caulfield12

Rick? What is your plan, carefully strategized with TLR, coaching staff and pitchers/catchers during the offseason...to hold down the opponent's running attack and improve the CS percentage? Is the loss of Rodon the extent of the improvement plan here?

Well, certainly not if they are facing the dreaded Yankees. Talk about kryptonite.

That’s just it, if you’re stuck with someone…why not attempt to problem solve? Heck, Hendriks volunteered to give up the closer’s role. You almost get the feeling it makes him uncomfortable having taken Kimbrel’s lifetime role away…as Kimbrel was perceived his entire career as a surefire HoF and Liam had that period where any team in baseball could have claimed him.

Such as all the US Army attack helicopters, for example.

The tactical nuclear weapon options seems slightly more likely in recent weeks…that certainly tends to put things back a bit more in perspective on the White Sox baseball is life front.

Other than AZ and Colorado, hard to find a bigger mess. They’ll have to trade Means and Mullins before their future core actually arrives on the scenes, other than Rutschman.

If they don't, TLR certainly will come up with something totally unexpected again.

Makes too much sense...and Padres are desperate for one more OFer since they don't want to start Profar or Abrams there. Preller's job is on the line 100%. And that means they can take their time moving Myers and Hosmer to a lesser extent, although the latter move a huge writedown. They just might decide better to hold on to him for leadership and continuity.

Indians' rotation should be much tougher this year with two youngsters progressing in second half...all comes down to Bieber, Plesac and Civale returning to form. And Clase has quietly become a Top 5ish closer...at least by ASB. Ramirez was terrible for two months and Naylor seriously injured, so it all evens out except for manager.

Massive difference though with two consensus Top 100 guys and Vaughn's stock down just a little bit through no fault of his own.

If Reynolds does go to SD, it should happen pretty quickly since they already looked at the system in-depth for the Frazier trade. And it would be a clear sign they are putting the brakes on Abrams to the OF in SD with so little minor league experience for a high school kid coming off a major leg injury last year.

Well, except for the fact that Hahn has never managed to do this before in a decade as GM, so there's that.

Twins the wild card, Detroit one year away and the Royals likely two...then the Indians will continue to overachieve with Francona until they trade their remaining studs. One major pitching injury to the Sox and things get fairly interesting.

And speaking of talent development, until the Indians do their complete teardown, they won't be an easy out for the White Sox this year.

Not really. The Giants have three titles, but 2010-12-14. Dodgers much more recent. Giants set franchise record in wins, amazing take the division and break Dodgers' string but everyone thinks it's fluky. Team proceeds to lose as predicted to Dodgers early, but LAD also goes down to the Braves in the NLCS. I guess the slight advantage goes to Giants simply because LA is expected to win it all each and every season, which is totally unrealistic in baseball.

And yet still hold onto Abrams, Gore and Weathers...

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/applebees-franchise-exec-fired-employees-213357731.html Greg's Lawrence KS Applebee's in trouble....threatening to lower wages in face of higher gas prices

Revenue Sharing Recipients: Brewers, Diamondbacks, Guardians, Marlins, Mariners, Orioles, Pirates, Rays, Reds, Rockies, Royals, Tigers, Twins These 13 teams received revenue sharing and did not exceed the competitive balance tax. If one of these teams signs a qualified free agent, it forfeits its third-highest pick. These teams face the smallest draft pick penalty. Of this group, the Mariners and Tigers seem to be the most likely to sign a qualified free agent, but others like the Twins and Marlins are possible. (How the Mariners and Rockies got on this list, no idea…)

Yeah, you have to start somewhere to build a starting lineup…but too late for him unless he’s a bridge player to the next group but the Indians and Rays always cut bait when players get too expensive in arbitration or won’t sign extensions. Of course, they also have Andres Gimenez as well from the Lindor trade. They’ve currently got eight to ten players in their system who could end up as starting 2B or SS in the majors if one already includes Rosario and Gimenez. They continue to murder the White Sox in Latin America despite inherent budget restrictions. At any rate, with all those players, it’s a massive potential trade haul…almost twice what the Sox had to sell off in 2016/17. projections for 2023-24 starters Bo Naylor catcher Josh Naylor 1B/DH/OF Brayan Rocchio/Tyler Freeman/Owen Miller 2B Gabriel Arias/Carson Tucker/Aaron Bracho SS Jose Tena/Angel Martinez Nolan Jones 3B/OF OF George Valera, ?, ? Quantrill, McKenzie, Daniel Espino, Gavin Williams, Ethan Hankins, Logan Allen, Tanner Burns Clase The Indians have a TON of infield prospects already (their #9 and #10 prospects are also infielders). The biggest current and future weaknesses are the outfield and catching spots. https://www.mlb.com/prospects/guardians/

Run it out there the first half with Conforto and see if you can compete. You only lose a second round pick for the signing due to CB status and Conforto can beat up on Royals, Twins and maybe Tigers pitching. Or you do the greatest fire sale of all time over the next 3-12 months! Jose Ramirez, Bieber (back in All Star form), Conforto, Plesac and Civale all must go. Reyes and Shaw as well. Undecided on Clase, but closers are so up and down...he would be worth a ton on the open market, too. That leaves you with Quantrill, McKenzie and Rosario as your young core to rebuild around, and it would be relatively well timed to follow Sox, Tigers and Royals cycles in 2025-2029. Really, with a perennial Bottom 5 payroll, there's not much of a choice here.

"I honestly think he makes a ton of sense for the Guardians on a short term deal, with a structure similar to Correa’s (but less money). Cleveland has the room in the budget for sure, they probably just don’t want to invest in anyone too long term. And Conforto is coming off a down year, a deal where he can opt out after year one and return to market without a QO attached if he does well seems like a good fit. Cleveland has a short porch in RF that would probably be very good for his home run totals as well. Something like 2/40 with opt out after year 1 or maybe even a 3 year deal would make sense to me. It’s not like the Guardians couldn’t afford to run a 70-90m payroll." MLBtraderumors.com

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/padres-open-to-trading-from-rotation-catching-depth.html Padres looking to trade pitching and catching depth...three obvious names here are Alfaro/Caratini and Paddack. They're highly unlikely to trade Weathers or Gore, fwiw.

They've got five guys already fighting for that spot...

Ummm...are we quoting former presidents now? How many newspapers are actually healthy from a financial standpoint these days?

30th? MLB expanded?