WestEddy

Here's my story: My parents owned a deli. On Saturdays, my Dad would give us money, each, to go to the Metro on Belmont, and buy a toy. My older brother would con us to use our money to buy baseball cards. So we'd open the packs. My older brother and sister would grab up the Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Ernie Banks cards. When I cried hard enough, my brother gave me the Rich Morales and Wilbur Wood cards, telling me that they were also Chicago players. I never looked back.

My first childhood baseball idol. That is really sad.

This guy's getting himself real paid for not playing a whole lot of major league baseball

Tyler Schweitzer and Shane Murphy are probably on that path to the majors, as well.

Death date (1974) of former White Sox pitcher, Pete Appleton, born Pete Jablonowski. He pitched for the Sox from 1940-1942, when he was released. It's unknown why he changed his name in 1933, either to avoid anti-immigrant sentiment, inspire a change of luck, or spare his fiance (Aldona Leszczynski) the fate of my favorite Polish joke (I'm Polish, calm down): Q: What does a Polish lady get on her wedding day that's long and hard? A: A new last name.

I've argued all along that right now, he's a 2 WAR/162 games CF. That's worth, what, $15M? I don't think Michael A. Taylor ever made over $5M, and he had a nice, short run of 3+ WAR seasons. Robert has that elite ceiling, I know. Crochet moved quickly, as the league saw his potential as a pitcher and health-wise. The league seems to be telling us they're not going to bite for prospects and taking on Robert's full contract. Or maybe they were just waiting for Taylor and Bellinger to come off the board so they could reassess.

Mundelein

It's the most wonderful time of the year!! Bullpen arm minor league deal season!!

Last year was a different market. I think Robert's kind of worth around $10M right now. He's been too injured and average-y for the league's taste. If he goes out in 2026 and puts up the 3.5 fWAR year he's capable of, the teams might line up for 2027. (If he put that up all season on the WSox, then they pick up his option.)

sounds like FanGraphs thinks Ward is a platoon AAAA bat. I can't find anything substantial on Bobby Miller. Los Angeles Dodgers Top 52 Prospects | FanGraphs Baseball 21. Ryan Ward, LF Drafted: 8th Round, 2019 from Bryant University (LAD) Age 27.8 Height 5′ 11″ Weight 200 Bat / Thr L / R FV 40 Tool Grades (Present/Future) Hit Raw Power Game Power Run Fielding Throw 40/40 55/55 50/50 45/45 50/50 30 Ward is the Crash Davis of our times. He’s spent the last three years marinating at Triple-A, where he comfortably set the Oklahoma City Comets franchise home run record and became an annual presence on the target lists of scouts with PCL coverage. Buried on the Dodgers depth chart, he probably would have debuted for a couple dozen other clubs by this point, and who knows how agonizingly close he’s been to a ring-netting cup of coffee with Los Angeles. Power is Ward’s best skill, and he’s able to bring plenty of his above-average raw into games. While he uses the entire field, he’s also gotten better at identifying which pitches he can turn on and drive. Befitting a power bat off the bench, he swings a fair bit, but he’s not recklessly aggressive either. He’s average in a corner and has played a little first base, so there’s a bit of defensive versatility here. The quality of his at-bats declines considerably against lefties: He doesn’t see their spin well, and ideally would never face them. He’s on the Quad-A/platoon buffer, and for his sake, we’re hoping 2026 brings more clarity about which side of the line he belongs on.

Braden's played one season in minor league ball. He's had 143 PAs as high as AA, where he only OPSed .780. He still strikes out way too much. Some here have spoken about B.M. being up as soon as May, and I think that if he rakes at Birmingham, maybe he's up at or near the TDL?

I think Kelenic's immature, maybe on the spectrum, a bit, for the way he just doesn't know the perfect amount of athlete-speak. He's certainly not Milton Bradley. Kelenic entering his 4th organization may be a wake up call for him, if it hasn't been explicitly laid out in that way for him, to pull his s%*# together and have a career. AJ rubbed guys the wrong way. In an interview way back, AJ once piped up about Aaron Rowand, mentioning that he likes to get drunk and aggressive when out on the town, and that's just not something anybody needs to be talking about in the media. The clip that got played here of Kelenic talking about how his teammate's child passed, that's just a thing where if you don't know how to address that with the utmost of respect, don't mention it. I believe he doesn't have that filter. That, and he's a hot head who hurts himself throwing a tantrum, or he sulks.

LaMond Pope got the memo, too. In today's Trib: Chicago White Sox: Offseason additions — and areas to address Kelenic leads off an "off season additions" piece. Nothing interesting, just recapping the off-season for people who don't follow the off-season. Build new friendships, to replace the old friendships...hmmm I wonder why he needs new friends?

I first became aware of Jayson Stark when he was on the staff of the annual Bill Mazeroski Baseball Prevue magazine, in the 80's. That publication kept me in stitches, and pulled me through every team preview with witty writing. But like every artist who suddenly becomes "aware" of themselves and tries to turn in an album or movie that taps into all of their own quirks, Stark really started leaning on the quirky. Most home runs for a guy with a Z in his name. Entire columns of that sort of filler felt clownish. Maybe I just grew up. Stark's still a good writer, but I really don't seek him out anymore. That said, he just wrote an article in The Athletic explaining his ballot. He voted for 9, and left Buehrle off his ballot. He explains: My 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot — change is coming to Cooperstown - The Athletic I guess it's reassuring that he does give great thought to his ballot and can explain every vote and omission. But for his refusal to pick Buehrle...clown.

Yesterday's Rosenthal column at the Athletic floats that the Rays are still looking for catching. What I’m hearing about the Orioles’ interest in Justin Verlander, and more MLB notes - The Athletic Didn't that three team trade for Lux happen about a month ago?