caulfield12

Well considering he will miss at least half the season and there's only one closer in Clase on the entire list... "The White Sox … looked, back in 2020-21, like they were building a young core capable of competing for years to come. A .500, second-place finish in 2022 wasn’t exactly a disaster, but first-time manager Pedro Grifol enters a situation that’s suddenly full of questions. Can the offense thrive without José Abreu? Will Eloy Jiménez ever stay healthy? Did they really give five years to Andrew Benintendi? Is Oscar Colas ready to handle right field every day? Which version of Yoán Moncada will they get? (All of which pale, of course, in comparison to supporting Liam Hendriks as he battles lymphoma.) But beyond all that, there’s a question about the window here. Lucas Giolito and Yasmani Grandal are entering the final years of their contracts. Tim Anderson, Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly and Hendriks have club options for 2024. The farm system isn’t a strength. If not now, when? The core is young enough that it’s not exactly 2023-or-never, but this might be the last ride for this particular group." https://www.mlb.com/news/ranking-2023-team-tiers?partnerId=zh-20230324-861173-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20230324-861173-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=nnxPEg0y%2B%2Bbjp4cMhG1asGFTJKvZsYAsQRUjNfiUi%2B5ErALKeH7EVQQyInOlEUv8&bt_ts=1679665412943

Japan's 3-2 victory over the USA drew 5.2 million viewers across the FS1 cable network, Fox Deportes, and Fox Sports' streaming platforms, according to MLB. That made it the most-watched WBC game telecast ever on American TV. It was up 69% from the last WBC Final in 2017. FS1 alone averaged 4.5 million viewers.

https://theathletic.com/4338148/2023/03/23/world-baseball-classic-next-steps/

It's a lot like how the Guardians, Brewers, Twins and Cardinals run their operations...albeit not nearly as efficiently. Of course the Rays are in a completely different universe in terms of battling budgetary constraints.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/SB-Blogs/Newsletter-Media/2023/03/13.aspx "But much of that continuity hinges on MLB’s ability to work out a deal to have distributors carry those games. Sources say that MLB execs have had a steady stream of meetings with distributors, including Comcast, Charter and DirecTV. With two-and-a-half weeks to go before Opening Day, sources say the two sides remain far apart in those negotiations to have distributors carry games outside of a traditional RSN. Of course, my sources caution that two weeks is considered an eternity in these types of disputes. Expect these negotiations to get more intense, especially if Diamond Sports tries to get out of some of its more onerous contracts, potentially sending more teams’ rights to MLB. ..... I talked to several sports execs who have gone through a bankruptcy process. They all used the same words to describe it: complicated, unpredictable, long and potentially messy. “You have no control anymore,” one exec said. All bankruptcies are different with their own unique circumstances, with judges and trustees trying to decide on the best way forward. Observers expect Diamond Sports to analyze rights deals that it wants to keep, deals that it wants to shed and deals that it may be able to restructure. Diamond already is late with a rights fee payment to one team -- the D'backs -- though it still is within a grace period where it could make a payment without incurring a penalty. Sources say it also is looking into its deal with the Padres, which is considered extremely favorable to the team. Its next rights fee payment to the Padres is due before Opening Day, sources said. Diamond also is looking closely at its deals with the Reds and Guardians, sources said."

Here's where things were more than a decade ago...when the average value was just $472,000,000 per team. More than a 4x increase for the White Sox despite being terrible from 2013-2019. Years of historically low payrolls building up to the "unprecedented financial flexibility" rebuild finishing touches period, lol.

The chilli cheese fries concoction in a green Sox baseball helmet was decent...

This is dumb. Gordon was never a former #1 prospect in all of MiLB, although he was once famously compared to Derek Jeter (by himself). He also never came close again to his first 4 1/2 months of production in his rookie year. Moncada had a number of years of 3-4 fWAR, most famously 2019, his best season. Beckham peaked in his rookie season and went steadily downhill from that point in time. Beckham was All-American, Golden Spikes, etc., but nothing close to Moncada in terms of projected impact. More like Vaughn at 1B as a comp with his collegiate career, maybe a notch or two behind Andrew. One career of Beckham probably doesn't equate to Moncada's 2023 and 2024 salaries.

Quality of non Stone and Benetti spring training coverage. #30 with a bullet.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2023/03/23/baseballs-most-valuable-teams-2023-price-tags-are-up-12-despite-regional-tv-woes/?utm_campaign=socialflowForbesMainTwitter&utm_source=ForbesMainTwitter&utm_medium=social&sh=2caabb126501 Mired in mediocrity, lol. Pretty sure franchise high was somewhere around 7th or 8th in 2006. Padres nipping at their heels despite loss of RSN at $1.750 and 17th. https://www.statista.com/statistics/194606/mlb-franchise-value-of-the-chicago-white-sox-since-2006/

Rodon at #35 really jumps out.

Guardians have six. KC has Witt. Twins have Correa, Buxton, their new Miami pitcher, Duran one of the top closers probably just missed. Only took Clase from CLE for closer with Diaz out.

