting demoted finally, he reestablished his offense enough to regain his leadoff spot. (ie, he earned it, not given to him) Then the fiasco at short on top of not hitting. I finally have a peace of mind. I hated everything about Cora when Kike was around the last two years.

This fan base was willing to give Christian Arroyo a starting spot at 2B. Not sure what all the commotion is about, isn't Reyes capable defensive 2B? Everything else other than acquiring starting pitching is meaningless.

I loved the extension on Eovaldi knowing that Porcello's final year was coming up. I also thought signing Story was a good idea no matter what the FO said publicly about it wasn't about Xander's final contract year. But maybe it should have been another player. Simien from Texas comes to mind. In great part, Bloom was always looking for reclamation project and that ultimately doomed him. Simien has played in all but 3 or 4 games the last two years. I always like Schwarber in big part because he's an IU grad. He caught and batted second for the Hoosiers when they had their success. I realized the argument about JD still being on the payroll. I thought they could at least co-exist for one year. I rather have Schwarber than Yoshida. Power and defense still wins in short series, Yoshida has neither. I seriously doubt Ohtani would sign with the Sox. But it sure would perk me up if we gave an offer he has to think about. I will puke, if our first signing is a has been pitcher for $8M. I wonder if Dave Dombrowski is available.

No one wants this job. I'll take it. What is so hard about it? Ng is the latest high-profile candidate to eschew a chance to interview with the Red Sox, joining Phillies GM Sam Fuld, Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes, former Marlins boss and current MLB executive Michael Hill and former Rangers GM (and current Rays adviser) Jon Daniels, Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey, Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen and assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye and others. Red Sox assistant GM Raquel Ferreira removed herself from the equation, as well, citing family reasons. After interviewing, former Astros GM James Click, who won a World Series in Houston a year ago, pulled himself out of the running. We can have $67M at our disposal by trading away Pivetta, Urias and Verdugo along with Turner opting out. CC Wong/McGuire 1B Casas. 2B Reyes SS Story 3B Devers LF Duran CF Rafaela RF Abreu DH Yoshida SP1 Bello SP2 Sale SP3 Kutter SP4 ????? SP5 ????? Clos Jansen SUp Martin BP1 Whitlock BP2 Houck BP3 Schrieber BP4 Wickowski BP5 Bernardino BP6 ?????? How to spend $67M Pay Pivetta $8M to take up one of the openings. We can do many things with remaining $59M. If it was up to me, spend another $50M on two starting pitchers, split the money $30/$20 or $25/$25. Then resign Duval for the balance. Then in 2025, another $50M will open up as Martin, Jansen and Sale will be gone along with $8M for Pivetta. It has to be a two year plan.

There's really not much to discuss.......blah blah blah Show me the money won't happen until the World Series is over.

funny....

Per MassLive SS/CF Kiké Hernández: F- (Cotillo) / F (McAdam) He sucked and shame on Cora for playing him longer than he had to....anything was better. 2B Christian Arroyo: F (Cotillo) / F (McAdam)....and some of us thought he would be okay as a starter INF Pablo Reyes: B (Cotillo) / C (McAdam)..ultimate utility guy....he's not fat like others SS Yu Chang: C (Cotillo) / D (McAdam)....I thought he was solid, of course he looked good after the Kike experiment 2B Luis Urías: D (Cotillo) / D (McAdam) 2B Enmanuel Valdez: C (Cotillo) / C- (McAdam)...I'm pretty sure Moon thinks Urias is better 3B Rafael Devers: B+ (Cotillo) / A- (McAdam) And we worry about this guy after insisting for 365 days how we had to extend him. 1B Triston Casas: A (Cotillo) / B+ (McAdam)...His 2022 numbers to Duran's 2023 numbers were similar. Yet we harp on Duran's small sample size. DH/1B Justin Turner: A (Cotillo) / A (McAdam) SS Trevor Story: D+ (Cotillo) / D+ (McAdam)....still better than Kike C Reese McGuire: C (Cotillo) / C- (McAdam) average is okay since the team was below average C Connor Wong: C (Cotillo) / C (McAdam)...ditto OF Rob Refsnyder: D (Cotillo) / D (McAdam)...never get enamored with mediocre baseball player.....D is still a D. Good thing we locked him up for 2024. OF Adam Duvall: B (Cotillo) / B (McAdam) CF Jarren Duran: A- (Cotillo) / B (McAdam)...why trade a future all star? LF Masataka Yoshida: B (Cotillo) / B (McAdam) at some point most of you turned on him. I thought he did what he was asked. RF Alex Verdugo: C (Cotillo) / C+ (McAdam)....and many here can't live without him. $10M for this guy?

Some of you have unrealistic expectations. You want a team not only is a playoff contender but more assurance than not that we get to the world series. I don't see 2024 as a make or break season. We have core group of younger players. Obviously it needs big pieces in starting rotation. I just want a team that's more competitive than this year's team. We maybe two or three years away. It took Texas two years of roster additions to get to where they are...... I'm not sure if the Orioles or the Dodgers fans are just happy that they won 100 games. I wouldn't be. I want the World Series title. We're not good enough right now. We need several additions and maturation from several youngsters.

