caulfield12

Nothing left to do this season but cheer for CLE, SEA and BALT because the Sox aren’t going anywhere. (Btw, how was that Harry Caray FoD hologram? And Nick Madrigal had three hits I see…) But at least the good ‘ol 401k/IRA is going up again, there’s that, I guess.

Yasiel Puig, 17.7 fWAR Jarred Kellenic, -0.7 fWAR

Whatever steroids he took, they definitely didn’t help or tub off on Elijah Tatis if he couldn’t even get to A ball. interesting timing that he was just released recently.

Tony Gwynn. That’s all that mattered about those 90’s Padres. Peavy the latter half.

In the end, both franchises are pretty much cursed. I feel more sorry for all the kids in Chicago and San Diego who wanted to believe in a brighter future, bought jerseys, invested their time in the team, etc. If anything, this will only be used by the White Sox to validate that one should never give out contracts like that due to the amount of risk involved. Between the two motorcycle injuries that were covered up and this…it will be interesting to see how much of the remaining deal gets voided when they go to arbitration/mediation. Maybe Preller gets fired, but they still have so many players locked in as the Sox do there’s no escaping those boxes for either franchise. The biggest kick is going to be if Abrams turns into anything resembling a superstar at the same position with the Nationals.

Brothers? Or mistype?

Kaskade

Looking at the upcoming schedule, 8-12 games under feels more accurate. Especially if they stop competing entirely the last 10 or so.

CLE and the Rays really stick out there…

Then how do you explain situations like Hostetler and Buddy Bell?

Leave it to the Sox to threaten their fans. Pretty sure the Reds don’t even do that. Maybe the A’s moving to Vegas?

“Beaten by the guy who lives in a van down by the river.” Need to tick that box off. Norris's family has owned a bicycle shop in Johnson City, Tennessee, for more than 80 years. In the offseason, Norris lives by choice in a 1978 Volkswagen Westfalia van, nicknamed "Shaggy.” His unconventional lifestyle can be described as nonconformist and minimalist, and has raised eyebrows in MLB.

Lately he’s trying to hawk more concession items. That's what it has come down to. Overpriced food and drinks and their relative profitability. Whereas the marginal utility of having season tickets sinks by the second.

Thinking they were magically or luckily going to turn things around instead of adding at least one good (never mind left handed) hitter at the trade deadline seems like an unconditional surrender. Of course, the Guardians do the same, even trading away Leon and Alex Young to contenders, even the team right in front of them…they don’t really miss a beat. How can two managers make such a difference in a pennant race…when we’ve heard 2-3 games at most for the last twenty years or so in terms of managerial impact?

Have won 4 of their last 6 series. Red Sox 3-1, White Sox 3-1, first time back to back two four game series wins since 2014 WS team. Gave the Astros and Yankees all they could handle, too. Very similar to the Tigers the finals two months of 2021.

Judge Judy?

11-8 vs. the so-called easy schedule. Only requires a three game sweep of the Tigers on the road…most were pretty close in predicting roughly 8-11 through 11-8.

The counterexample is players from Japan, Korea or Taiwan almost never show any emotion. They have the “best” work ethic (although some would obviously disagree throwing 200-225 pitches without complaint), practice fundamentals incessantly, usually care more about team than individual performance or hot-dogging. Of course, there have arguably been around eight to ten great or close to star players from there, but hundreds more in the history of the game from Latin American countries. Sometimes talent and God-given ability wins out in the end, too.

Yoan, you’re good enough for me!

Not from his post-game quotes two days ago. And, as they learned from Lynn and Keuchel, no guarantees at this age of repeat performance. Erwin Santana went from pretty great to terrible in the blink of an eye, for example. Must have been strange pitching in the same stadium where he won a WS seven years earlier…closer to his prime, after now having joined another supposed World Series contender as the clock is ticking on his career. Bet he would have a lot more to say about the differences between those two teams.

Also, can Jay Cuda replace Duncan's kid in analytics?

