caulfield12

On paper, that offense for the Cubs doesn't look too bad. The problem is on the pitching side. At this point, it might be that the team has moved on and waiting for the inevitable teardown if Rizzo's not coming back. Because that means with Bryant likely gone (perhaps holding out for a comp pick if they're somehow competing still in July and don't like the offers), then what's the point of trying to keep Baez and/or Contreras? Jake Arrieta's on his last legs and he's their second starter. Makes the White Sox "problems" with pitching look tame by comparison.

They have never played 154 or 162 games in the minors. It has always been April through late August, playoffs in September (obviously different for short-season leagues.) Well, there's always the chance that Jimenez could get at-bats for Birmingham, Winston-Salem, etc. Would prefer something more challenging than Low A, although even mashing there to get his confidence back quickly wouldn't be the worst outcome, obviously.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-01/long-covid-symptoms-are-affecting-1-1-million-people-in-u-k?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-businessweek Long Covid Symptoms Are Affecting 1.1 Million People in U.K. By Camomile Shumba and Lucy Meakin April 1, 2021, 4:54 PM GMT+8 Women and younger people more likely to suffer longer Vaccine hesitancy declines but remains an issue in poor areas

Top Gun. The theme song for the first Rambo sounds hokey and dated, then it starts to stick with you. Footloose, Purple Rain, Beverly Hills Cop, Less Than Zero, Dirty Dancing and Electric Dreams all stand out. Weird Science, another.

Brad Stevens Matt Doherty (unlikely) Hubert Davis Phil Ford Jerry Stackhouse King Rice trying to brainstorm some guys for UNC spot...Steve Robinson, CB McGrath, Brad Frederick, Sean May

Well, fortunately, everyone gets to come back as zombies repeating James Earl Jones speeches. KyYle The Enforcer/Punisher is more fun.

Still think the first Pacific Rim was far better...at least I didn’t play on my phone when Idris Elba was overacting in a good way as Stacker Pentecost in 2013. Just a few days later, I can hardly recall any of the human characters in Godzilla.

Yeah, hard not to vote for the six tool human highlight reel. He was my pick.

Now if you can fix their bullpen, get consistency out of McKenzie and find a couple more 800+ ops bats...not to mention they went 8-2 against the Sox last year.

No team in baseball develops pitching as well as Cleveland. The latest success story is Shane Bieber, who went from fourth-round draft pick to Cy Young winner in five years. They also have a third- (Aaron Civale) and 12th-round (Zach Plesac) draft pick in the rotation, and in recent years the club has helped Mike Clevinger and Corey Kluber go from unheralded trade pickup to ace starter. Cleveland's next breakout pitcher: Logan Allen. I am boldly predicting it. Cleveland acquired the lefty in the three-team Trevor Bauer/Yasiel Puig trade with the Padres and Reds, and he's impressed this spring after spending most of last season at the alternate site. Allen's velocity has been up to 97 mph and his slider is sharper as well. He's struck out 18 and allowed one run in 14 spring innings. Allen, 23, shed 35 pounds over the winter and he fully bought into the team's pitching program. MLB.com's Mandy Bell has more: So, how exactly did he put himself in this position? Aside from his diet that allowed him to enter camp in great shape, Allen said that the Indianssuggested some tweaks based on physical movements and analytics when they were breaking down his mechanics. He started working at the Indians' alternate training site last season and continued all through the offseason. Not only did he quickly pick up on how to better his delivery, he's mastered how to repeat it. Cleveland has not had a left-handed pitcher make a start since Ryan Merritt in August 2017, if you can believe that, and Allen will surely end the no-lefty streak this year. He's poised to do more than be a token southpaw though. Allen's stuff is better than ever, and he's refined his delivery and improved his control. Simply put, he looks like a breakout Cleveland pitcher now. The bold prediction is Allen throws over 120 innings with a sub-3.50 ERA and more than a strikeout per inning in 2021. As always, Cleveland is loaded is pitching, though the team will have to monitor workloads and build everyone up carefully after last season. That will create a need for innings. The bet here is once Allen gets his foot in the door, he's in the rotation for good. https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/indians-logan-allen-likely-to-begin-year-in-rotation/ Now, if he becomes the pitcher Brady Aiken was supposed to be, we can all criticize Preller for dealing Allen.

