southsider2k5

It's kind of the same gamble we just took with Murakami. It isn't a slam dunk type move, but one that if it works out would be a HUGE add.

Yeah, my line of thinking on this topic has changed as more has been reported here. You aren't taking operations debt on for paper losses. That doesn't make sense. You take on debt for real losses.

It might even be worth moving Robert out of CF to see if that keeps him a bit healthier.

When the idea was that the Twins were going to finish burning the franchise to the ground this off-season and trading their last few pieces, I would have bet the Sox ahead of the Twins, and said as much. Now that they have their capital infusion, and aren't in desperate financial straights anymore, that might change. We will see what the Twins do.

Fuly agreed. Harold is the Hall of Very Good.

Yep, and if you push out towards a not abnormal 18 months, this year is completely lost. No idea where they are, because no one has said.

Common misconception. People think he's Irish because of the O apostrophe in his last name. Not true. He's actually one of the historically mediocre Hearns. So mediocre in fact that when people would meet them they would state "Oh, Hearn.", as if in disappointment. Eventually the family was was shortened into the contraction "O'Hearn". Hope this helps.

Which still leaves any new operating losses, such as the losses from last years lack of a TV contract, along with any haircut the took on the deal going forward being a much smaller number than it was in previous years.

They have been cutting because of previous season losses for years now. There is nothing to say that they had previously cut enough either.

That depends on how far the new TV deal fell, and how much of last year they expected to happen. If it fell by half-ish, they are in the same situation going forward, as they were last year. Knowing the hit the team is going to take from dropping tiers on Comcast alone is a pretty big red flag for them going forward. Unless Ish is writing checks for both the hundred million in debt, the losses for last year, and more players this year, I think expecting a significantly bigger payroll in 2025 is at best a wait and see. I definitely wouldn't assume it.

Because either they took the lost last year and need to pay it off, or last year sets the next season's payroll, which has always been the Sox MO. They add or subtract based on what the previous season looks like. This franchise took a mid tens of millions dollars worth of a haircut during the season for their historic revenues on their TV contract, and it also going to affect continuing revenues as it is going to smaller than the previous one going forward.

The effect of not having a TV contract last year is not going to help this year.

So if the old story about how no one every took their gains was actually true, the fact they had nine figures in debt means those gains are long gone.

He's a dude that is a peak 60 to 65. But yeah, he has to stay healthy, and he has to condition himself to go 180 innings. Neither of those are a for sure thing. But him and Smith you really, really need to get a #1 starter out of, especially now that Grant Taylor is out of the picture in the rotation.

Yep, Ryan O'Hearn isn't bringing in any outside revenue.

I think we are doing a lot of picking and choosing here to rearrange things to fit, and leaving out everything else if I am being honest. Looking at his monthly splits, His WHIP and walk rates still went up commiserate with his velocity and K rate. He actually got hit less early in the season, and saw his H/9 go up with his K rate and BB rate as the season went on as well. His best HR rate was also in that May/June time period when he was K'ing less, but pitching to more contact and less hits, and HRs. You see K rate in the later half of the season, but he really saw an across the board fall off in other stuff that made it look like he was doing a lot of over throwing, and getting hit in the zone when he came in after falling behind. He honestly looked for effective in that middle 3rd than he did the latter one.

If you back out his six relief appearances, it is more like 4.2.

And if it doesn't happen, it might not be.

Ryan Rolison, Who

I mean if we get a starting 3B out of the dude, that's a win there. I was thinking more of Smith and Schultz in that.

From the looks of his velos over those starts, he is throwing much harder at that point. More K's, but also a lot more walks. His HR rate didn't change, meaning he was still getting hit about as hard.

Mildly surprised to see no one rated higher than a 50 FV. That kind of reinforces the idea that no one sees a superstar in the system.

The "elite K rate" thing is smack in the middle of a lot of other noise. It didn't change his HR rate, and it about doubled his walk rate, leading to no actual change in his expected performance. I previously said, I think his peak is a #4 starter, but I do think he has some consistency work to do to get there.