caulfield12

Karl Tuffy Rhodes

Interestingly, JR, KW and bad managing took the blame for the majority of 2013-2019. We can cite the first round draft picks making it, and Rodon’s success this season, but who has exceeded expectations from those drafts, besides Tim Anderson? I guess Crochet making it up so quickly in 2020 and looking dominant, Madrigal his last three weeks before going down to injury, Burger even making it to AAA, let alone the majors…but there are just as many question marks about the future of all those guys other than TA7 and Vaughn having a place in the lineup SOMEWHERE next season.

http://www.stevetheump.com/Payrolls.htm#2013_payroll White Sox payroll ranks 2016. 20 2015. 15 2014. 20 2013. 8 2012. 11 2011. 5 2010. 7 2009. 12 2008. 5 2007. 5 2006. 4 2005. 13 2004. 14 2003. 22 2002. 18 2001. 16 2000. 26 Stripping away 2000, a surprise playoff season, you get an average of 12th. But that’s not considering how high top tier the prices for everything (tickets, parking, concessions) were up until the last 5-10 years, where the revenues were consistently higher than average attendance of around let’s say 18th - 24th. To be a Top 4-5 payroll, or even catch the Padres, they would have to increase by at least $40+ million. Nobody expects Top 3, or likely even 4-5, but the last half decade of NOT spending (2016-2019/20) in the top half should get some type of return for the fans’ patience with the rebuild…and seven consecutive non-competitive seasons from 2013-2019, despite the first month+ of 2016.

That said, most would prefer Keuchel gone after next season and money better reinvested. Minnesota is tearing down, the Indians will eventually trade Ramirez (perhaps this offseason) if Bieber is out long term…KC has a long ways to go with their starters and the Tigers with their position players. Hard to imagine anyone but the Tigers emerging as a serious rival in the next 2-3 seasons. Even an 86-89 win team likely is enough to get to the postseason.

Let’s just hope we don’t face Bassitt in the playoffs again…that would be bad karma.

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-billionaire-playbook-how-sports-owners-use-their-teams-to-avoid-millions-in-taxes

Well, you can already cross Eaton off that list. And not be shocked if one of the other spots is Engel.

You mean Elijah’s strikeout numbers?

He originally signed with the Braves for only $8000, that would be quite the story.

Are you talking about Engel and Hamilton? Elite, top 3-5% in baseball speed is kind of a different animal.

Then there are the guys like a Ryan Sweeney or Rutherford who never really developed into their projected power…as far as the speed goes, a lot of our guys like Moncada don’t even run that much for fear of injuries. Surely it will be the same for Luis Robert upon his lineup return as well. In this era, speed is great, but it’s not as important as the 70’s or 80’s, especially in a park like GRF.

No, not even Anderson was close to getting any NBA consideration. “Depends on what he values. As a high upside projectable position player I’d say he should go to college, fill out that frame under a D1 strength and conditioning program. But if a mlb team comes in and offers him 7 figures to sign, we will see. I don’t see him as a top 2 round guy, but if he goes in the top 10 rounds, teams will feel pretty confident they can get him to sign.” https://indiana.forums.rivals.com/threads/who-is-the-recently-committed-short-stop.194586/ Found this at Hoosier.com where he was an Indiana baseball commit. This was from 18 months ago, btw. Lots of opinions out there, some had him going as high as tenth to the Mets.

There were a ton of high school SS’s in this draft. Lack of competition in IN. Not specialized in baseball…raw athlete, fewer reps. Didn’t put up overwhelming stats for his high school level.

The facts speak for themselves. 99%+ of the deaths in recent months are coming from the non vaccinated population. This is one of those areas like gun rights that apparently the only way to change hearts and minds is continued heartbreak…even then, it doesn’t seem to move the meter. UK is doing the exact same thing…charging headlong into herd immunity without actually having it…with cases running 10x higher per capita than the US. The variants are outrunning world immunization efforts badly, especially in the second and third world.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/detroit-tigers-fans-hate-took-002709022.html Tigers’ fans apparently wanted a SS like Mayer instead…some meathead takes that often look ridiculous on both side of the ledger five years down the line. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/detroit-tigers-jackson-jobe-no-232859859.html Tigers definitely going all in on the pitching front…but with only Candelario, Torkelson and Greene, they’re going to have to spend on hitting in FA.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/chicago-cubs-white-sox-prospects-023300404.html Review of Cespedes in Futures Game

Considering about 3 weeks ago a trip to Charlotte seemed quite possible…he turned the corner at the perfect time, when we needed secondary contributors to take over more of the offensive load.

Define best hitter. For the last half-decade, it’s Abreu. Potential-wise, it’s either Moncada, Jimenez, Robert, Madrigal or Vaughn. And who knows, maybe Burger.

The problem is that there are limited opportunities to exploit this advantage. It not like the 2016 intl. cycle where the Padres were able to exploit the system and spend $70-80 million in one fell swoop, and added Tatis as well via trade. Maybe if we did a better job covering Japan and Korea…

Probably why your JR letters stopped getting replies.

Well, except McCann/Colome became Hendriks and Grandal/Collins and now the payroll is limiting what we can do for the time being.

Not to mention the Tigers are closing the gap fast…the biggest question is whether the son will spend like the father (or remain leery after watching the Cabrera contract painfully wind down.)

The only other alternative is trading some combination of Crochet, Burger, Moncada, Giolito and Tim Anderson over the next two or three seasons…the so-called reloading or rebuilding on the fly approach. Nobody likes that much, right? With the farm system bottoming out, they’re going to be stuck in the exact same position the Cubs are in right now during the 2025-27 seasons. Other than hoping we evaluated Cespedes or Colas better than everyone else or that one of the young pitchers like Vera breaks through…we’re left trying to hold onto one of Lynn or Rodon and maximize this earlier half of the window. Of all the big rebuilds, there hasn’t been a team yet to reverse the tide and come back again after peaking. Look at the Royals and Cubs. The only team that might pull it off is the Astros this year or next, although they’re likely to lose Correa to FA. With the Yankees down, Verlander out…we might look back and say this was the best shot to win it, especially with the Dodgers also struggling by their usual standards (but still on pace for 95-100 wins.)

Lost the win for Berrios…just like the Sox did for Cease earlier. Fantasy baseball wins for starters have been tough to come by this season, for the most part.

The Courtney Hawkins Era of White Sox baseball. Also have to give a lot of credit to Engel persevering the last couple of years…when he can actually stay on the field. And Yermin’s April.