The Padres have the much more difficult path...to get past the Dodgers, who’ve been to eight consecutive postseasons and just won a World Series and added Bauer, pushing Price and Gonsolin out of the rotation. Because there’s so much that can go wrong in a wild card game, versus at least assuring themselves of a playoff series. We had an Indians’ team basically waiving the white flag (minus trading Ramirez and Bieber) and a Twins’ team that was inert or inactive until the final six weeks and could have crushed them with a Springer, Ozuna or Bauer signing. Heck, just Cruz and Odorizzi would have been enough. But no...we always leave such a thin margin for error, you’d almost believe all those rumors that JR is content with aiming for second place every season.

Not to mention the presence of Bummer from the left-hand side...well, it’s the Sale to the pen in 2010 and 2011 argument. Sale went 71 innings in 2011, 192 and 214 over a three year stretch.

Call your governor's office, your Representative (Eileen Horn)...write a letter to the editor to the KC Star or Topeka/Lawrence newspapers...ask what the heck is going on, where's your vaccine???!!!

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31173033/los-angeles-dodgers-mookie-betts-cody-bellinger-top-mlb-jersey-sales-los-angeles-angels-mike-trout-10th Had to leave Hendriks, Eloy Jimenez (simply because of the injury, otherwise he's definitely there), Adam Eaton and Bummer/Heuer off the list, as well as Zack Collins/Mercedes. Quite a few names to go through. Logically, it would be TA, Giolito or Luis Robert, with Moncada/Abreu in the distance and Madrigal/Vaughn/Kopech/Crochet true dark horse candidates.

"Including this year’s salary, in his last season of arbitration eligibility, Lindor will receive $362.3 million over 11 years, but deferrals will likely lower the present-day value. The $341 million is $1 million more than Fernando Tatis Jr. received this offseason in his 14-year deal from the Padres. Lindor’s deal includes a $21 million signing bonus and a partial no-trade clause. Lindor will get $32 million annually in each of the 10 seasons and $5 million each year deferred to 2032-41. The Mets had previously offered Lindor a 10-year contract worth $325 million. Lindor countered with a 12-year proposal worth $385 million, according to a source, that would have eclipsed the deal Mookie Betts received from the Dodgers last summer. Betts received a 12-year deal worth $365 million." NYPost.com One gets the feeling these deferrals for years down the line are going to become more and more common. With inflation finally expected to increase, it's an interesting play. Also, shout out to Bobby Bonilla and Herschel Walker.

"The Mets have not confirmed the contract because it is not yet official. When it becomes so, the Mets expect Lindor to serve not only as a centerpiece of their roster, but as the face of their franchise and perhaps all of baseball. In terms of numbers, Lindor’s deal is nearly unprecedented across the American sports landscape. The richest contract ever for a shortstop, Lindor’s deal is the third largest in Major League history behind only Mike Trout and Mookie Betts. Lindor’s $22.3 million salary for 2021 remains unchanged, making the Mets’ total commitment to him $363.3 million over 11 seasons. The contract includes a limited no-trade clause and zero opt-outs, according to a source, all but assuring Lindor will be a Met for the bulk of his career. " MLB.com Symbolically, beat the Tatis, Jr. , deal by $1 million, but of course iit's not nearly so simple. Lindor's game is also more based on speed, which tends to decline the most quickly compared to power.

All posts about current role/innings pitched expectations/strategies for working on secondary pitches in side work vs. high-leverage relief situations/possible post-season or Winter Ball "stretching out." Post/discuss here. Theoretical 2021 innings target: 70-80ish?

Sheets? Collins? It's also going to be interesting to see how Burger fares this year (with the glaring arm bar swing issue)...and will also keep one eye out on Adolfo in his last chance with the Sox. The thing is, that Kingery's dad was always a speed guy, doubles/triples, walks, solid defense, getting on base, stolen bases...seems like he got caught up in all the homer mania and tried too much to change his basic game that was working in past years.

Pablo Ozuna comes out of retirement to back up Buehrle in the pen. Geoff Blum and Scotty Pods enjoy the actions from the stands. Rowand and Brian Anderson do their usual running commentary for CBS Sports Radio. TLR brings Buehrle (and his wife) back into the Sox fold through his animal charities advocacy. Ethan Katz is NOT naming Pitching Coach of the Year. Don Cooper goes the entire season quietly without getting into an argument with a single fan.

There are more positive posts than negative on SoxTalk this season...

