caulfield12

https://www.mlb.com/news/updated-top-100-prospects-list-may-2022 12 from the AL Central with Witt Jr. and Torkelson graduating. Still no White Sox.

The Blue Jays have a long ways to go to pull that off. Rays and Red Sox have a ton of flaws of their own on display.

https://theathletic.com/3326410/2022/05/21/white-sox-yankees-tim-anderson-josh-donaldson/?source=freedailyemail&campaign=601983 https://sports.yahoo.com/tim-anderson-never-asked-for-josh-donaldson-yankees-jackie-comment-but-he-always-answers-155216114.html This is the most well-written response to the whole situation so far. "Reveling in the moment with teammates, a hot ESPN field microphone captured him yelling, “Making motherf*****s shut the f*** up." And then he declined to say more about it after the game. Perhaps that is an answer no one can misunderstand."

https://sportsnaut.com/mlb-rotation-rankings-best-starting-pitchers/ Have to push the Mets down with top two out and Bassitt temporarily #1. Dodgers and Brewers are obviously up there. SFG when everyone is healthy. Marlins are rapidly ascending. Somehow teams like the Rays and Braves keep producing arms. Statistically the A’s have been really really good, too. https://www.mlb.com/news/best-mlb-rotations-2022 Preseason the Sox were #4. And I still think we need to look at 5-6 Cueto starts before drawing any firm conclusions. Keuchel and VV will obviously drag them down.

Let’s at least see Montgomery in High A before you start talking about having ANY type of leverage over Anderson. Odds are that Montgomery just as likely ends up at 3B or possibly second when all is said and done. He’s going to have to be Corey Seager Lite to unseat Timmy at age 31.

What’s a Jomboy?

The days of Lynn being the Sox #1 are over and gone. Woodruff has been uncharacteristically awful so far so that’s a bit of a tossup based on two months of 2022 or the last 2-3 years cumulatively. Lauer wasn’t able to hold his spot in SD at the back end of that rotation and was traded. Doesn’t have dominant stuff but can be a Greg Hibbard type for them.

Well, technically he would be 31 at the beginning of the 2025 season, after his two option years are finished, turning 32 that following June.

And the focus is quickly and increasingly going to turn to Anderson as soon as Giolito’s future is resolved, one way or the other.

Far too late for that. The die is already cast with our minors, maxed out payroll and inability to generate higher draft picks. And especially the increasingly large number of veteran contracts across this roster that need to produce over the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

In fact, he has been THE best hitter (cumulatively from 2019-2022) over the last three plus seasons in the entire AL. But I’m sure just using BA will get you criticized as the fWAR/bWAR, fielding metrics and terribly low walk rates/hitting with RISP critics will descend with their own numbers. Well, maybe not fWAR…since somebody said he was on pace for a historic 8 fWAR season when the entire roster of position players is at just 2.4 overall…or less than 0.5 for the whole lineup subtracting TA. There’s likely no team in baseball as reliant on two players in TA and Robert right now.

LOL. I guarantee if Giolito is internally being counted out as gone then it’s either finding money for TA, Robert (highly highly unlikely)…or Vaughn/Cease/Kopech. There’s really no clear answer there other than waiting.

Right now, we’re in a bit of flux, aren’t we? Probably something in the vicinity of 5-6, but perhaps as many as 7 games out when the Twins face the Yankees the first week of June. Then the schedule will turn and really start bearing down on Minny, hence the Sox being the FG probability favorites to win the division by about 5%. But what is the actual direction of this franchise? I suppose right now the short term storyline is simply waiting on Lynn and Jimenez, but every minute the clock is ticking on the veterans, especially Grandal and Abreu. Maybe they’ll come around. Who knows? But this (still) feels almost more like a team in transition than one prepared for a deep playoff run. Jimenez and Moncada to a lesser extent are BIG question marks…Giolito is another with the extension tabled and perhaps gone for good, then Kopech brilliant but who knows how many innings we can push him? We are starting to see the outlines of a great playoff rotation, but there are just so many remaining issues to be resolved. Biggest is whether TLR can somehow improve. He’s showing some signs on outfield defensive replacements and McGuire, but there are the baffling lack of late PHing moves, bizarre lineups and rest patterns, starting Vaughn and Sheets in the same outfield. Just feels like a CLOUDY overall franchise forecast. In the end, we really won’t know enough about this team until July or August when all the parts are assembled and the TDL has passed.

