caulfield12

Unless it's women's basketball...crazy that a number of campuses the women are now outdrawing the men.

They were already 100% familiar with Hedges' pros and cons...and he actually played last season. How many times have guys missed large parts or a full season and come back seamlessly like Stassi is attempting to do at age 33 next spring training, as a catcher? Hedges is 31...well, we'll just have to wait and see which proves to be the better move.

Isn't Glasnow projected at $25ish million next year?

Mid first round draft picks are almost never going to fall off any team's Top 10 lists...based on just a couple of months of play after a LONG collegiate season.

Chiefs learning the hard way how difficult it is to compete with such a rag-tag receiving corps. What the heck is going on with the NFL today? So many bizarre results. Other than the 49ers (as long as they're healthy) being the best team in football, there aren't many certainties one can rely upon.

The obvious problems are RF, whether they hold onto Jimenez and pretty much the entire rotation and bullpen after a Cease trade and with Santos likely out/possible surgery. Finding it hard for some reason to imagine Eloy staying healthy (and putting up a 2.2 as a DH, but why not dream?) and Moncada also staying entirely healthy, but we shall see I guess. Not sure how many tickets they'll see...but they're going to "lose" significantly less money with this roster approach. Not that most fans care about JR's pocketbook in the least. They simply care about having a competitive team that plays the game both hard and cleanly.

They will go for two year deals...no Burnes. Depends on asking price with Bieber. Glasnow just creates more payroll issues.

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-players-react-on-social-media-to-shohei-ohtani-s-contract Mark Feisand MLB.com "Per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, Ohtani’s deal includes what one source called “unprecedented deferrals,” including the majority of his salary -- which was Ohtani’s idea. He wanted to mitigate the CBT and cash-flow burdens to let the Dodgers have the flexibility to be competitive. There are also tax benefits because of the deferrals, the source told Feinsand, but they were “primarily about allowing the team to be successful on the field, because above all else, he wants to win.” That flexibility will be important, as Ohtani now being off the table allows the trade and free-agent markets to get moving -- and the Dodgers still have moves they must make, even with their new superstar in tow. The biggest need is at least a couple of starting pitchers to reinforce a currently thin staff. The biggest available options via trade are the Brewers’ Corbin Burnes, the Rays’ Tyler Glasnow and Dylan Cease of the White Sox, all three of whom the Dodgers have been linked to."

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-players-react-on-social-media-to-shohei-ohtani-s-contract It also surpasses the roughly $679 million Kylian Mbappé would earn if he opts to stay with PSG through 2025...but in terms of actual/present day value, most economists are placing it somewhere around $588 million, a much more complicated version of the Betts deal with a lot of deferred payroll to protect near-term payroll flexibility and stay far away from the second/higher luxury tax threshold.

A-Rod's $252 million Rangers' deal...

ESPN/Dave Schoenfield: The Dodgers will have to reconstruct their starting rotation as Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May are out for 2024, but they're getting Walker Buehler back and still have payroll room to add a free agent starter or two and do have an intriguing group of young starters, including Bobby Miller, Ryan Pepiot and Emmet Sheehan, plus prospects like Nick Frasso, Gavin Stone, River Ryan and Landon Knack who could all pitch in the majors this season. Also, if Yamamoto ends up much higher, closer to $250-325 million...then the Dodgers might end up taking the fallback Japanese option in Shota Imanaga.

Now ALL the interest in baseball shifts to Yamamoto and Bellinger....along with Korean OF Jung-ho Lee and Shota Imanaga, both in the vicinity of $75 million. Also looks like brisk market for Blake Snell is coming back down to earth (peripherals) as Yamamoto ascends.

https://africa.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39078719/shohei-ohtani-contract-los-angeles-dodgers-passan Jeff Passan's massive headline story

ESPN writers all over Cease if LA doesn't sign Yamamoto Gonzalez: They should trade for Dylan Cease, who comes with two years of control and has the type of stuff that can pave the way for the Dodgers to get him back to his Cy Young-contending play of 2022. Then they should sign someone like Lucas Giolito or Marcus Stroman. After that, acquire another corner outfielder to plug into an outfield mix that could use a little more certainty. The real prize, though, would be to just go out and sign Yamamoto. They'd love nothing more -- but it would mean spending $1 billion on two players in one offseason. Unlikely, of course. But if anyone can do that, it's them. McDaniel: The high-end starting pitchers still available via trade (Corbin Burnes, Tyler Glasnow, Dylan Cease) or free agency (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell) have to go to the top of the list. There's plenty of young talent in L.A.'s system to make a trade happen, but adding Yamamoto would be the boldest move possible at this point and doesn't seem far-fetched at all. Schoenfield: Hey, this is a team without an ace right now -- when in the recent past they've had guys like Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urias and Max Scherzer to front the rotation. What's another $30 million a year or more for Yamamoto? This is where we remind you: Despite all their massive success over the past decade, the Dodgers haven't won a World Series in a 162-game season in 35 years (no, the COVID title isn't quite the same thing). Yamamoto or bust! Rogers: Their next three moves should all be for starting pitching or else Ohtani's signing will be a waste. Adding Yoshinobu Yamamoto or trading for Dylan Cease seem reasonable enough. But they can work their way down the ladder as Jordan Montgomery, Shota Imanaga and Mike Clevinger all fit as well. L.A. needs top and middle of the rotation guys. Inventory is important here. Olney: They need cheap starting pitching desperately, and Cease fits that description perfectly -- he's eligible for salary arbitration this year and next year, at relatively reasonable prices, and he would give the Dodgers the kind of innings volume they really need.

Well, you guys just hit the major talking points for the first Presidential debate next summer/fall ... VS. The economy is far from bad.