All of the things from that study did us Cook county not the suburbs. I disagree with your individual points as well. All of the south suburbs around me are heavily Cub fans to the point the Sox fans cheer each other when we find one.
I would disagree that it doesn't bother him. The simple fact that he approved a plan to finally do a complete rebuild shows it bothered him enough to make a drastic change in philosophy.
I see your point but I still think it will work the opposite. The early free agency went artificially raise contracts like arbitration where it either a low value or a high value. True free agency early on will not raise it as much. It will for the elite but for most it won't happen. This will really be true if the players lose the guaranteed contracts in the negotiations.
The WAR isn't that accurate yet because the teams have really only started using it the last couple of years when we've seen the free agent contracts go down.
That would lower the overall salary I think. Adding a few million earlier is not as much as the 10s of millions on the end of contracts like Puljols.
The advanced metrics have really shown how bad the end of the long term deals really are.
The value per WAR has really changed the way GMs and owners look at paying or usually overpaying players.
Yes. Apparently one of the Philadelphia front office people was part of the Baltimore group that drafted and developed him. He is pushing hard for Machado.
All of the teams seem to be taking the approach that they dont want to get into a bidding war and are waiting to see what other teams offer
Also that the top priority for Philadelphia is Machado and once he receives offers from other teams they will beat it.
Agrees with a Philadelphia sports reporter on MLB this morning. He said Machado is their top priority and they are waiting until other offers are made then they will beat any offer.
Both ways are valid and have good and bad aspects. i like the young pitching (and lots of it) with the cost control. Then move on because as they get older there is more likely to be issues with them than the hitter. Put the money and long term investment in the hitters. Run through all the young pitching you can.
The mechanics also will improve to keep the spin rate consistently high. But you're right, all of these things will help but until he shows it in a game, there is no telling if it helps enough.
I think the fans who go to Soxfest probably fall in the same group. How many fans go? It lead off the news from Soxfest but other than that is there ever any news about it? I just don't see the average fan that involved in it.
I still don't see this. Other than all of us idiots on this board, most fans aren't really familiar with the Manny situation. Most other fans I discuss it with pretty much say, "I heard the Sox might get him."