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Do you have strong feelings one way or the other about the McCaskey family? You seem to be an enigma on that subject.

I disagree, every qb in the nfl running for their life on literally every snap would be affected in their accuracy

These takes are absolutely hilarious to me. The Dodgers spend more because they have access to revenue streams substantially above almost every other team in baseball. They spend more because they can without going into the red. It fucking sucks for parity, but alas, the MLB could give two shits about trying to have a competitive product like the NFL.

I made a good bit of money betting on them last year. Of course is was to lose each game.

Steamer projects our positional group to put up 14.3 fWAR next year. That would have ranked 23rd overall last year, so still in the bottom 25% of teams. However, it does reflect a 20.6 win improvement over the -6.3 fWAR we got out of our positional group last year. I keep seeing people saying that this roster is worse than last year, but I really doubt that is the case. Last year’s group was the 10th least productive in baseball history per Fangraphs. Like just getting replacement production at C, 3B, & RF is worth nearly seven wins alone. And beyond that, there are plenty of rebound candidates, Robert being the biggest and most likely one even if he suffers through some injuries. The pitching staff is definitely worse on paper and is only projected for 5.7 fWAR next year. That would have ranked 29th in all of baseball last year and reflects a 4.1 win decrease from this past season for us. When combined with the positional group, that’s a 16.5 fWAR improvement YoY despite the loss of Crochet and Fedde and no meaningful external additions. I personally think the positional group projections are too optimistic, but again, just replacing the guys who had no business being on a major league roster with slightly above replacement level talent wil make a huge difference. Gun to my head right now, I think this team wins 55+ games next year. Losing Robert would change that for me, but I think a 49.5 O/U is an absolutely absurd line and everyone should be pumping the over because it’s really fucking hard to win less than 50 games in a season.

The one stat that makes me wonder what Caleb's coaching looks like... He had that streak of 354 passes thrown without an interception. It really makes me wonder if he is coached to intentionally throw more non-competitive passes than he needs to, so yes the streak looks good, but that is mostly because he isn't trying to complete a lot of balls.

I'd rather lose the White Sox way than Win the Dodgers way..... "Me too!!"

Exactly correct. Other teams/owners cry poor instead of trying to win. I have zero sympathy for them. If they can't or don't want to play the game the way it is being done today, then sell and get out.

Other teams could have done this 🤷‍♂️

I would just like to point out that Andrew Vaughn was moved out of the outfield for a full season, actually got worse, and his performance as an outfielder still is being cited to excuse him.

For some baseball fans, winning isn't everything but I know there are precious few of that kind of fan on this forum. My point was that it will be interesting (for some fans like me) to watch the new players the Sox acquired and hope that they can contribute some time down the road. The catcher position will be up for grabs in ST and one of the three competing for that position could also compete to be our DH. There will be competition for all infield positions other than first base. I am anxious to see the 22 year old RF the Sox got from Boston. Benintendi is healthy and could have a good season. Our pitching staff is young but have another year of experience under their belts. And we have some monster prospects that will be coming up in the next few years.

I'm not seeing any reason to take the over. We've signed nobody and lost our best player. Who exactly is a big bounce back contender? We're utter trash. Chicago sports is pathetic.

This seems like a very reasonable deal for Torres. That being said, 2B is the last spot we need a flip guy at. Give the playing time to Sosa, Baldwin, Meidroth, or even Ramos. Need to get at least one second division regular out of that group.

Flip candidates almost always have to be bargain basement guys made good. By definition, FA signings go to the club willing to pay them the most money. Unless Torres magically recaptures his form from the juiced ball year, he's getting paid the max of what any team wants to pay him. The prospect cost of acquirig him at the deadline will be marginal. It's similar to a scenario where Benintendi has last year's second half in the first half of 2025. He'd get you something, but it's not gona be a top prospect.

Liked him as a flip candidate since he's a name with pedigree and still just 28, but never signing anyone that expensive.

Larry Borom had to pick one guy to block and chose neither

Credit to Prime Video for not cutting the audio during the postgame recap where you could hear Bear fans chanting in unison "Sell the Team," Charissa Thompson even commented on it. And credit those Bear fans for staying and making their feelings known. McCaskey family ownership in full effect. 🤡

Over, just because it's actually very hard to win less than 50 games.

I think the Sox will be a MUCH more respectable organization and get their act together this coming year…. 55 wins for the over

Grew up in Chicago, was a Sox fan (while his brother Bryant was a Cub fan)... https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/2024/12/27/longtime-sportscaster-and-chicago-native-greg-gumbel-dies-at-78

Baseball has the most variety when it comes to its winners. So many of the guys the Dodgers spent a ton of money on last offseason didn’t even contribute in the postseason. Still actually have to play the games. I will admit, they look so much better going in this upcoming season. I didn’t think their lineup looked that impressive for what the payroll was going into last yea.r.

