caulfield12

Couldn't quite fit the Guardians in at .500 despite the lowest payroll in baseball because that hardly constitutes a surprise any more.

6. Cincinnati RedsRecord: 19-11 Previous ranking: 6 The Reds are in first place in the NL Central with the division's fourth-best run differential (minus-5), a 7-0 record in one-run games and two qualified hitters (Sal Stewart, de la Cruz) with above-average production at the plate. Conventional wisdom screams that those facts indicate an unsustainable level of luck over the course of a 162-game season. But wins are wins, and the Reds are banking them early under manager Terry Francona with encouraging developments. Nationals 15-17, Abrams and Wood are stars. Marlins took 2/3 from LAD at Chavez Ravine.

StL Cardinals about to be 18-13 with a bottom 5 payroll. Congrats! Same goes for the Tampa Bay Rays...out to a surprising start behind Caminero, Simpson and lots of contact on offense. And finally, also to Paul DePodesta and the Rockies...for assembling the youngest pitching staff with the most elite velo across the sport...and adding three savvy veteran starters to stabilize it all. "The three worst teams in baseball (Mets, Phillies, Astros) carry top 12 payrolls -- with two of them in the top five. In aggregate, the record of the top 12 is 185-179, which means the average of the dozen biggest payrolls in baseball is ... an 82-win team. As far as labor talking points for the MLB Players Association go, there are far worse than: If money spent matters enough that the league is intent on pursuing a salary cap, why are so many of the most expensive teams so bad?" Jeff Passan, ESPN (And that doesn't account for the Blue Jays and SFG, either.)

Munetaka Murakami, 1B, Chicago White Sox: Speaking of stars, Murakami was an unquestionable one in Japan, where he holds the single-season home run record for a Japan-born player. MLB teams worried about his propensity to swing and miss, and his free agent market over the winter cratered. The two-year, $34 million deal from Chicago was a stroke of brilliance, as Murakami's 12 home runs lead MLB and at some point in the next 15 months he could be the most valuable position-player trade chip in years. Jeff Passan ESPN

I would like to applaud Ron's GM over on the Northside for putting together the best defense in baseball...at least in terms of the outs against average metric. It has been a number of years since the White Sox even were in the Top 50% of teams defensively. Chris Getz repeatedly said in 2023/24 they were going to prioritize having a sound defensive foundation and improved speed and aggressiveness on the base paths. Still waiting. (Note: Acuna still needs to do a lot more to be a credible starter. And yes, Brooks Baldwin is out, for good and bad.)

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2026&season1=2026&ind=0&team=0%2Cts&rost=&filter=&players=0&sortcol=21&sortdir=default&age=15%2C25&pagenum=1 10th in fWAR among players 25 and younger that misses Mune and Teel Mune over 1 by himself fourth youngest hitting lineup at average age of 26 https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=0&type=1&season=2026&season1=2026&ind=0&team=0%2Cts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=&enddate=&month=0 22nd defense 30th in yahoo power rankings as of WED https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=0&type=6&season=2026&season1=2026&ind=0&team=0%2Cts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=&enddate=&month=0&sortcol=6&sortdir=default&pagenum=1 17th in pitching fWAR but 28th SIERA & 26th xFIP

Except pushing back the window until 2029 with McDougal's injury and the delayed pick's debut 2028/29 at the earliest (if an NCAA position player and not prep.) Worked for the Astros with Aiken. But no guarantees.

Ron’s not even right after a sweep … payroll/win Cleveland Miami TBR StL Athletics Pitt White Sox Cincy Washington Minnesota Milwaukee Colorado Seattle SDP Cubs Worst Mets Phillies Houston Toronto Boston SFG

Ron walked right into it. Also applicable to SD/Milwaukee/Seattle/TBR.

Have the standards fallen so far that this thread wasn't held for the first WC or AL Central title under Getz? Or sweeping the Yankees? We just swept the 14th or 15th team in the AL...isn't that to be expected after 2 1/2 years when it was posited by JR that even one year was just too much time to waste? And one sure result of being relatively close to first place means that Getz will be pilloried for trading Mune for less than his perceived value....

1. SDP $425 million 2. Seattle $379 3. STL $373 4. Baltimore $369 5. Cleveland $336 6. Milwaukee $335 7. Arizona $328 8. Pittsburgh $326 9. Cincy/Washington $325 KCR/Minnesota $324 13. Detroit $320 (arguably overspending on payroll) 14. Colorado $318 15. TBR $297 16. CHW $277 17. Oak/SAC $257

That’s since 2011…the better metric is which small and mid market teams can generate the most revenue? We all know the white Sox have been 28th through 30th by that metric since Getz took over, agreed???

AVG $1,651,583.73 1001.766667 Chicago White Sox $1,619,008.65 925 San Diego Padres $1,561,777.67 936 Seattle Mariners $1,543,850.90 992 Minnesota Twins $1,530,667.54 945 Atlanta Braves $1,492,557.41 1080 Kansas City Royals $1,482,102.22 912 Houston Astros $1,480,674.50 1033 Cincinnati Reds $1,442,380.72 942 Arizona Diamondbacks $1,388,911.61 963 Baltimore Orioles $1,322,839.83 950 Milwaukee Brewers $1,220,616.01 1049 Miami Marlins $1,136,296.15 878 Cleveland Guardians $1,048,159.71 1069 Pittsburgh Pirates $999,573.57 953 Oakland Athletics $981,098.75 990 Tampa Bay Rays $824,692.81 1089

Guardians’ Allocative Cost Efficiency Championship flags fly forever at Progressive.

this is why you can’t ever take a pitcher 1-1 Especially small and mid market teams have to draft a ton of these guys in later rounds like the Guardians typically do

High/max effort velocity like that typically equals 1 1/2 year recovery….unless tjs revision or internal brace. 2028 off-season, ST.

Well, we were just right behind the Angels for 14th in AL playoff odds…entering the series. 73-89 pace now Still below Fegan’s 79 prediction. WestEddy was somewhere around 77-78, right? https://www.fangraphs.com/standings/playoff-odds/fg/lg 71-91 Angels 2.8% wc 70-92 White Sox 2.2% wc Nationals and Rockies both in the 60s. Yankees Dodgers Braves only teams projected in 90s.

19th place in mlb 3rd in Central

Pereira also had a label of always being hurt as a Yankees' prospect. Here we are again. Who could have possibly known?

Or at least watch Project Hail Mary.

If you mean the JR situation will take care of itself...I can agree with that.

If that's not the case and they picked Emerson anyway...in order to buy Getz more time for example, that would be beyond idiotic.

Autographed?

"that there's a long way to go and its all garbage until then be my guest" the second hyperbolic part of the sentence is the rub the pendulum will always ebb and flow is being concerned whether they can afford to keep Colson or Murakami not a real concern? Colson $125-150 million Mune $225-275 million you'd have SoxTalk splitx almost 50/50 on those extensions for all kinds of pro and com reasons Same with Noah Schultz for that matter. I don't think SoxTalk can scare Getz into taking Emerson...that sounds a bit ridiculous. GMs have to stand by the courage of their conviction...like Breslow in Boston. If he's proved wrong he's probably out of a job because Henry's unlikely to sell. Already gone Epstein to Cherington to Bloom to Breslow in the past decade plus.

The defensive challenge sticking at SS will be just as big if not more than hitting at BIRM as he moves up.