In addition to helping the Red Sox target some off-season goals and identify some outside solutions for them in 2016, perhaps Jerry Dipoto's biggest contributions will come in evaluating the Red Sox own personnel.
It's common for teams to overrate and overvalue their own prospects and players. Those executives have a vested interest in seeing the
organization's homegrown players succeed and there's some attachment to those players, which can get in the way of proper evaluation.
For Dipoto, who's been going from the Red Sox for 11 years, there'll be no such attachment. He's coming in having spent time with a handful of other organizations. He's heard what others in competiting organization have said about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Red Sox' talent and can bring that perspective, too.
If the Red Sox are going to avoid lengthy, risky free agent deals for some of the elite starting pitchers on the market this winter, they'll likely have to address their pitching needs through trades. And with some untradable contracts on the major league roster, the Red Sox are going to have to give up young players -- either at the major league level or in their farm system.
They're going to have to make the right call on which prospects to keep and which to sacrifice to address needs.
Dipoto's evaluations will be critical here. He arrives with a reputation as a good evaluator, but one unencumbered by past prejudices
or vested interests.