Other teams could have afforded this contract. As I said, Pirates have a need for offense, currently in “their window” and a $75M payroll. They could have done this.

Where in the fucking world did I make a single comment rationalizing Jerry’s conduct as owner? I’m just sick of people with zero business acumen cheering on one of the richest two organizations signing a f*** load of free agents and saying “why don’t they all do that”. This shouldn’t be that hard to comprehend. And your constant “Jerry loves rebuilds” comments are just plain dumb. The dude literally went years avoiding a rebuild even though it was the right thing to do. And the only reason he’s rebuilding right now is because KW & Hahn completely destroyed the org and there is no other option. It’s wild that there are countless things to rip Jerry for and yet you still somehow need to create your own ones.

So there, you just called out the true problem. The Dodgers almost always spend the most but they don’t win the WS every year, do they? Meanwhile, Jerry doesn’t even try to win his own division the majority of the time.

He didn’t want to sign with the other teams… so actually, they couldn’t have. 😆

let's not bury the lede there in your presentation councilor: Gavin sheets 2nd to last. He didn't just "happen to be there" this dumbfuck org put him there, quite literally!

They should be able to interview Johnson during the bye week before the SB, if the Lions make it that far

While not the Dodgers, the Sox should be a team with a revenue stream in the next bucket of teams. Not the Yankees or Dodgers, but why not the about Angels level as a 2nd team in in similarish metro area? Why should the Padres be able to outspend us? Even being realistic, we should be way higher.

Reds desperately need a CF…whether they will ante up remains to be seen. My guess is he our OD CF.

He was literally the worst defensive OF in baseball and by wide margin. I put this table together at some point during the of 2022, but he was leagues worse the next worst guy (who happened to be Gavin Sheets). I know your comment was in just, but I do think it’s important just negative his OF glove and how insane it was that Hahn kept putting him out there.

I think the 2 teams he was rumored for filled an OF vacancy. He’s the opening day CF for the Sox.

I hate Reinsdorf as much, if not more, as you. I think he is a terrible owner. That doesn’t change the fact that the Dodgers’ revenue blows ours out of the water and we could never spend what they could on payroll. Not having a real salary cap sucks and this is just another example of that. If you have a problem with cheap owners, then argue for a salary floor…they aren’t mutually exclusive issues.

I'd say there's a 70% chance you get your way.

RIP Greg. I remember watching him on channel 5 as a kid. Really good at what he did.

Example: Pirates. They need hitting to go with that young rotation. Their payroll is like $75M. f*** them.

I hope the Dodgers win every championship until the Sox are good again so I keep hearing how this is somehow good for the game.

Those did well too. Got good odds early in the year when they had a lead in the 7th.

Same. Runlines and alternate runlines

I did well betting on their bullpen to lose games, and picking HR props for who would homer against them.

I agree. I enjoy baseball and I think the second half of this year will be interesting to watch as the prospects come up. Will they be any good? You knows.

I love reading these old threads and seeing all the takes at the time. The Fletcher stuff is probably more interesting than the Horn or Thompson takes.

Well that is certainly an opinion

FWIW, on the last play of the game, the Seahawks sent the entire right side of their defense and the Bears had no underneath route to throw to. Yes they needed 10 yards, but had they had Allen run a shallow cross or a drag route he easily gets 10 yards because there was absolutely nobody defending it. Seeing the Seahawks have 8 guys on the LOS and no check down option seems like a huge oversight. When you design a play there has to be a reasonable hot read to account for a situation like that. Instead the Bears ran Moore on a deep cross, Allen on a sit down route in the middle of the field and Odunze on what I think was a deep dig. Allen has to recognize that when half of the field is not being defended he needs to convert his sit route into a crosser. The receivers really haven't helped Caleb at all this year.

Caleb has actually gotten worse at getting rid of the ball quickly as the season has gone on. The inaccuracy on deep throws has been really disappointing. All his other struggles are pretty normal for a rookie in a badly coached offense. He really does need a reset and the Bears really need to hire an offensive head coach to get him in the right space. There's definitely times where he plays hero ball and doesn't get rid of the ball when he should, but there's also plays where he just has no chance because there's no actual checkdown for him to go to.

Keep improving that draft pick.

I went with the over but honestly I wouldn't put any money on that.

Just a crime for a big market club.

$72 million opening day payroll in 2018. This upcoming season will be even lower. A new low for Jerry to reach.

63 wins. They're starting out with a better whole rotation than '24, better bullpen, new manager, rookies competing for jobs instead of lifetime under-achievers getting injured in the first 11 games. They also have their RF and 5th starter in camp from the beginning.

I think he wants to place that bet, but doesn't necessarily want "betting" to become easier and more accessible.