caulfield12

See Jay and Alonso…the infamous Friends & Family Plan. Would be nice to have that money back now.

Mazara, Eaton’s 2021 Corpse Bride and Palka’s second Sox season…yikes.

Getting Verlander back doesn’t count for anything? Seems there’s still a decent chance Correa comes back, too. They added Neris, should have Framber Valdez and Forrest Whitley for the entire season, too.

Haven’t the White Sox had the worst fWAR in all of MLB cumulatively for RF since the beginning of 2018? I mean, should we be taking all that much pride we might have the 27th-29th RFer and farm system this year? Adam Eaton was very good in 2016, and Avi Garcia 4.2 fWAR in 2017. Avi since he left the White Sox is even 5.5 fWAR in 313 games, an average of 2.85 fWAR per season. We would GLADLY take that out of RF in 2022. (Or Nick Madrigal’s 1.4 in 83 career games, which works out to 2.73 for an entire season.)

Moncada, 14.8 fWAR in 539 career games (4.45 per season of 162 games, extrapolated) Tatis, Jr., 12.7 fWAR in 273 career games (7.5 per season) Buxton, 13.0 fWAR in 493 career games (4.3 per season) Robert, 4.7 fWAR in 124 career games (6.14 per season) Eloy Jimenez, 3.6 fWAR in 232 career games (2.5 per season)

They really can’t afford to trade Jimenez at 65-75 cents on the dollar. Almost feel like they’re further discounting Jimebez trying to leverage Kimbrel in a deal to offload him (when we wouldn’t likely be trading Jimenez in the first place had they not exercised rgw Kimbrel option.) The argument all offseason was that there were abundant bidders out there for his services…and, at worst we might have to send $2-4 million or the talent equivalent along with him, or simply swap equivalent bad contracts like Jean Segura with the Phillies or let’s say Wil Myers with the Padres for argument’s sake. It would honestly make more sense to trade Moncada and install Burger at 3B…because they need to get power from somewhere in the lineup assuming Abreu’s going to hit his rapid decline stage in the next year or two. Jimenez and Robert are likely to be those two guys…and possibly Vaughn depending on his eventual fate.

Based upon that video, Tatis and his father need to rework that contract and avoid any contentious attempts to claw some of it back preemptively...that would be the best solution for the franchise moving forward.

Which is why the Twins waited and might have gotten a bargain with Buxton. We'll see how things work out with Moncada, Jimenez and Robert...still, all things considered, those were much more calculated risks than the Tatis, Jr. deal. In all likelihood, he ends up in CF/RF/2B or even DH, diminishing some of his defensive value. From 2024 through 2036, ages 24-36, he'll earn $327 million. Divided by 13 years, it's an average of about $25 million per season. The first five years of his career will end up being under $14 million (through 2023), so there's a huge amount of surplus value there, despite missing 30% of his games (quite similar to Luis Robert's minor and major league career.) If he averages 3.33 fWAR for those 13 years, he will be earning his money (valuing fWAR at 1.0/$7.5 million as a baseline)...and that's not even taking inflation into consideration well into the future as salaries continue to escalate.

Sure, but then the assumption for now is that Harrison's your starting 2B. Most are at the point where they're starting to accept that the current window might only have 2 and at most 3 years remaining...which means trading Vaughn/Sheets/Burger, getting rid of Kimbrel somehow and using that money on a LEGIT everyday RFer, namely, Conforto or Suzuki. We've never actually tried to do that (doing anything but throwing castoffs and reclamation projects at holes), finding legit, at least "above average" everyday players. Curiously, the one area where we made the biggest club investment was in Grandal, when we already had Narvaez and then McCann. Lynn was fine, as long as he holds up physically (once again, portending a shortened window), but we've already missed the expiration date on Keuchel, another place where that "unprecedented financial flexibility" was invested. Which leaves us with Hendriks and Kimbrel (inefficient allocation of resources to have two guys paid as elite closers at the same time)...and extending Abreu well into his mid 30's and likely being the end of Vaughn's abbreviated tenure with the White Sox. So we've lost or pushed out Rodon and Madrigal...and are on the verge of pushing out Vaughn, Sheets and Burger. That's not to mention the alleged "mishandling" of Kopech and Crochet, certainly losing years of control and their not developing as most of us expected. Let's not even get started on Zack Collins and Carson Fulmer. Invariably, almost inexorably, we keep getting OLDER and OLDER, but not necessarily better. Ultimately, Giolito and Anderson will be the next two to go (unless JR is willing to break the bank for TA7)...and then you're suddenly not looking at a young/er/ish core at all, you'll basically have just Moncada (at $25 million), all the "valued added" aspect of Jimenez long gone and then one superstar who we have to hope and pray (based on who's playing on both sides of him in the outfield) stays healthy in Luis Robert.