Obviously Moncada, Lynn, Grandal, Kopech, and Hendriks not being there are some key names to watch...as well as those relatively low placements for Luis/Lucas/Eloy. No Benintendi, either. Here's hoping Vaughn and Colas can put their names on the map this season.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35917450/mlb-rank-2023-baseball-top-100-players

Nope...

Shares of all the hand-wringing over Micker Adolfo a year ago...

Erick Gonzalez having camp of a lifetime but no spot and not a prospect… Still think Haseley has a 50/50 shot at last roster spot.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2023/03/22/baseball/wbc-us-japan-final/ For Japan, the WBC isn't just meaningful — it's everything “I think it was a very precious experience for the Japanese pitchers and also all the kids in Japan who are watching that might think, ‘oh, that’s really cool,’ and they might want to make up their mind to want to be baseball players,” Kuriyama said. “So I think that was a very great thing to do.” Kyle Schwarber homered off Darvish in the eighth to cut Japan’s lead to one run. Ohtani walked the first batter of the ninth, but a double play set up a showdown against Trout — giving one of the most exciting and dramatic World Baseball Classics a storybook matchup in the championship game. The scenes in Miami that accompanied Ohtani vs. Trout was the best answer as to how much the event meant to baseball fans. “I can’t even imagine being in that moment, the two best players on the planet locking horns as teammates in that spot,” DeRosa said. “The fans won tonight. I’m just — I’m chapped we didn’t win.” Before the final, Ohtani gave a pep talk where he urged his teammates not to be in awe of the MLB stars on the U.S. team, but to see them as equals in order to surpass them. “All the players know them,” Ohtani said. “I didn’t want them to be passive. Show respect, but at the same time, stay aggressive, stay confident.” “I think many great pitchers that represent Japan came here, and many starting pitchers started pitching in the middle of the innings,” Ohtani said. “So I think that all the pitchers, they were able to do their best, and I really appreciate their effort.” It is not easy to sum up what the WBC means to Japan. The nation approaches the tournament with a zeal that is almost unmatched around the globe. Japan installed manager Hideki Kuriyama in Dec. 2021 — U.S. manager Mark DeRosa, for instance, was not named until Aug. 2022. The Japanese held their first training camp for the tournament in the middle of February, long before many teams, and practiced — not played, simply practiced — in front of packed stands in Miyazaki. “I think baseball is great and it kind of describes life, I think,” Kuriyama said during his postgame news conference after the final. “Not just only Shohei, all the Japanese players, and I imagine that the last scene was created by everybody.”

Tanaka was the closest…but we’re essentially looking at 7x the biggest single contract the Sox have ever handed out. Way too risky for a mid tier franchise

He’s exactly the problem at that salary and 625ish OPS and lack of payroll flexibility attached to him. He, Grandal, Jimenez, Robert, Benintendi and TA7 have to produce with how much they’re making. There’s no way around that harsh reality.

https://www.sportsinfosolutions.com/2019/10/02/scouting-some-of-japans-top-potential-mlb-pitchers/ obviously a bit out of date…Senga just signed with the Mets and Pierce Johnson with the Padres out of Japan also Nick Martinez who was on Team USA “Nicholas Andres Martinez is an American professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball. He has previously played in MLB for the Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres, and for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball. Wikipedia”

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=yamada000tet Tetsudo Yamada Yamada, 28, is one of the best hitters in Japan, is an excellent defensive second baseman, and could wind up posted this offseason if his NPB team feels like his price tag will be reasonably high. The rubs there are both the pandemic (we have no idea what teams are going to be willing to pay for guys like Kim and Yamada this offseason) and the change to the posting system that made payments to NPB teams much lower. Even if Yamada landed a $40+ million contract – no sure thing in this environment – his team might receive only $10 million, or half what a major posted player would’ve netted them just a couple years ago. His club might simply decide it is worth it to keep a superstar. But let’s say Yamada’s team decides to post him, or he strenuously asks for it and they oblige. Like Kim, Tetsuto can be an international free agent after next season, so maybe his team decides something now is better than nothing next year. Is he a guy the Cubs should be in on? Well, I mean, he’s a 28-year-old second baseman who plays good defense, has great speed, and has been one of the best bats in the competitive NPB for a half-decade now, so … obviously yes? Right? We can’t translate stats perfectly, and he’s obviously seen a blip here in the shortened 2020 season, but generally, Yamada rakes: https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2020/10/21/if-japanese-star-second-baseman-tetsuto-yamada-is-posted-should-cubs-go-that-route/

Roki Sasaki MLB posting timeline Sasaki wants to play for an MLB team. According to the Associated Press, when he was asked about playing in MLB, he called it "my dream." But while it's easy to dream on Sasaki reaching the majors, the reality is that it could be a little while. If he waits until 2027, when he will be 25, he can leave for MLB as an international free agent and would not be impacted by the posting system. There is the possibility that he could come over earlier, however. If he requests to be posted by his Japanese team Chiba Lotte, and the team agrees to his request, an MLB team can try and negotiate a deal with the team first to acquire the rights to negotiate with him. If that happens, Sasaki can reach the majors much sooner. But that would require him to go through the posting process, which is complicated, to say the least. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/roki-sasaki-posting-mlb-japan-timeline/ljewldo00sktps0q22iuaslh