caulfield12

Well Fedde went south pretty quickly after the trade. Houser slipped as well. Just depends on how much impact Katz and Bannister had. Remember...these guys AND Kay are/were all vets and in their 30's, so the odds were always going to be against them being around for the 2028-2030 "competitive window." Not sure either guy would have been offered more than $5-$7.5 million per season to stick around anyway. The goal was always to limit the number of bigger contracts on the books for the 2027 lockout year when attendance might really bottom out depending on how bitter the dispute turns out to be (1994-95 was particularly devastating to almost all teams across what is now the AL/NL Central, the Heartland and Rust Belt down to Cincy.)

It means they really don't plan to compete in the division until 2028...unless all the lookout issues are somehow miraculously resolved before December 1, basically one year from now. So Getz has what is in essence a 4 1/2 year run of rebuilding.

1) At his age and contract numbers, simply a placeholder to protect the injured/rehabbing pitchers and better prospects that are still at least 3-4 months away. 2) With any success similar to Fedde, likely a trade and flip guy. Contract numbers will be quite affordable for basically any contender out there looking for deadline upgrades. 3) Still doesn't exceed $5 million per season...that was likely the limit to JR's budget for FA signings. 4) Essentially replaced Trevor Bauer for the BayStars. 5) Looks like DaVitt and Cannon will be battling it out for the fifth spot...and possibly another Rule 5 guy. 6) Nice to have at least one lefty for some balance in the rotation. One concern is everyone in the Sox rotation throws basically the same speed...93-95 mph, with the exception of Shane Smith. 7) Vasil still in the bullpen? Probably? Maybe? 😎 Probably puts NPB FA Takahashi in the $15-25 million range. And finally, perhaps Kay can help the Sox with recruiting one of his teammates? "Our ace Katsuki Azuma, a little lefty. He throws 88 to 90 and a bunch of different pitches and can just dot it everywhere...(sounds a lot like Imanaga with a lesser FB, so even more dependent on pin point control). And Andre Johnson a fellow BayStar."

"They have very flat swings over there. Fastballs atop the zone don’t really work too well because they just foul it off and work 10-pitch at-bats every time just to be annoying. They weren’t even trying to put the ball in play. They were just going up there to get the pitch count up. I started working on the two-seam last year and had some success with it. Coming into this year, I was really going to commit to it. Once I started using that as often as my four-seam, that really changed how I pitched and how I attacked some of these hitters. Even with those guys working up counts, you still managed to throw 155 innings last year. The two-seamer really changed everything. Every four-seam was getting fouled off, and I just really wasn’t sure what to do at that point. I was watching a lot of these guys flip in some sinkers at 88-90 mph and they were getting ground ball after ground ball. I kept thinking, “I need that.” That changed everything for me." What’s in your arsenal? Two-seamer, four-seamer, cutter, sweeper and change-up. I’ve been working on a curveball, not the best! But we’ve been working on it a bit just trying to flip it in there one percent of the time. It’s not a pitch I’m totally comfortable with throwing at all times.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/47190646/white-sox-lhp-anthony-kay-agree-2-year-deal-sources-say It’s a familiar page in general manager Chris Getz’s playbook: sign a former first-rounder to a two-year deal on the heels of a strong run pitching in one of the top leagues in Asia. That strategy worked out reasonably well when Chicago signed Erick Fedde for two years and $15MM in the 2023-24 offseason following a terrific season in the Korea Baseball Organization; Fedde was traded to the Cardinals in a three-team swap in July 2024, netting the White Sox Miguel Vargas and minor league infielders Alexander Albertus and Jeral Perez. Vargas was a league-average bat for the South Siders in 2025 and is controlled another four seasons. Albertus and Perez rank within the top 25 prospects in the Sox’ system. The Sox will hope for similar results in their similarly priced investment into Kay. The 30-year-old southpaw (31 in March) has pitched 291 2/3 innings since heading to Japan. In that time, he’s logged a 2.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 54.5% ground-ball rate in 48 starts out of the BayStars’ rotation. https://fansided.com/mlb/exclusive-anthony-kay-reinvented-himself-in-japan-to-earn-another-shot-at-mlb https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/12/white-sox-sign-anthony-kay-two-years.html

In a surprise Tuesday night during the penultimate ranking show on ESPN, the committee moved Alabama up to No. 9 and dropped Notre Dame to No. 10. That’s crucial because, with the ACC and American Conference champions almost certainly finishing outside of the top-12, the last at-large spot will go to the team ranked No. 10. Why is that potentially bad news for Notre Dame? It all comes down to, of all things, the Big 12 championship game between Texas Tech and BYU... yahoo sports So let's Bama loses a close one to UGA and BYU somehow wins over TT, it's essentially a battle of Miami ND and Alabama for the last spot. Crazy.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRkf9t4EUV4/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=19f6b879-c16b-4e18-b55f-296954625ed2&ig_mid=B6005C57-8884-4ACD-83B8-2EC1D5EAF1C5 Yermin Mercedes living his best off season life possible. Margalus labelled it something like a "pre/early mid life" crisis.

They were out as soon as the contract terms ballooned over $10 million.

https://www.mlb.com/news/angels-alek-manoah-free-agent-contract Former SoxTalk target Alek Manoah signs with the Angels...

Sun, 10/19 @UK W16-13 OT 5-2 (2-1) Manning 132 Wisner 37 Moore Jr. 37 Sun, 10/26 @MSST W45-38 OT 6-2 (3-1) Manning Arch Manning has improved by leaps and pounds in the second half...but their best victory is still a neutral field one over Oklahoma, with Mateer rushing back from hand surgery and far from 100%. What does his "star power" or Q Rating as a QB count for here?