The problem there is he really going to be able to experiment with his secondary pitches enough in high-leverage situations? There are a few starters out there who can get away with just two pitches, but having a third pitch he can go to 5-15% of the time is not going to be easy to develop in the bullpen. In Katz We Trust? Just looked at a couple of examples with TB in 2017 and 18. Austin Pruitt threw 83 innings, 8 starts in 2017. Their other relievers were 57 to 69 IP. In 2018, Ryan Yarbrough had 147 IP on just 6 GS, Chirinos 90 IP with 7 GS. Everyone else in the pen pretty much 40-70 IP. The highest was Pruitt (after those two quasi-starters) at 70 IP, he closed out 11 games.

The Sinopharm Vero vaccine I got last Friday is supposedly showing 79.34% efficacy. The bottom line is that anything over 50% is supposedly "more good than not getting it at all." I guess the real test is whether the WHO officially signs off on Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSinoBio. If they don't, we're going to have a real interesting situation politically with the WHO/China, and 2) an incredibly immense supply chain problem getting only Western vaccines out to the rest of the world in just two years' time...with that Novavax worldwide consortium dramatically underfunded. The next step is going to be for the EU, though, to sort out all their disputes and disagreements about AZ. https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/31/world/meanwhile-in-america-march-31-intl/index.html It's America's next Covid-19 culture war. Growing numbers of businesses, hospitality industries, and even sports teams are considering requiring proof of vaccination for customers, once the world begins to open up. For both patrons and staff, such a system might offer peace of mind -- and could stop a cruise voyage around the Caribbean, for example, from turning into a floating super spreader. Countries where Covid-19 rates are low might soon start demanding inoculation information before they let tourists in. It's not that different from parents showing proof of vaccination typically required to enroll kids in American schools, or those little yellow vaccine cards already required to travel in countries threatened by yellow fever, tuberculosis or other scourges. Yet the idea of "vaccine passports" has become the latest object of right-wing politicians' outrage. ... For the record, President Joe Biden is not actually planning to mandate vaccine passports or to set up a central vaccines database that raises the specter of Big Brother surveillance trampling American individualism. The White House says it is trying to work with companies to set standards for vaccine passports and to ensure people's privacy is protected. Nevertheless, it is an ethical minefield. Should businesses bar people who are not vaccinated? Can employers make vaccines a condition for accepting a new job? Certainly vaccines should be available to anyone who wants one before such filtering systems are introduced. But equally, is it fair for an American who endangers others by refusing vaccination to get the same benefits as others? Rent-a-quote politicians stirring fear and anger about the issue are not doing much to help. If you want to read Marjorie Taylor Greene and DeSantis quotes in the middle, have at it. Click on the link.

I think you'd find quite a few comps to what you're asking of Kopech in the TB Rays bullpens from 2017-2020 (extrapolated for short season.) Their starters only go 3.5 to 4ish innings. Or the Angels with their 6 man rotation to protect Ohtani. Of course, they can extend him in blowouts that go either way as the mop up man just to get the innings in as well. AFL/Winter Ball are other options as well. If anything, would be more worried about Crochet's workload than Kopech being pushed too hard...or maybe it's more accurate to say Kopech pushing HIMSELF (because of his basic personality) too hard and too fast to get back to where he was and make up for lost time, especially watching his teammates go to the post-season last year and sitting it out on the sidelines.

Well, the advantage of a much younger team is that they don't know they're NOT supposed to be there. (Of course, we have an experienced now veteran core mostly 20-somethings and then Grandal/Abreu/Keuchel/Lynn/Hendriks.) On paper, it's pretty darned close to the perfect balance. Thinking about so many of our really young players that we've been talking about all off-season. Between changing to Ventura in 2012 (re-set), we saw a mostly rookie-led pitching staff (outside of Sale and the other obvious names) compete for 90% of the season with the Tigers. We also witnessed a completely different mindset on defense...so it's probably fair to say at least in the majority of examples that a coaching regime change can or often does have a positive impact, at least in the short-term. In the end, missing Jimenez might be exactly the opportunity that Vaughn, Collins and even Mercedes needed. Typically, young White Sox players have been blocked in competing years, but this is a completely different approach than we've seen for most of the last two decades, going all the way back to those late 90's teams with Konerko/Cameron, Ordonez, C-Lee, Durham and all the young pitching.

Ha! If that happens, it will be 75% TLR behind it. Can’t say granting extensions to anyone but Verlander has been all that wise...and even Justin has had his ups and downs after hitting age 30. It’s not like Lynn has the best physical conditioning in the world, but it has worked for him so far. That said, spending $25-50 million on Lynn instead of investing it into Giolito doesn’t seem like the kind of move most championship teams make. Maybe the Cardinals can get away with it.