Eddie Rosario is anything name that keeps getting bandied about. But with Soler, the defense is pretty much the equivalent of Vaughn/Sheets. Rosario isn't much better on that front, but is familiar with the AL Central, same with Soler. Pederson has the ability to at least play average to slightly above average RF and he fits the LH need, so there's that.

Sacks packed full of Seamen/Mariners. Where did the psoter go with that in their signature line?

I prefer either Ride or Die (2021 Japanese film) or "Win or Dye Trying."

That brings us to another typical San Diego sports gut punch. Because of MLB’s lockout, communications were required to go radio silent as the sides wrestled over a collective bargaining agreement. The fact team doctors could have visited Tatis after the accident because they are not officially team employees who would have violated lockout rules is stunning. (Kevin) Acee reported the team was assured by Tatis representatives the incident amounted to simple scrapes and bruises. You don’t send doctors to check on your $340 million investment anyway? If Tatis could have talked with the medical staff sooner, the recovery would be closer to the finish line than the beginning. “Definitely could be a different story, yeah,” Tatis said. Now, everyone will learn if Tatis can pivot to a level of maturity that matches his immense talents. Since arriving in the majors, Tatis has missed 99 games to injury in less than 2 1/2 seasons. That math translates to watching from the dugout for nearly 30 percent of his brief and spectacular career. Now, the Padres power is sapped for who knows how long. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sports-columnists/story/2022-03-14/san-diego-padres-shortstop-fernando-tatis-jr-wrist-surgery

It's hard to imagine being "happy" at this point. If you include Graveman, it's not terrible/abysmal, I suppose one could argue. If Kelly was 100% healthy and Kopech had been ramped up along with Crochet in 2021 a bit more, there would be more reasons for optimism. Or if the farm system wasn't ranked 30th in all of MLB. But could anyone let's say have thrown out Josh Harrison as a replacement for Madrigal and not been laughed off the board? It's still like we are still flailing around with Eaton and Mazara out there as "viable" plans. Whatever's replacing Rodon/Madrigal...along with Kimbrel's soaking up any of the previously unprecedented financial flexibility that quickly disappeared, all credible/valid reasons for concern.

Wasn't it something similar with Dunn's family in 2012?

Ummm...not the same thing, at all. Especially with how long Colas has been out of action and how generally disappointing Cespedes has been...it would be better to play Mazara or even Adolfo in RF.

Send $7-9 million to get rid of Keuchel, compound the misallocation by turning around and giving it to Greinke. Get 'er done, Mater.

Well except he dislikes every thing about Chicago and the White Sox. Then again, getting a borderline Hot pitcher 3-4 years past their expiration date is too much of an opportunity to pass up.

Don't forget Lynn, Hendricks and Kimbrel.

TA7 joined the Board of Directors for LaRussa's animal charity?

If we just keeping signing more of these reclamation projects for $3 million, then one will have to be 2021 Carlos Rodon and not Erwin Santana, Felipe Paulino or Derek Holland. Unfortunately, it might take ten of those guys to equal Carlos’ fWAR last season. Might as well just go for it with Crochet…and throw all injury concerns to the wind.

Doubt we’ve sold any season tickets based on those moves so far…and Kimbrel remaining on the roster as set-up man is equally dubious, not to mention blocking further spending. If they really had any guts, they’d start Kimbrel as closer to prove he can actually do that job before trading him, but you can rest assured that will never happen, so his trade value still will be somewhat down simply do that lingering question mark about where he is psychologically.

Hahn’s legacy is already in trouble if there’s no advance out of the divisional round…and not being strong enough to stand up to JR on LaRussa. Name the last time “one of the best GM’s in the game” was forced to hire someone as manager he was 100% opposed to and still remained in his job. His legacy for now is losing this offseason. But who knows, the Sox usually fare poorly when he’s credited with winning the offseason.

Supposedly because they were unwilling to add Nick Castellanos…the rumor about why Jeter ditched the Marlins.

This is out of the JR playbook…no sixth year for position players in their thirties, not unlike the White Sox still not daring to give another five year contract to a pitcher after Danks. (Noted they did make an exception for Konerko and even Contreras to a lesser extent after 2005.) But that’s what happens when you negotiate with bottom-line corporations and not “real” people with emotions invested in maintaining ongoing successful relationships.