Mississippi getting pushed back into a road game and Bama missing two years in a row with Texas/Vandy also out is going to have the SEC seeing red if Miami does in fact make it. Then again, the SeC did it to themselves with the whole Kiffin debacle. Carson Beck would have a small measure of revenge. Btw, is the Tulane coach still going to lead them if they make the final spot? https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/article/alabamas-doomsday-scenario-from-conference-championship-game-to-missing-the-college-football-playoff-161103756.html

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/12/blue-jays-cody-ponce-finalizing-three-year-deal.html $30 million reported this week was exactly on the dot. 7 deep now in their rotation with Eric Lauer, 8 if you want to throw Yariel Rodriguez into the mix. Bassitt could also return as a swing man. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/02/style/faberge-winter-egg-auction-sold And $30.2 million for a rare Faberge egg haha.

The A's did this last off season...but they actually have/had some unusual clause inserted that they have to reach $100 million floor in payroll at a certain point as a result of negotiations with MLB over their classification for CBT subsidies. So it was more about preserving all the benefits of being a small market team when technically they didn't meet any of the requirements except for the way in which they operated in a practical sense. Meanwhile Sox staring at $62 million and much less without Robert.

There are lots of accountants that still exist in the world without being CPA's.

Need KW Hahn Haber table for all the best gossip. Or Katz/Sizemore/Sergio Santos can sub in.

UVA beating Duke takes spots 11/12 away. So then it would be Bama vs. Miami essentially. OFC Miami beat ND early but didn't play all that great in the ACC...which is way down as well overall as a league. But BYU beating TT creates another nightmare...Utah Vandy Texas all remain on the outside looking in. Then you have the old "how Bama looks" against UGA argument. But Alabama has already won once against UGA on the road...and any two Top Ten teams playing FIVE times in one calendar year leads to familiarity contempt and often odd outcomes.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/47157018/college-football-playoff-2025-bubble-watch-week-14

"Meet Zack, Your Premier Real Estate Expert in South Florida. Zack's story begins in the vibrant and diverse culture of South Florida." He refers to himself as a Real Estate Specialist at LinkedIn.

Then it should have "certified” in front. Are you sure that Collins has this designation? It's funny, I can't say I was a Teacher with two Master's degrees. Need to have a PhD as well. But still not Teacher, then it's Dr. Lawyers have seven years of education and have Juris Doctor degrees on their diplomas but are not Doctors somehow, either. Or financial planners, lol. CFRE or whatever that designation is. Yet CPA's are not Accountants either. Guessing someone in your family was/is a "Realtor" Q: Why is “realtor” often capitalized? It drives me crazy. It’s just a job description, like “chef” or “dog catcher.” What’s so special about realtors? A: The term is often capitalized because it’s a registered trademark in the US for a member of the National Association of Realtors. Most standard dictionaries capitalize the term, including the online Merriam-Webster and American Heritage dictionaries. One notable exception is Oxford Dictionaries online, which lowercases the term in its US version. The Associated Press Stylebook capitalizes “Realtor,” but recommends using “real estate agent” instead unless “there is a reason to indicate that the individual is a member” of the association. However, the Oxford English Dictionary, an etymological dictionary based on historical evidence, lowercases “realtor".

And same thing with Alabama getting knocked out for losing to UGA in the SEC championship game when all those other teams that are going to make it are protected simply by not playing. Oklahoma the way they looked against LSU doesn't deserve to make it but the way they are playing now offensively. But maybe the most Top 25 wins and also dominated Michigan. Did BYU have any tough non-conference games? Utah had TT but the B12 was way down this year. Vandy and Texas are right there with Miami IMO. Could just flip a coin. Florida State today looks terrible but not early season when they beat Alabama. Same with Florida over Texas. And if Mississippi falls out of hosting a first round game (7th to 9/10) their fans will probably blow up Kiffin's old house. OU certainly is not more deserving to take 7th/8th place. Which leaves ND or Alabama leadfrogging..Bama makes sense if they beat UGA, but then THEY lost at home to OU and almost lost the Iron Bowl and to South Carolina as well. Fifth time in one calendar year for UGA and Bama to play, which is quite crazy in and of itself.

For me, it was the capitalized R. Not that I have anything against the profession...

Where washed up White Sox go for their final MiLB assignment. Or the White Sox are the Rockies of the AL/NL Central…

Rinse. Repeat. Foster Griffin, forner KC first rounder and one other guy coming back stateside will be cheapest options. https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/chicago-cubs-trade-free-agent-rumors-ideas/201899/cubs-free-agent-target-foster-griffin Option 3 will end up probably like LHP Kyle Hart and is more or less an afterthought. Kona Takahashi (29)* The Seibu Lions are expected to post Takahashi this offseason. The right-hander has a 3.39 ERA in nearly 1200 innings at Japan’s top level. He’s coming off a 3.04 mark over 148 innings. While the run prevention is solid, Takahashi doesn’t have the bat-missing stuff that’d generate huge big league interest. He struck out just 14% of opponents this past season. An MLB deal is possible, but he’s unlikely to command more than a couple million dollars. There are some similarities between Takahashi and Shinnosuke Ogasawara, who signed a two-year, $3.5MM deal and pitched in a swing role for the Nationals. mlbtraderumors.com

Pagan's going to be way too expensive due to 2025 success...serious case of buying at top of his market career-wise and age as well. Blackburn is "sure okay fine whatever." Farm system SHOULD at this point be producing cheap/er replacements to plug in that have a lot more future payoff.