Chisoxfn

Nwaba to the Cavaliers.

I agree with you completely on Kopech.

But to the individual player it is still a pretty big open point. It is one thing if he was ready at spring training and you hold him out 3 weeks...it to me is a whole other thing when a guy is ready in July and you are holding him out basically 3 months (or the equivalent of half a season). That said, none of us know the dialogue the Sox have had with Jimenez nor know what they think he still has to work on, etc. There could be legitimate developmental reasons that when combined with starting the clock, drive the Sox to believe it is the best thing to hold him out until mid April.

The important think is I think they will be enjoyable to watch and see who emerges (and unfortunately likely see who doesn't). But for those worried about Lauri not getting touches, I think the Bulls know he is their best pure piece, so I can't imagine they won't be running a lot of stuff through him (as his development is crucial to the rebuild). If the Bulls rebuild succeeds, I envision a scenario where we trade some of our solid players for an above average player (we have a handful of guys that could certainly be packaged for a very good player demanding a trade) while also signing an above average player using cap space. One of those above average players could be a star, depends on how loosely you describe star.

The Bulls are still extremely young and young teams don't typically win in the NBA. It takes time to learn how to win and really play good defense (and this team has some guys who have major defensive issues). Bulls will likely be a turn-style defensively which will limit a lot of the upside. I could see them being a playoff team, east is awful, but I could also see them being one of the worst teams in the conference, mainly because of their awful defense. That said, if I were to bet, I'd probably put them in the 7-10 range.

This Smith think really irritates me.

He is so freaking fun to watch. Really echo your sentiments and hope it isn't anything serious.

There is a soft space in my heart for Phantom Menance. While the story was weak, there were some great individual scenes and I always kind of enjoyed watching those pod races. It might be worse...but being the first starwars movie in ~2 decades probably is the reason it passes better vs. an era where we are getting more star wars movies (and thus I have higher expectations than "yes its a star wars movie").

To be fair...it is more that they dealt or a pitcher who hasn't been the same guy the past 2+ years. Prior to that, he was worth all of the hype out there.

This was a great haul by the Rays. Major overpayment by Pirates, imo.

I like this Steve and I hope he is right!

I moved to trade winds and modified the title slightly so posters know it is an "idea".

I think he is saying the Angels inability to build around someone like Mike Trout, further confirms the notion and strategy the Sox took to blow up their roster vs. trying to rebuild on the fly around an existing young core(i.e., one laded with a couple young, cost controlled star players (Sale / Quintana / Eaton (albeit now oft-injured)). Angels and Sox weren't much different...some young, dynamic players, but their existing farm systems were extremely depleted to non-existent. Sox decided to sell and start over, Angels have tried to rebuild on the fly (without a strong system) and while they have scratched together some mediocre seasons, they have zero hope towards anything that great. I very much agree with Bmags statement. We know I hate throwing out the term "insert sport "hell"", but the Angels are in MLB hell.

Gotcha. I was thinking that was the case, but wanted to confirm.

Remind me again...how do September call-ups impact service time? Would calling them up in September cost the club an extra year of control if they broke camp on opening day rosters next year?

Agree with everything you stated. I think the last one was terrible...but will I watch the next one...absolutely. And will it make a lot of money at the box office....YES.

That 2nd movie was freaking terrible. Hands down the worst Star Wars movie ever made.

They need to get taken to the woodshed and it just is a bad look. Same as the whole charges saga last year with Bosa. Get it done Bears....get it done. We have good momentum, lets not kill it over some remotely to be used language in a deal that fundamentally seems should be on the players side. It isn't like the league is pushing the Bears on this (since the LB the Bills drafted apparently got the language in his contract that the Bears aren't willing to give).

I tend to be typically pretty mixed on these sort of mixups but this seems very cut and dry. Bears appear to be in the wrong side of this argument, big time.

You never know...always possible given his injury last year that he sees some value in a longer term deal that buys out a year or two of free agency while securing him a heck of a lot of guaranteed money. Obviously risk on the Sox side as well.

If the first year this team is competitive is 2021, than a lot of things went wrong.

His arm is the only thing I worry about. Rodon is going to be an ace, lock down front of the rotation pitcher if he's healthy. I'll worry about his contract in 3 years. We are trying to get good in the next 1-2 years and you are going to need front of the rotation horses to do that. We can project Kopech and others, but Rodon is by far the best pitcher on the southside and I'd also say he has as much if not more upside than anyone else as well. His stuff is dynamic. When Rodon is due to get paid, we can start talking about moving him if need be, but this is a couple years premature (unless the Sox don't believe in his shoulder LT).

The flipside to this equation is why should the Sox trade a guy who is young, has upside, and is cost controlled. He certainly seems like the type of piece you keep. If we are going to contend, we are going to need to have a bullpen and having a nice, young, cost controlled piece is a good thing. Now if the concern is injuries (given his checkered injury history), than I understand.

I really hope he makes it cause he's the kind of player that I like to see. MLB needs more guys (in his mold).

I really don't like this thought process. People have found stats that make them rationalize why certain things are okay / aren't okay. This "absolutism" baseball has evolved into is just not good for the overall excitement of the game (i.e., HR / BB / K). Batting average is a good stat (it is not a worthless stat). Getting more hits is a good thing. Yes, luck and other factors exist (and need to be accounted for), but guys who get more hits are just generally going to be more likely to deliver in critical situations and help you win more "one-run" games. The fundamentals of players, etc has declined. Doesn't mean guys aren't physically gifted...cause are incredibly gifted and pitchers throw ridiculously harder, etc, which adds to the nuances, but the advent of the shift, the ridiculous amount of strikeouts...none of that would have happened in the first 100 years of the game.