Balta1701

No, not convincing Jerry to spend more. Understanding the market and having a plan. If ownership expects a payroll limit, he has to come up with plans that work under that limit. He has to be aware last offseason and especially at the trade deadline that financial restrictions are likely, be he clears out zero money and instead adds an unnecessarily expensive lefty who stinks? If he has only $10 million to spend, why is he signing Clevinger? If he thinks he can compete with that budget, why isn’t he selling Montgomery to make it happen? If he thinks he can’t compete on that budget then why isnt he taking more clear steps to reset things for the long term? Because he believes this is a good strategy too. They always say it’s a partnership, they regularly consult on these things, but posts like yours try to present him as an innocent bystander who could do nothing with these payroll restrictions, which just isn’t true. Rick Hahn isn’t sitting there wishing he could sign a $300 million deal while being blocked by JR, he doesn’t believe in those deals either.

Making sure ownership and front office are in the same page should be part of his job. If he’s ordered by the owner to do something impossible, like fill in gaps on the trade market without giving up a lot of value, it is his job to tell ownership that it’s impossible and make them understand that. “Teams will not part with players under their control unless we pay a ton” is the reality if the world where players cost this much in free agency and 40% of the league makes The playoffs. If ownership insists it will happen, it is his job to present realistic alternatives.

Does anyone know anything about the “Reinsdorf joking about his team sucking while getting an award at the winter meetings” part of this? That claim was news to me.

It’s no coincidence that the 3 teams that have filed for bankruptcy in recent memory have all immediately been sold and followed that up with big spending sprees. There are no teams that are being sold to cash out because they’re losing money right now. These teams are all making huge profit margins.

One small theological issue I believe.

This was before the $billion deal with Apple or the extra $30 million teams got last week. Jerry also has a sweetheart deal on the parking lots. He has plenty to continue his habit of lighting cigars with $100 bills.

Jerry Reinsdorf loves deferred money in contracts because if league revenues go up 10% a year, then the deferred money costs him less than paying right now. This is actually a smarter way of doing that, no one will trade for a deferred contract after a guy is retired but if Nimmo is a productive player at age 36 then his contract might be movable without eating too much. Or, if you hold him, maybe you get a bench player rather than a retiree.

I had a Heyman provided estimate or something like that showing 7/$145 and suggested it could be higher than that. It was not a popular opinion.

If you think $150 million for Nimmo is tolerable, this contract is more team friendly by being longer. Not less.

Remember though that the whole group of owners spent 20 years deflating the FA market. MLB revenues have gone up by something like a factor of 1.2 since 2005. This is like a $70 million contract then, basically around what Konerko signed for, based solely on how much revenues have gone up.

If Nimmo is anywhere near a normal aging curve then he will be worth his contract completely within about 4-5 years.

The extra year doesn’t matter. It’s a way to keep the tax total slightly lower, if it helps you to think of this as $150/6 or even $150/5 that’s fine, anything after that is a bonus. The goal is to put a successful championship team on the field in the next 2-3 years. If they do, this more than pays for itself, and you’re already paying Scherzer and Verlander for those years and on them this is a rounding error/ The White Sox should have been in a position making moves like this one.

4x? They spent 6x the smallest payroll last year.

Naw. A smart organization would hold onto the shortstop they control for 2 years at least until Montgomery is ready and would instead go sign the LH outfielder who is a much better fit at a position where they have no help coming any time soon.

KW is running the show, so the hiring, retention, and deference to Tony LaRussa were KW decisions? Naw. Only one person anywhere would have done that.

That's fine! Not only was that coming after nearly a week off, but then there was an offday after game 2. Literally all you needed was 1 win out of those 2 games to set yourself up, so play like it. While we're at it...it was also noted at the time that for a team that would have "had its bullpen destroyed", they had a long man who didn't pitch at all in games 1-2 despite 2 blowouts, Michael Kopech. They could absolutely have used Kopech for 2 innings in game 1 if it were close, rested him game 2, offday after game 2, and then ready to go for 40 pitches again for game 3 if needed. That bullpen pitched 10 innings in those 2 days as it was, without using their best multi-inning reliever, and it didn't destroy them.

If they didn't have home field advantage, I would have done Giolito and then Cease in games 1-2. Then again, I was also saying that they needed to prioritize the 2 seed all the way back in August for that reason. Players didn't do their jobs when they were put in impossible situations. In 2021, Garrett Crochet's ERA on 0 days rest was 9.82. If he's asked to pitch on 0 days rest and his ERA in that situation is 9.82, is it his fault he gave up a run?

