Larry Cook

Last I heard, buchholz could not pass a physical and that is why he is not signed.

Porcello was very impressive today. If he regains his 2016 form, that would be a huge win for us!

Watched mookie swing the bat today and there is trouble in paradise. Hopefully it is just timing or maybe he needs to see the eye doctor. Thankfully still plenty of time to work out the bugs.

Swihart had another nice game today. He is clearly seeing the ball really well this spring,

Amen brother! From your lips to god’s ears! We have some heavy weights to deal with first though. New York, Houston and Cleveland. Not to mention the twins, angels and blue jays could are all looking for a seat at the table. Survival of the fittest this year.

As of today, we have pitchers Thornburg, Wright and Rodriguez not starting the season with us. We have price’s and pomeranz’s seasons hanging by a ucl. While I think we have a lot of quality relievers, I also think we could really use another quality starter just in case the youngsters (Velasquez, Elias, Haley, and Johnson) are not able to answer the bell.

Johnson looked good today. And Walden had a field day against the Baltimore youngsters,

I was extremely pleasantly surprised by elias. He really threw the ball well. Clean delivery.

I do not think he he over rated at all. He had bad luck with the knee the last couple seasons, but he has a plus fastball and changeup. Yes the curve could be tighter, but his stuff is good. He operates nicely in the lower part of the strike zone. If he stays healthy, he will have a break out season. He is a number 2 in a rotation, but needs to stay healthy to prove it.

Last year I thought there was talk in the media about both shoulders hurting. I know he got one fixed.

Good move by the pirates.

Could not agree more.

I want to go back to leadership and pedroia for a second. There is an article on the NESN site that basically says pedroia wants others to step up and be the leaders of the team. Ok probably best for the team if that happens, don’t know who could fill that role. But that is pedrioa’s perrogative. Then I read the lindy’s baseball preview issue and it has an unnamed scout talking about how pedroia owns the locker room and Cora needs to get pedroia in his corner so as to not wind up like Farrell who did not have pedroia in his corner. And in my mind, the conclusion I get as that we have a totally dysfunctional locker room centered around pedrioa. I got a player who does not want to be a leader controlling the fates of the manager. This is not anyway to run a railroad. Somebody needs to step up and stop the madness. What am I missing here?

Really? Micro fracture surgery is drastic, but guys have come back from it. Maybe not 100 percent, but 95 percent of pedroia is still a pretty good second basemen.

Sounds like Cora has a plan for how he wants to run our team. So far I am liking what I am hearing. Of course it is easy to talk a good game in spring training. Let’s see how he does during the crush of the regular season and hopefully a pennant race.

I think you called it. Boras getting desperate?

Amen brother! Did not bogey imply there was tension in the locker room as well last season?

Pedroia will give you everything he has game in and game out. And if you are looking for a leader by example, he could be that. But if your your looking for a guy to motivate, inspire and pick up other guys on the team, he is not the guy. Never has been and never will. Just not part of his dna. Sad because when you think back to his rookie season and how badly he struggled and how many guys had his back when he needed it most. Now to know that he will never be a guy to have a teammates back. But pedroia does give you everything he has!

3 years on Watson?

Marrero has an above average glove. If he could put it together at the plate, that would be a huge problem solved for us.

Can we please just pass on JD? He is an injury waiting to happen and not worth our time or money. Pitching! We need more pitching!

Betts and sale have to be extension priorities.

Team dynamics mean that the manager can never be the guy we need. The only way to get accountability in a locker room is through the players themselves. Think of the other Boston teams and if I ask you who the leader is, you know the answer immediately. Bruins - charra and Bergeron. Patriots - Brady, McCourty, Slater and Hightower. Red Sox - ugh??? Pedroia? (No pedroia will give you everything HE has, but he won’t demand anything of anybody else. That is not his style.) hanley? (Please give me a break. Hanley is all about Hanley.) one of the starting pitchers? (Sorry they only play once every five days. It has to be a position player.) Betts, Bradley, bogey,???? (No. They are part of the zombies) I guarantee that if we get a leader in that locker room, the zombies will step up. They desperately want that guy in the locker room, but none of the zombies wants to be that guy. Its dave’s job to build to a “team” every year and that means having leaders in that locker room. Once again, dave the fireman has let our team down. We need a real GM!!! Give this team a leader and I think we can win 95 games if our pitchers just stay relatively healthy and I don’t have to watch Wright start every fifth day!

Bonehead plays, lack of fire and desire, pedroia fracturing the locker room and price verbally berating eckersley. What does it all add up to? A total lack of leadership in the locker room. No one is demanding accountability from fellow players in that locker room. It is madness to expect this to change in 2018 unless we bring in a guy that can lead these sheep.

Coming into the 2017 season, was price having elbow issues? I did not think do. Yes, he had a lot of innings on the arm, but people were calling him the guy with a rubber arm. Sale, price and porcello (with a working sinker), hard to see how we could not win 100 games as a team. But then price got injured. But Pomeranz stepped up big time. However then porcello went into the tank. And to make matters worse, rodriguez’s knee gave way again. And we were left needing more pitching. In desperation, we had to turn to fister!!!!! 2018 is shaping up to be another year of not enough pitching and who is the next fister! Back to the lineup: Even if you brought in the world’s best clean up hitter, this team won’t do squat unless he is a leader! We desperately need someone to command the locker room. Someone to hold players accountable to the team. Until we get that personality, our young guys will not take it to the next level. 2018 year of the zombie part 2.