It's certainly going to be quite a bit more than Sal Perez...a similar stature player for his franchise but one not as nationally acclaimed and as Anderson is. Sal Perez doesn't make a game cover. Plus, we already have the failed Giolito extension numbers to look at. If we are not investing in Gio, Anderson or Robert (for various reasons)...you only have Vaughn, Cease and Kopech left. The Kansas City Royals have given six-time All-Star catcher Salvador Perez the richest contract in club history, a four-year, $82 million deal that begins in 2022. The contract includes a club option worth an additional $13.5 million and has a $2 million buyout for 2026.

“This guy is -- he’s as good as anybody playing at that position, and one of the best players in baseball,” said manager Tony La Russa. “So he deserves the recognition, and he deserves the respect. When somebody disrespects him, well, he should get upset. I know I would. Point is, when you talk about how special he is, think about the game he had under those circumstances.” https://www.mlb.com/news/tim-anderson-homers-white-sox-sweep-yanks-in-doubleheader?partnerId=zh-20220523-610734-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20220523-610734-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=ch2rtDrTQg6DCCWi3dQilTt%2BsDak0hYI31wyue16SjxGnFbkTw4JNyteSmi1Lzh%2F&bt_ts=1653316916644

Don't mention credit default obligations with the stock market like this lol.

Another thing...you're going to pay TA $26.5 million in 2023-24 when you are about to pay Moncada $49 million for 2024-25. That won't sit well at all if Yoan continues to be the player he has been since 2020.

Then 8 by roughly $175 million including two remaining option years versus TWICE that for Lindor (obviously two years longer and starting at 27 rather than age 31/32 season)??? Lindor's not THAT much more valuable than Anderson, errors be damned. He certainly wasn't/isn't based on his play in 2021 and so far this season.

It's like knowing whether JR will still be alive or not, lol. If we at least advance to an ALCS one of these next three seasons...that's one aspect of it. And obviously how he looks physically, wear and tear on his body from playing SS and running the bases. He will become more of a power guy and less someone who steals 20-25 bags over time. Obviously his range at SS will matter a ton, too. The overall money would decrease by 15-25% for 2B vs. SS as well. I would put the odds at somewhere between 25-40% likelihood if I was forced at gunpoint to come up with a range of probability.

Should put those quotes on Yankees' boards. A lot of fans were totally writing off the Yankees last year before they went on a massive winning streak last August almost right after the FoD game. Fwiw, only the second series of the season they have lost.

Lindor signed that ten year deal when he was 27 years old. In baseball terms, that's a massive difference from signing beginning in a year that someone turns 32. You can argue it would take another year or two, making it 7 years rather than six, and $225-250 million rather than something in the $340 range Lindor got over ten. But comparing again, Years 27-31 would/should be the last five prime years of Lindor's career, whereas Tim perhaps would already be declining by 32 and you're paying quite a bit for past production. $12.5 and $14.0 million are already options years for 2023-24, so you can look at it like 8 years for around let's say $225-230 million...or 9 years for $250-270 million. That would be through 37 OR 38 years old. But I don't see him quite reaching much more than mid $200's in the end. That's basically overpaying him ala Konerko for his past value to the team, leadership and so he could retire a White Sox. Counting on a low first rounder to be a regular player is a bad bet in Sox recent draft history, though, unless you are TA7 himself or Chris Sale. They were much higher first rounders, too. To summarize, counting on Montgomery to take TA's spot is even a bigger risk than counting on Colas for RF in 2024.

https://www.fangraphs.com/standings/playoff-odds https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-power-rankings-2022-week-7 The rest of the field of 30: Padres (8) Angels (5) Rays (9) Twins (10) Giants (7) Blue Jays (11) Cardinals (12) White Sox (13) Braves (14) Red Sox (21) Cubs fell from 22nd to 24th, fwiw. Guardians 17th, Tigers 27th, Royals 28th.

Ummm...just because you're over 50 years old doesn't mean you necessarily believe TA7, Vladdy Jr., Soto, Acuna, Jr., or Fernando Tatis, Jr., are bad for the sport. Actually, quite the contrary.

https://www.mlb.com/video/check-out-anderson-s-home-run-x0262 Creator Cuts/Field Level view of TA7 homer...will probably get his critics riled up by spending so much time with the "quiet down, that's all folks SHHHHHHH....." gesture. "Luck, like love, is unlimited. The more you share it, the more there is to go around. You will not lose your place in the world if other people are no longer marginalized." Theologian and activist Keith Magee

Won't last very long, because the BoSox are playing like a completely different team and eventually we will run into a VV or Keuchel start mixed in there. Cubs bouncing around from 5-9 games below .500.