The Dodgers. They have young guys but they are not a strong big league rotation right now, Buehler is out. Right now their penciled in 5th starter has 6 career starts. Gonsolin has never started more than the 24 games he did last year. Kershaw obviously won't be pitching 200 innings. May is returning from TJS. If the Dodgers don't sign or trade for a starter they should literally start selling and get out of the luxury tax multi year penalties, it's that big of a deal for them.

So many of those are "on paper you can't do this." Why did Cesar pinch hit in game 2? No one has a clue. Why did they use Crochet back to back, when that never once led to a clean inning during the year, in a tight game with runners on? Augh, you can't do that! Tony LaRussa himself said Kopech couldn't go in game 4. Why didn't the manager listen to Tony LaRussa?

I'm not finding the archived posts so here's what I can do from memory. Game 1: Tony LaRussa never fought for home field advantage. Lance Lynn was put on the mound in game 1, coming off an injury. Lance Lynn had an ERA of >5 while pitching at Minute Maid Park, including being beaten there in 2021. However they wanted to do this, they needed to not have Lynn pitching at Minute Maid, it was a clear issue. They should have absolutely tried harder for home field advantage, and barring that, Lynn should have pitched game 3. Game 1: Lance Lynn's gameplan was terrible. Lynn threw 6 offspeed pitches out of 70 pitches that game. The Astros were well coached and were prepared for his gameplan, which was not different from any of the other games he pitched during the year. This was a clear flaw. Feel free to hang this on the pitching coach too. Game 2: If you go to the game 2 game thread, I say in there "The bullpen is fully rested. You cannot allow Lucas to have the lead and then lose this game without bringing in the bullpen." Lucas had the lead and LaRussa left him in to lose it once several runners got on. Game 2: The White Sox's defensive positioning was utterly awful. Bummer in particular was victimized by this in game 2. I believe it cost Giolito on the tie/goahead run also. The difference between the Astros and White Sox during these games was staggering, every ground ball had a player just barely get to it for the Astros and just barely miss it for the White Sox. Game 2: Garret Crochet pitched in back to back games 3 times all year. He never once pitched in a back to back situation without giving up a run. LaRussa used him in a blowout in game 1 for reasons no one understands. He then brought Crochet into the 5th inning of game 2, on back to back days, with runners on base, in what I believe was a tie game. Bummer did not pitch game 1 and was available. Crochet, just as he did the few times he was used that way during the year, was scored on. That was the winning run. Game 2: LaRussa pinch hit Cesar Hernandez for reasons. Because of this move, Leury Garcia moved to RF. Leury Garcia had a key error on a ball off of Kimbrel that game, leading to the floodgates opening. Game 4: Rodon was left in too long. He should not have been left in to face Correa in the key at bat where they took the lead. Once a runner got to 3rd, he was unwilling to use his slider because he didn't know if Grandal could block it (Correa himself said that if Rodon threw the slider he was toast). Rodon threw him either 3-4 straight fastballs and Correa knocked in the goahead runs on one of those. His fastball velocity was several mph slower than earlier in that same game, but somehow the manager missed this. Game 4: Michael Kopech never once during the 2021 season threw 40+ pitches and then came back out to pitch 2 days later. Michael Kopech threw nearly 50 pitches in game 3. Tony LaRussa himself said Kopech was unavailable for game 4. Kopech was the first person out of the pen once Rodon gave up the hit to Correa, and no one ever asked LaRussa about the contradiction. He actually got out of that inning, and then LaRussa left him in for the next inning where he proceeded to be hit around, breaking the game open. Game 4: Lance Lynn was available on normal rest for the spot where Kopech was sent out, including for the second inning. He never pitched that game. There were more, but those are the ones burned into my memory. Every one of those games goes a different way with a competent manager, they may not win but LaRussa set them up horribly over and over and over. I honestly don't know which of these had the biggest impact on the series. Dusty Baker gave the White Sox game 3 with a ludicrous pinch hitting decision that was still the worst managerial move of that series. #s 2 through whatever were all LaRussa though.

Yes. Do you really want me to drag up all the details?

With an average White Sox manager throughout the season, the White Sox and Astros are heading into a game 5 matchup at the Rate with either Lynn or Giolito on mount with full rest at the very worst. I can give you a managerial flop that was a major factor in each loss of that series - they may not all have turned to wins, but there was a good reason to believe they should have been better in each of the games they lost.

He got picked up by the Giants midseason and did get a short stint with their big league team. He was released in October and is a free agent unless someone signed him recently.

it wasn't given a citation about how Rosenthal knew that, but he does have some credibility in these matters I believe.