caulfield12

Signing a premium guys once a decade or at least having legitimate interest in let’s say Okamoto would be a start. Pretty much the Japanese version of Jose Abreu, just a professional hitter. Or Hyseong Kim, who seems pretty much superfluous on the Dodgers.

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2025/12/08/rays-officials-say-they-are-making-progress-new-stadium-2029/

Oh someone wrote Jacob...but isn't he referred to as Jake most commonly?

Rays to sign former Mets/Cards starter turned reliever S.Matz https://www.mlb.com/news/steven-matz-rays-contract Looks like they want him as insurance for starting rotation. "There’s a decent amount of uncertainty in the rotation behind Drew Rasmussen and Ryan Pepiot. The Rays have Shane McClanahan and Shane Baz lined up for spots. McClanahan will be on an innings limit after consecutive missed seasons. Baz was inconsistent and is at least a theoretical trade candidate. Ian Seymour is probably the in-house favorite to work as the fifth starter, but Tampa Bay is likely to add a veteran innings eater or two. It remains to be seen if the Rays will give Matz an opportunity to compete for a back-end rotation job." mlbtraderumors.com

Jacoby Meyers the Jaguars' WR maybe.

The next Romy Gonzalez/Fajardo. Looks like the Red Sox might be open to moving on from K.Campbell.

Sox need to be scouring Taiwan. Next niche market. Just watch out for short and medium range ballistic missiles. Still undoubtedly safer than Venezuela and Colombia for scouts. Dodgers did sign that 6'7" or 6'8" Sudanese pitcher.

"I didn't have to interview these people because I knew them all, and I knew that they were qualified, but what I didn't know was I had somebody inside who could start right away making things happen, and that's the reason why Chris was selected." Reinsdorf is correct in the sense that if it probably wasn't worth interviewing the people he already knew, because they'd probably all be worse hires than Getz (he only name-dropped Branch Rickey, who died in 1965). A real process would have identified people Reinsdorf didn't know, but apparently there wasn't time." Soxmachine.com

Why would you with 8-10 teams all competing for your services? That doesn't lead to quick deals for Bottom 3 teams against contenders unless you blow their AAV numbers out of the water or offer a third/fourth year just like Hahn did with Benintendi/Grandal.

With a quick 10 sec google search... There's supposedly 8-10 teams interested in him...50-75% might even be smoke and agency PR, but it feels like a certainty in this market he gets $17-20 million for two. Then you have the President of the White Sox severely limiting contracts going into 2027. For the contending mid market teams who can't afford an Edwin Diaz or even R.Suarez, this Tier B type of high leverage reliever is critical. https://www.si.com/mlb/rays/onsi/news/american-league-contender-emerges-as-potential-suitor-for-rays-pete-fairbanks Dodgers Cubs Marlins DBacks Tigers etc. Everyone expecting him or Finnegan to go next from that secondary group of relievers. Remember his previous number for 2026 was going to be $11 million.

We know this doesn't work without bringing in a foundational piece from outside. Cubs with Jon Lester, Royals with James Shields, etc. It really comes down to developing Schultz/HSmith/McDougal/Oppor AND not ending up with the #4-7 pick next summer. Braden and Antonacci are pretty much it in terms of position player reinforcements.

From Top 10-12 to the #29 payroll.

26 games over .500 at that point, ASB. Something like that. Got to Papelbon.

But not at $15-18 million in all likelihood. Or multi-year deals. And they still won't put Taylor in the rotation to see what happens. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/rays-decline-option-on-pete-fairbanks.html&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjetNf7qq-RAxV0cDwKHXgFIoAQFnoECAIQAg&usg=AOvVaw0Q7Ie_Nc6AW7nwKxsFbnPF Original thread the day he was dropped by TB.

Or Boston. Or Philly. West Coast is so much more relaxed/chill.

That's why SD succeeded for a decade. Weather and home stadium/surrounding environment. Relative safety of the city is top notch as well. Plus you're 3-4 hours closer for Pacific flights. Flyover territory is not for everyone. There's a reason 80% of mlb resources are allocated to the East and West coasts. Chicago is a great city in the heart of the summer months...but the equivalent of London for nine months out of the year. Growing up in Iowa, trips to see the Sox play were always so exciting as a young kid filled with wonder at all the skyscrapers riding the EL museums art galleries the lakefront shopping malls food fests Air Show etc. Heck, just the mystique of Michael Jordan was enough.

https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/article/acc-responds-after-notre-dame-ad-pete-bevacqua-says-conference-did-permanent-damage-by-promoting-miami-for-cfp-164622071.html Wouldn't be shocked if ND was pushed into Big10 finally. Makes so much more sense than ACC for travel/scheduling purposes purely on a geography basis. And UCLA USC Washington have pulled up the academic side of the ledger as well. Plus Phil Knight's money/resources/branding out of Oregon.

Those types of veteran players are not going to be sustainably successful. It's the KW philosophy all over again. It does work occasionally, like 2005. Or last year with the Brewers. To a point. But pure talent/ability always wins out in the end. You're asking the White Sox to operate like Iowa football or Wisconsin basketball and that level of development against the blue bloods is almost impossible to replicate on a consistent basis. The problem is we don't even get the equivalent of 7-5 or 8-4 seasons from a fan perspective anymore.

Ed Farmer would not agree with you.

OU Alabama and Tulsa Mississippi were both terrible games to watch the first time. Oklahoma fans would have been so excited to play ND at home. It's ridiculous when teams like UGA and Bama are playing 5-6 times in one calendar year. Not unlike when Cubs/Sox mid-season battles went from something really meaningful to all about generating more revenue.

Once again...unless you pay 15-20% premium over contenders, you're going to see players with better options heading elsewhere. Who wants to wait until 2029? Someone like Michael Conforto is who the Sox will unfortunately end up with. Maybe the risk at this point is low enough for Getz to bite.

But put a Harvard Michigan Kellogg sheen to covering up the fact he doesn't really know anything about actually identifying/evaluation anything but extensions and risk mitigation. We can hear that from investment advisors for free.

Fairbanks is a great example. There are 100-125 relievers on the market now. Arguably not worth even $11 to a small are the team. But the playoffs the last 2-3 years has only further demonstrated how critical their impact on the postseason. Look at the Mason Miller deal last year. Fairbanks suddenly becomes incredibly valuable on an affordable contract to contenders if he's both healthy and productive. Same exact teams looking at 12-15ish reliable arms drives prices into the strotosphere.

$135-150 million or thereabouts is the very minimum for a playoff team, like MIL and Detroit last year.

It's not those. It's ones like Benintendi LaRoche M.Cabrera Rios Keuchel Danks Encarnacion Lynn...choosing the exactly wrong players for those mostly 2-3 year deals. Then those numbers add up to block other moves, or the Moncada/Jimenez/Robert extensions. Talent/character evaluation. Getting only 2/4 years from Grandal.