caulfield12

Veteran Grit, leadership and Energizer Bunny enthusiasm…

Looks like a really good chance of Riley Greene breaking camp with Tigers, Torkelson 50/50.

We would be better off with Gus “The Polka King” Polinski and Tom Paciorek in RF.

I voted D, and now feel I was being too kind, lol. I think the Bs and Cs are assumptions we have to do something at some point about starting pitching and Kimbrel…kind of like awarding a Nobel Prize for something that could theoretically happen in the future but is not guaranteed to actually transpire. D- should have been an option, although that connotes actually trying…whereas the grade would have been higher simply doing nothing but a QO for Rodon and declining the Kimbrel option and say signing Escobar or even Miller.

Leury (as DH), Harrison AND Engel at the bottom of the lineup…yuck! But we should trust this front office. Because they’ve clearly earned the benefit of the doubt this offseason (so far).

I’m going to trust the Giants’ sticker price tolerance over the Sox assessment at this point. For SF, they’re in a transition phase now with a lowered payroll (minus Posey) of strategically retooling on the fly in the toughest division outside the AL East. It’s almost like they are due for a mistake, with how well they’ve managed pitching assets and maximized what looks like an average or even below average everyday lineup offensively. But just two years makes a lot of sense with where that roster is vis a vis the Dodgers and Padres.

Well, it’s not like that money was ever going to be reallocated to Conforto regardless… But it’s just like the Sox to be haggling over $2-3 million only to get left holding the bag for 5x much. Hahn has to be 1) hoping and praying for closer issues or injuries from a team with a Top 10-15 payroll and 2) hoping that Kimbrel doesn’t go further south, become a daily distraction or even create some type of closer controversy if Hendriks blows 2-3 early saves. We’ve reached the point of making Kimbrel the closer again just to trade him (Hendriks volunteering to step aside) or a few even arguing they should now trade Hendriks in order to accommodate Kimbrel. They just keep compounding the original mistake many times over when the prudent move all along was to admit it was a bad fit (they can even assert it was an inspired, outside the box idea) and move on at only a $1 million loss for 2022.

Trade them Burger for Rodon, lol. I think Wade, Yaz, Belt and Flores are also hurt. Know that Wade has some type of knee injury…

Jekyll Island

Fathom, anti-fan concern or interest in the 2022 Cubs on a 1 to 10 scale? 2? 3? Just Suzuki, Stroman and Madrigal? What about Ricketts Family/crying poor/ownership and neighborhood redevelopment issues?

Nope, disqualified by plate appearances a long time ago. Have to root for Adolfo, Burger, etc.

They surely have run all the analytics a million times. Even being offered Kimbrel would not sway them because it would be too lengthy a salary commitment at premium dollars to be worth it...when closers are always available at the TDL for just 2-3 months of payroll outlay. You can't afford $16 million with an $82 million payroll. You really can't keep paying Kiermaier...especially post Franco deal. Finally, massive difference vs. Toronto/NYY/Boston and the comparatively tepid NL Central offenses.

They'd probably make the mistake of believing they were legitimately sincere...at least TLR would.

Except Kimbrel is more like Elvis Grbac, Trent Green or Alex Smith on this roster. We needed Tyreek Hill with that money, not MVS or JJS.

Except Kimbrel is more like Elvis Grbac, Trent Green or Alex Smith.

Hence, the difficulty of betting baseball on an everyday basis and making money at it.

Yeah, but does this increase his trade value now...? Or desirability? Because those arguing or asserting "yes" are the same ones with no concerns about lingering issues with veteran Kimbrel just getting his work in. Interestingly, Kershaw, Rodon and Verlander have all been pitching quite well so far in the spring...three of the vets with serious question marks surrounding them in the last 6 months.

Well, as stated by a few others, he had two injuries that would theoretically explain his sprint speed fall-off. Hopefully they're healed now. I would guess they're going to trust the pedigree of a LH hitting former Top 10 draft pick over Adolfo...it's actually quite an interesting decision in terms of playing time for those two particular players, upside/potential vs. expected current level of production. "I think they did not want to DFA him for "confidence" reasons. I am guessing whatever the issues were last year he has not quite recovered from, at least in terms of hitting. And this way it is a trade, rather than DFA, and they can point out the real positives of the lottery tickey guy coming back (he does have a good fastball and he was part of AFL last year) and Hase also will get a real chance to make the roster in CHI. Win, win, win, (PHI/CHI/Hase), with the exception of the sunk cost of another essentially-failed first rounder. It's also true that Joe G never seemed to think much of Hase, even before last year. Good news is that Moniak is looking better. And I'm guessing that part of the reason for the trade is that Muzziotti is looking better, too." https://www.thegoodphight.com/2022/3/29/23001484/phillies-send-adam-haseley-to-chicago#comments This article has a string of about 80 comments about the Haseley trade, but it digressed into the bullpen and Aaron Nola's expected level of effectiveness as well.

The anti-jinx worked tonight, but wouldn't hold up if he was on your fantasy team during the regular season as a member of the Sox.

Okay, Jimmy Stewart.

What would you call Buddy Biancalana? Pal or "Buddy" Buddy?

If you strip out the Kimbrel contract, the White Sox would be 8th in MLB LAD, Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox, SD (all over $200 million) 7) LA Angels $183 ? White Sox $173 9) Atlanta $170.4 10) Houston $169 11) Toronto $165 12) SFG $152.2 13) StL $151 14) Texas $137 million 17) Milwaukee Brewers $129.3 25) TB Rays $81.4 (but won 100 games and two consecutive AL EAST titles somehow) 28) Indians $51.6

Where would they be without Kimbrel's $16 million? Just curious...I mean ranking-wise.

30. Chicago White Sox 2021 midseason rank: 30 2021 preseason rank: 16 2020 midseason rank: 6 2020 preseason rank: 11 Top 100 Prospects: none Though the White Sox rank last again, their system was a mainstay in the top 10 from 2017-20 and cranked out a lot of talent en route to the first back-to-back playoff appearances in franchise history. As with the big league club, many of the organization's top prospects hail from Cuba: slugging outfielders Oscar Colas and Yoelqui Céspedes, right-hander Norge Vera, infielders Bryan Ramos and Yolbert Sanchez. More » from mlb.com's #16-30 minor league system preseason rankings

But it also notes near the end of the article that he's not on the current 40 man roster, making his situation a bit more precarious. Right now, you would have to bench a former MVP in Bellinger to get him in the line-up, and they're just not going to do that before the season even starts. If Justin Turner is ouchy, he could get some starts at 3B in the early season. The highly-touted Gavin Lux, for example, doesn't even have a spot at the moment. https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/dodgers It's currently a battle with Alberto (guaranteed MLB deal), Edwin Rios and Lux for INF/OF utility spots to fill out the roster. Other than Luis Robert in CF (over former MVP Bellinger), there aren't many clear wins for the Sox line-up. At this point, you have to go with Moncada over Turner (if you discount all their post-season successes and go with the better player in 2022.) You can certainly argue Pollock/Jimenez (not based on fWAR, obviously, more potential), and W.Smith/Grandal (who they wanted to get rid of a LONG time ago because of his defensive lapses), we don't have many players that would be starting in the current Dodgers' line-up. There's no way you would take TA7 over Trea Turner. Let's split the difference, that gives us 2 1/2 or 3 out 10 spots if you include Muncy vs. whoever we have at DH. Their line-up is THAT good, barring catastrophic injuries.