Exhibit A Baltimore Orioles Exhibit B Los Angeles Dodgers 100 win season means nothing come playoff time. I for one am happy that the Dodgers lost. Yep, it has to do with Betts. They definitely will go hard after Ohtani. Should we consider reuniting with JD?

Yep....

I thought you would like it...not funny huh?

I'm going to put on my gambling hat. Fact #1 Majority of top 'prospects' flame out, I've been told. (Bellhorn can fact check me on this) Fact #2 At worst, Sox will have a very good defensive shortstop for maybe another 5 years. Perhaps it's time to trade our top three prospect Mayer before he blames out for an established pitcher. We keep Wong, Casas, Story, Devers, Duran, Rafaela and Abreu as our core position players. By all means, add a Duvall or a Turner type on a short deal. Kyle Teel should be up to the majors by 2025, reinforcement for Wong. People on this board believe Roman Anthony will become a high end hitting outfielder for the Sox. He's a keeper. Our bullpen should be solid, Houck, Whitlock and perhaps Kutter joining in. Departing Martin and Jansen will be replaceable in 2025. We have other position players coming up. Didn't we draft bunch of shortstops anyway? Go sign some FA starting pitching, trade our farm players for a middle of the road starting pitching also. Let's line them up SP1 through SP10.

I have absolutely no worries about Dugo becoming a free agent. Second coming of Beni.

I never made a comparison between Crawford to Garrett. I just think it's premature to move Crawford to the pen. 1 Bello 2 Sale, healthy, obviously a big question mark 3 Pivetta, assuming he does not regress as he did I believe in 2022, hot May/June, followed by bad starts? I'm guessing Bellhorn. I didn't bother to look it up. 4 Crawford 5 Houck Let's start playing the musical chair. I'd like to see 3 eliminated.

Moon has him going to the bullpen. And we trade a prospect(s) for a starter to replace him.

It's worth the risk Moon. If you sit on him too long, he play out to his free agency. He was able to make adjustments offensively this year. Sure, pick away. I'll f***ing take a $80M risk for 6-8 years on him.

First baseman Triston Casas, starter Brayan Bello and outfielder Jarren Duran stand out as the players the Sox could look to lock up this winter, with starter Kutter Crawford, catcher Connor Wong and rookie outfielders Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela also in the mix for pre-arbitration deals. On the latest episode of MassLive’s Fenway Rundown podcast, team president/CEO Sam Kennedy confirmed that early deals will be a priority for Boston this winter. “We should be able to determine which players would qualify for longer-term extensions, whether it’s Bello, whether it’s Abreu, whether it’s Duran or Casas. These are really important decisions that our baseball operations people have to make.”, Sam Kennedy I pay attention to what the executives say. Many scoffed at the idea of me including Rafaela and Abreu in our core group, and NOT Verdugo. Hell, Sam Kennedy even mentions Duran, and many here doesn't think he hasn't proven himself yet. #1 priority is Bello #2 priority is Casas I think we have at least another year before jumping in on Duran, Kutter and Houck. Two years on Wong, Rafaela and Abreu. We don't have to jump in all at once. My belief is it should be done after the second or third year.

There's a difference between poking fun at Cora so that his fans come out of the woodwork and defend him versus flat out being critical about it. That's the part I enjoy, the part where his fan base come defend him. I don't work for the Sox. I know NOTHING about what is going on behind the scene. Scheduled days off are his way of doing things. I may not like it but he's the manager. I only took couple of exceptions with him this year. And it was probably not his fault, 100%. I think you know what that was. I'm done talking about THAT. And by the way, I don't think I've ever criticized Cora for why he got suspended. See, I'm not all negative.

Here comes the fact checker. I believe you already told me it was more likely lefty lefty matchup. Do you want me to do a deep dive? I'm busy right now coaching. I will get back to you.

We see eye to eye on many things. I'm little surprised that you would bring up his performance in 2 games to refute what I said. You know that I'm just poking fun at Cora. I loved the scheduled day off near the All Star break. A day off before the 4 day break.

Funny how some playoff teams have players that can play 162 games. Not in Boston. Rest, rest, rest.

2024 is year 2 for me. We finally have a core group of young position players. We need a right handed bat but for me that core group is Wong Casas Story Devers Yoshida Duran Rafaela and Abreu.I would throw in Bello Houch Whitlock Wick and Kutter. It's not final and subject to upgrading but clearly this is the new starting point. You can throw in few minor leaguers that is projected to come up in 2024 or 2025. But once we get there we should have the foundation to move forward. Go get some starting pitching. Nothing is possible without that.

I'd like to follow what the Rangers did except in reverse. Instead two big bats, go for 2 big time starters. Then add couple of more big bats the following year. The window of opportunity is here. We have 5-6 years of window.

So Rays are out in 2 games. Looking back they had an unbelievable start. I'm not sure how I would deal with being outstated so quickly. I never thought this Sox team was good enough to win it all so I am not as angry. I did flip out with the Kike situation but that worked out. There were many positives. I still think we are couple of years away from challenging for the title. But the Sox need to go all in not only this year but next. Many of our young players will have another year of experirence.

Alex Cora to players: ‘Not acceptable’ for Red Sox to miss postseason Nick to Alex...maybe you should do a better job of managing. Not acceptable to play your best friend at short when clearly he doesn't belong there. I know I had NOTHING to do with Sox losing. Can you say the same?