caulfield12

McLean got roughed up a bit last time. No idea who Italy can go to...has to be a bullpen heavy game.

Venezuela seems just a bit flat tonight after investing all their energy into taking down Japan...

.118 .698 Has five runs scored, two massive Xb hits and has held his own at SS...but he's not ready yet.

https://www.espn.com/nba/attendance/_/sort/homeTotal And Bulls STILL right up there at the top for NBA attendance...

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/white-sox-vs-rangers/2026/03/16/831905/live/box White Sox vs. Rangers Burke starting Looks like a 2023-24 Sox lineup.

Especially after the low strike call against Soto...

Hasn't been right all spring.

That was all the responsibility of amateur and pro scouting for signing/drafting/trading for the wrong players lol... Blame the likes of Hostetler and Haber and JR "meddling" as well. Sounds pretty familiar... Take credit for all successes, and throw everyone involved with perceived failures under the bus.

Seems we already had this debate... Not sure about starting Hagen in AAA...4-6 weeks of BIRM starts to continue stacking confidence would have been another approach. Who did Murphy make it over? Eisert or Gilbert? Both? Paez is going to be rostered now?

Need another Machado thread to accomplish that...or playoff series victory.

Pasquantino and teammate M.Garcia meet at first...was really careful that neither got injured.

Decided to go with Nola over Lorenzen. Interesting call based on 2025 results, but both were very solid their last times out. https://www.si.com/mx/beisbol/corazon-azzurro-francisco-cervelli-clasico-mundial-italia-venezuela-roberto-baggio For Francisco Cervelli, it all started on the lawn of Pasadena’s Rose Bowl on July 17, 1994. That afternoon, an eight-year-old boy in Valencia, Venezuela, watched with anguish as Roberto Baggio, the Divine Codino, sent the penalty over the crossbar and handed the World Cup to Brazil. You may be interested in: History of baseball in Italy: how Azzurra beat USA and Mexico at the 2026 Baseball World Classic He shared the pain with his sister. “Baggio put the ball on the grass in the right spot, stared at it, got up and slowly backed, one, two, three, four, five steps back; I closed my eyes, my dad squeezed his hands and Fran remained sitting still (as I have rarely seen it),” recalls Maricarmen Cervelli, Francisco’s sister, through a story she posted on her social media.

JR could have left a legacy... Simply by investing $700-850 million of his own money into the new stadium. But he put his kids' inheritance and avoiding capital gains taxes over the public trust/stewardship of the Sox. Now he's simply holding the franchise hostage, instead of moving forward into the future. Could have had the new baseball stadium or at least the field named after him. Could have named the Bulls' court after Michael Jordan. But one would think both those ships have already sailed.

Double tanking, Covid and loss of broadcasting revenues...

Which 9 teams? SD MN and White Sox make three that have/had debt since 2020. Rangers? Cardinals? Royals? Angels? Guardians? A's? Or losing money in 2024-25 specifically? How does that compare to the NBA?

Same team and Gasparino might be the pick at 41... unless he keeps climbing by the week up the charts.

He couldn't predict that the chemistry would be so terrible...to the point where half the team had to be cast aside. And Soto/Lindor still don't mesh well together at all. And now Lindor also lost Edwin Diaz. Both stars want to lead...but Lindor was already the man for that franchise. Having watched the closeness of all those national WBC teams in recent days...it could just be personality conflicts, it also could be based on PR vs. DR and not being from the same "tribe." Remember all the White Sox personality conflicts between the Cubans, other Latin players like Jimenez, and TA was by himself pretty much...vis a vis some of the white players on those 2022-23 teams (Graveman/Kelly/Steak & Potatoes) and then Kimbrel was on an island by himself too???

Shay Whitcomb and Jahmai Jones are two examples there...along with Stuart Fairchild. Having watched all of the Asian pool games pretty closely, the biggest difference was on the pitching front. The Asian teams had very few dynamic arms coming out of the bullpen. Japan, for example, used Itoh in relief and had Sugano on their roster as well. Ohtani Imai Sasaki Imanaga Senga and Darvish were all unavailable...and that made all the difference pitching to Wilyer Abreu and with a 5-2 lead when Yamamoto was removed after 4. Compare to the US team that had Jeff Hoffman still in reserve at game's end on Sunday night...even Speier or Joe Ryan were better options than anyone Japan had. I think the Japanese manager deferred to his veterans too much...Kondoh over Sato, and leaving one of the best young fireballing closers in the NPB off the final roster.

https://www.forbes.com/mlb-valuations/list/#tab:overall 2019 the Sox were 16th at $2 billion (Forbes). Right behind were the Padres #17 at $1.95. The Sox have somehow gone backwards during this time period when the S&P was growing like gangbusters. Now, SD is all the way up to #10 and $3.1 billion...and expected to soon fetch $3.2-3.5 billion when the team is sold to one of five (one "hidden" bid) bidders in the next month or so. What's really incredible is finishing behind two teams housed in minor league facilities in TB and Sacramento. Or finishing behind the Twins Royals and Guardians. Ofc all three have had playoff teams as late as 2023 or since, but it's almost inexplicable for Chicago to be so far behind three small/er market cities.

Sorry misreading that as Miami of OH. Winner: St. Louis It’s hard to think of another first- and second-round host city that got a better draw. Ticket prices in St. Louis could be the highest of any first weekend site. Not only is St. Louis hosting Missouri for at least one game and is just a four-hour drive away from Indianapolis and all its Purdue fans, but both Iowa State and Kentucky are playing in the city. Iowa State fans routinely flood Kansas City for the Big 12 tournament and will assuredly be in St. Louis in large numbers. Kentucky fans also always travel well, and Lexington is just five hours away and Louisville is less than four. espn.com Illinois also got screwed having to rely on Duke fans in SC to cheer against UNC...but thankfully no Caleb Wilson.

You always cheer for your "first country" over your secondary ones unless you don't have an opportunity to play for Team USA. Then all bets are off. Have a sneaking suspicion that Venezuela and USA are fated to meet right now. Ofc Team Italy has been written off since the very beginning, so it's somehow perfect that a guy in Michael Lorenzen who became one of the first FA pitchers to sign with Colorado in years now is pitching with Italy's fate on the line. https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/world-baseball-classic-news-roman-anthony-details-unbelievable-experience-joining-team-usa

Why wouldn't you prefer Cal Raleigh hitting late lhb vs rhp if there wasn't another reason to keep W.Smith in? He has faster pop times as well...but Miller takes way too long to deliver ball to throw out Rodriguez anyway. Also RH starter in Severino. Manager Mark DeRosa has opted to shake things up, removing catcher Cal Raleigh and third baseman Alex Bregman from the starting lineup. (Also started playing PCA over Buxton.)

Big reason Smith was in late over Raleigh.

ABS ABS ABS no longer about brakes Granted don't like Tatis getting a hit there against his teammate, but dramatic ending the game deserved.

Pitch was clearly low on GameDay...would have been Tatis first and third.