1990-2008 or 1990-2012 were "pretty pretty good." Still consistently underachieving JR's stated goal of second place every season to keep fans interested/engaged, at least from 2013-2022, on average.

Equity makes sense There was some hullabaloo created last week when an anonymous baseball executive was quoted in an article by Jayson Stark of The Athletic as saying he was unsure what the Padres’ business model was in the wake of the trades for Soto, et al. There has been some consternation around baseball for a couple years that Peter Seidler is a rogue owner who has upset the system to a certain extent by committing so much financially as a mid-market franchise. The Padres are selling more tickets and, thus, more concessions and parking passes. They are on pace to pass 3 million fans for just the second time in Petco Park history. And it will take a lot of tickets and beers to pay the $70 million or so that Soto will be owed over the next two seasons. And it would take exponentially more to sign him to a long-term contract. But in recent days, some have said to look no further than the $4.65 billion price paid by Walmart heir Rob Walton for the Denver Broncos. The purchase, which was approved by NFL owners Tuesday, was completed for almost $1 billion more than the franchise’s most recent valuation by Forbes. The Padres, who were purchased in 2012 for $800 million, are valued at $1.6 billion by Forbes. That is not the same as what they are worth. Teams virtually always sell for far more than their “value.” Balancing the books on a yearly basis is a legitimate challenge for MLB teams. That doesn’t mean they don’t have money they can spend. All right, that’s it for me. Early flight this morning. No game today, so talk to you on Saturday after the opener in Washington. Kevin Acee, San Diego Union Tribune Does this make financial or baseball sense? Five years ago, the Padres had an Opening Day payroll of $69.6 million. And now they’ve blown through the luxury-tax threshold for the second straight year. They play in the 22nd-largest media market in baseball. So wow. “I don’t know how they’re paying for it,” said one exec. “I can’t understand San Diego’s business model,” said another. But a third exec said: “I give their ownership group a ton of credit. They’ve financially committed to building an incredible major-league product. So obviously, they’re thinking that if you invest in building a strong brand, the money will all work out in the long run. … And I also think that if I owned a team, I’d be thinking it’s fun to win, so what’s the most fun thing we could do for me and our fans to watch? Let’s do that.” Well, in that case, why not trade for Juan Soto? That sure looked like fun Wednesday night, even if Preller now has a lot of work to do to refill the tank of organizational talent he just drained to make these deals. “I’ll say this about A.J.,” said one of the execs quoted earlier. “He’s one of the best acquirers of young talent in our game, and he’s one of the best at being willing to give up that talent to bring in major-league players he has a chance to trade for. And he doesn’t seem concerned about the cost if it makes his major-league team exponentially better. It’s a very noble way to operate — because his job would be a lot safer if he just held onto those players.” Jayson Stark, The Athletic So what did Soto learn from that team that he can take and apply to this Padres team? “The energy,” Soto said. “The good vibes and the energy that we had that year -- that makes everybody great. That’s all we need. … We already have the talent.” Soto is taking it upon himself to bring that energy. When the Padres fell behind, 1-0, in the first inning Tuesday night, Soto came into the dugout fired up. The Padres had dropped five straight, and Soto wasn’t having any of it. “He started screaming at the dugout, like, ‘Let’s go, we got this’ -- just trying to motivate the guys,” said third baseman Manny Machado. Machado just celebrated the 10-year anniversary of his big league debut. (He did it in style, too, with a walk-off home run.) But even a veteran like Machado says he can learn from his new 23-year-old superstar teammate. “I’m going to be excited to see what he brings down the road,” Machado said. “Especially being a champion -- that’s what we needed here, overall. I could feed off that. I could learn off that. I’ve been to a World Series. But he won it. It’s a little different. “Just feeding off that is going to be huge. I think he’s going to bring the best out of everyone in this clubhouse.” AJ Casavell, mlb.com

Haber, no way it's Getz.

If only we had the Marlins draft/scouting/development staff instead...would even take Jeters' exes.