caulfield12

From the Winter Meetings onward….usually beginning of December.

Anything to prevent Ron from that world-renowned “winning the day” championship trophy…it worked? Plus, you’re likable enough.

You need to change your First Base Coach label to “Doin’ stuff” or “Gettin’ Stuff Done”…

Sure, then we have to go back and take away the Red Sox titles with Ortiz and Manny? Seems like the Giants from 2010-14 were the only untarnished mini-dynasty.

Hibbard is one of the more rational, level-headed posters here, and trends towards optimism generally. I do think it's interesting how everyone seems to get triggered by being called out as "soft," it's like it automatically puts people on the defensive. And yet we don't want anything to do with a "hard ass" manager in terms of the preference of most modern baseball fans. Quite a contradiction.

Sure, by extension...because the lack of payroll flexibility that's on the horizon will be directly correlated to our diminishing numbers of cost controlled Year 1-3 players, and the exploding option year numbers in most extensions. We essentially have two more years (with four pending FAs), then a really really tough decision on Tim Anderson in 2024. That's why the Astros losing Springer, Correa and Verlander as well...but going on Year 6 in 2022 is pretty astounding. Little reason to think anyone but the M's can start to threaten them. The Royals and Cubs didn't come close to threading that same needle, with their runs primarily front-loaded.

Correa and Seager are going to get paid...

Why do the Sox good or great teams always stumble right into labor issues periods....?

He was good enough to hold the lead...have a feeling TLR would have left him in against Gurriel and suffered the consequences.

The proper word is eccentric. Well, I guess if you're relatively well off financially.

Imagine a Michigan fan flipping to tOSU or vice versa...you just can't do that, even as a result of marriage. It's ingrained, innate, in your blood for life.

By the way, are we supposed to root for the Astros to win it all now to make the Sox look better, or for Sale despite being on the Red Sox but coming off an injury? Challenging to find anything compelling to root for now, Just tepidly for ATL I guess.

Your penalty for this misguided attempt at a "like" is that you are now Contestant #1 in Squid Games 2. Buen suerte!

Basically you can't make the wrong decision on a franchise player in Lindor and rely on extended pitching health, like ever. Or not doing proper background checks, or ignoring those checks because you have too much Daniel Snyder in your DNA. Incredible the Braves got there without Acuna and Ozuna and pitching issues...and that the Phillies never get there despite talents like Harper and Wheeler.

This is detracting from your ultimate goal of earning a tenured position as Global Moderator.

You also shouldn't ruin Vaughn's early career by only playing 30-35% of the time and not letting him get over the hump against RHP...it would be incredibly short-sighted thinking if you believed so much in his talent to draft him that high.

Collins, really?

Madrigal gets MVP votes and Heuer Roland's Relief Man of the Year (if that still exists) while under the tutelage of Matt Karchner...

And when the Dodgers win the World Series again...will you retract that? Especially considering the disparity in payroll between the two teams, 107 wins in that division and it coming down to one hit in the final innings, along with a non-call. If the White Sox were in the NL West or AL East, we'd have little to no chance of winning a division title.

If you took away the Heyward, Chatwood and Q moves…Soler perhaps (for Wade Davis), as well as Kimbrel, Chapman and Darvish, the Cubs are in a much different place. Of course, many will argue no 2016 World Series title without two of those names + Zobrist. But similar concepts of disregarding youth for veterans here. You could do a Master’s thesis on the Padres getting more and more expensive with bigger veteran names while discarding Ty France, Urias, Patino, Quantrill, Reyes, Renfroe, Margot, Naylor…going all the way back to Rizzo, Trae Turner and Max Fried a development cycle previously. (Obviously Zobrist worked well for a time in KC and Chicago, but you can see the trend here.)

Something we have never heard about the White Sox...like ever. "All of our success has been driven by players exceeding expectations and that's a tribute to their work, and the staff, and the infrastructure that we've built to support them.” That’s Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who took over after the 2018 season and has built a deeper, more modern team while staying — at times confoundingly — invested in the same core that formed the backbone of a dynasty almost a decade ago.....If you pull the individual threads that constitute the tapestry of their success this season, many lead back to Zaidi’s ability to identify overlooked talent. Arming those players with the information to maximize their largely untapped potential has led to breakouts for Wade, Darin Ruf, Kevin Gausman and Webb, among others. “I feel like sometimes guys are kind of taught the same thing. But really, every guy's different and they do a really good job of telling guys, ‘You're really good at this, do that,’” says Webb, who has leaned into his sinker to get more ground balls this season. “There’s so many different numbers now.” https://sports.yahoo.com/how-the-san-francisco-giants-took-a-familiar-roster-and-unearthed-the-best-team-in-baseball-122426831.html

Who in their right mind would be positive about LaRussa coming back or picking up Kimbrel’s option? Now if our payroll was going to be at least $165-170 million…with no Kimbrel on the roster, at least that would be a bit better. This year, we have 3 of the 5 highest payrolls remaining, and even the Braves are 12th. We have ONE advantage over the rest of the league, Cuban player signings. But does anyone really believe Cespedes or Colas will take is to the next level during this window? I might bet more money on Vera. We just don’t do any of the little things well that win you games when trams of similar talent meet. We also don’t have a guy like Scherzer or a farm system that would ever allow you to trade for even half that trade at the deadline, let alone Turner, a sneaky MVP-level player.

Can we also have the Pale Hose Sinema or Manchin just to even things out?…as those comps to TLR are probably just as accurate. Okay, now we can leave politics behind again.

It feels like the trade deadline wiped away any good will he’d created. Hernandez and Kimbrel couldn’t have worked out worse than just picking names at random from a trade targets jar. He essentially lucked into Rodon and Lance Lynn in his mid 30s isn’t an automatic guarantee anymore either…added on to Grandal and Keuchel jamming up the payroll. Way too many one-dimensional 1B/DH/1B types. Also, unsure what’s going to happen with Kopech and Crochet. Finally, giving up on top 5 picks Madrigal and now possibly Vaughn or Eloy at 75 cents on the dollar (to replace them with fading veterans) seems idiotic, at best.

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/2021/ #1-4-5-12 in payrolls in the Final Four. Three of Top 5. Giants were #10. White Sox at #15 (league average) are certainly not the Braves, Rays, Cardinals, Brewers, etc. But we might just get stuck being cute with QO’s to Kimbrel and Rodon and blow the entire offseason budget with no RF, 2B, veteran starter, RH reliever (Tepera) or decent veteran backup catcher.