Larry Cook

I think every year the biggest thing teams hope to go right is health. Obviously for us, that has been an issue. Our offense was a top ten offense for most of the year. Our problem was pitching (describing it as a dumpster fire is actually being generous) and defense (I think we lead the American League in errors) Pitching SP1 - Snell SP2 - Sale SP3 - Bello SP4 - Inamaga (Japan signing) SP5 - Crawford Long relief/spot starter - pivetta Long relief/spot starter - houck Closer - Jansen 8th inning - Martin RP - Whitlock RP - wincowski RP - matsui (Japan signing) RP - schreiber Lineup: CF - Rafeala (above average defense) 3B - devers (dumpster fire defense) DH - yoshida (dumpster fire defense in lf) 1B - casas (dumpster fire defense) SS - story (average defense) RF - verdugo (average defense) LF - Duran (dumpster fire defense) 2B - Urias (average defense) C - wong (average defense) Bench C - mcquire (fringe defense) OF - Refsynder (fringe defense) U - Reyes - (fringe defense) U - Valdez - (dumpster fire defense)

Kavadas almost got to 100 walks again this season!!!! Pretty amazing eye for the strike zone

Now that Hang’em Chaim has been put out to pasture, will we sign more international free agent pitchers

Been quite a few years since we had a top 20 this talented. Only 4 pitchers in your top 20! Very sad. Of your top 20 Anthony, teel, Rafeala, winkleman, abreau, Valdez and Walter could all be in Boston a year from now.

I have seen Mayer about 20 times and Anthony and bleis about 10 times. When these three guys get in the batters box, they way they approach the at bat and the bat speed and the bat to ball skill is all elite. Opposing pitchers pitch these three guys differently then they do other hitters

Hang’em Chaim was very rigid and he vastly overvalued his assets. Very tough to complete trades with that mentality. The failure to execute the schimdt for verdugo trade was very frustrating to me.

I have never seen cespedes or teel live so I cannot speak to them. But Mayer, Anthony and Bleis are really good. Like bogey, Betts type good (when those guys were coming up)!

I think you are right. I see someone pitch live 3-4 times a year! Not really enough to judge properly.

Who knows our organization could have great for decades of Hang’em Chaim had the full five years to enact his plan!

I got Bleis on my untouchable list. Drohan is an intriguing guy. In the first half of the year, his control was decent and he got his pitches over the plate. In the second half, his command and control fell apart. Does he regain his control in 2024???? If his command and control return, he could be effective in the bullpen for us.

Bonaci and rosier are two under the radar guys that I really like. Good bat to ball skills and short to the ball! Both got speed to burn.

Maybe Perales is having a bad day every time I see him pitch, because his stuff looks very ordinary when I see him pitch

The Japanese site lists inamgea as a left handed starter. They list matsui as the lefty reliever. These are the two guys I think we need to sign!!!!! Along with snell

Because Rafeala is going to be the better defensive center fielder. Not at Bradley’s level, but above average. I got abreau in right field because I think abreau is faster and I think abreau has a better arm! Anthony should be an elite defender in left.

Even after graduating a half dozen guys in 2022-2023, we are stacked with high quality hitters still in our farm system. But we only have 2 starting pitchers with plus stuff. Winkleman and montgero. I think Rafeala, abreau and maybe Valdez and troye could start 2024 in Boston. By the end of 2024, Anthony should own left field. For all of his other issues, Hang’em Chaim has the development side of the organization humming nicely

Something else to consider! Desperate Dave had run off almost the entire analytics department and Hang’em Chaim literally had to rebuild that entire department from scratch. I think when he took over, everybody acknowledged that we were light years behind most other teams thanks to desperate Dave. Under Hang’em Chaim’s reign of terror, our baseball analytics department is world class now. At the end of the day, Hang’em Chaim had all the information necessary to sign guys and make trades. I think the biggest problem for Hang’em Chaim was first, that he is very rigid and overpriced his assets. And secondly, he undervalued pitching for some strange reason. Hang’em Chaim is best when being a number 2 guy in an organization, someone with more personality and some flexibility should be in charge.

Risk vs. reward. I think he has pitched pretty good so far in late 2023. We could always sign wacha as insurance in case ryu does not return to form

I would be happy if we signed ryu, snell and inenaga (lefty reliever Japan) this offseason. Maybe bring back duvall.

In the last two seasons, we introduced several solid homegrown prospects into the Boston lineup. Clearly cassas and Bello are the most talented. I think Valdez could stick in Boston in April. Troye could stick if he has a great spring training. By the end of next year (barring any trades) yorke, Anthony, winkleman, teel, Jordan, gambrell, rosier, and scott are all going to be deserving as well

We have 80 million dollars to spend this offseason. Why can’t we sign 3 starters and a lhrp?

I have seen a lot of hitters come through the Red Sox minor league facility, but none like him! I would love to see him in arizona next month

I thought pivetta was pretty effective once he moved to the bullpen.

Spell check strikes again

Any trade involving Miami will cost a package headlined by either verdugo or cassas depending on the quality of pitcher we trade for.

This is a perfectly acceptable plan. I do think rosier could actually contribute in 2024. Dude makes lots of contact and has speed to burn