caulfield12

We tend to error on the side of name (Manny Ramirez, Ken Griffey, Jr., Rollins, Youkilis) than current production ability. It remains to be seen what they’ll do THIS season. But hey, there’s hope...Keuchel for one season at least was better than advertised.

The Yankees getting Severino back is even more important than the White Sox with Jimenez in August. Without him, the rotation still has plenty of question marks. The Yankees have more depth to cover injuries, period...or make trades if they need to. It’s why they make the playoffs 85-90% of the time. For example, Andujar and Tauchman. And every year they seemingly have a guy like Frazier or Voit go off for 30-40 dingers. The poster was arguing the Yankees have a number of flaws as the AL favorites, but they still have a more predictable path to the World Series than the White Sox.

Not without those under 18 excluded, Republican male, anti-vaxxers and religious conservatives, etc.....it’s going to be much closer to 60-65%. And some are positing herd immunity sits at roughly 75-85%.

Well, the point remains it’s one of the only comps for Vaughn for a young 1B receiving an early extension. It’s just not that common to take a risk at that particular position.

He was left off the list of Yankees’ pitchers earlier...when he’s their most important pitcher arguably, along with Cole. And Andujar has significant value as a trading chip, moreso than any young Sox player we could plausibly trade without creating another hole. Same with Sanchez, for that matter. The Yankees are still on the tier ahead of us.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/extensiontracker The only deal out there for a young 1B is Evan White with the Mariners, 6 years/$24 million. Preceding that, you have Jon Singleton's with the Astros that went bust. Clearly LF and 1B/DH are not among the priority early extension positions. For the White deal, there were 3 club option years tacked on...essentially buying out the first three years of FA as well. White, fwiw, was ONLY the #58 top prospect on the Top 100 list. The Mariners are locking down their first baseman of the future -- and potentially making him their first baseman of the present in the process. No. 58 overall prospectEvan White is expected to sign a six-year, $24 million contract with the Mariners, according to MLB.com's Jim Callis. The deal would also include three club options and is expected to be announced Monday. (Update: the contract was officially announced by Seattle on Monday.) The length of the deal buys out all of White's pre-arbitration and arbitration years, and the club options, if picked up, would cover his first three years of free agency. Terms of the options were not included in the initial report. For White, the upside is that he locks in at least $24 million in guaranteed money, immediately gets added to the 40-man roster and doesn't have to worry about service-time requirements that often delay Major League debuts. The upside for the Mariners is that they lock in a Top-100 prospect for an average of $4 million over the next six seasons. That could be a bargain given what talented players make in arbitration. Of course, there is always the possibility of White not living up to his ceiling -- like Jon Singleton with the Astros after signing a similar deal earlier this decade -- but the organization has decided this is a risk worth taking, given the potentially massive savings. https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/seattle-mariners/evan-white-23226/ 2026-28 club options worth $10 million, $11 million and $12.5 million respectively. Up to $4 million in buyouts, should they choose not to exercise any of them.

Reports indicate the Mets have offered Lindor a 10-year contract worth $325 million, though he's seeking upward of 12 years and $385 million. New owner Steve Cohen has made his feelings very public on social media in recent days, saying he hopes Lindor decides to sign, among other things. Mets first baseman Pete Alonso has also made his feelings public and his feelings are decidedly pro-Lindor. Alonso told reporters on Tuesday that Lindor deserves a $400 million deal. CBSSports.com

Would love to have watched this Gonzaga team against those late 80's/early 90's UNLV teams. Or Loyola Marymount with Kimble/Gathers, haha. Did ANYONE like the switch from THUR-SUN to FRI-MON/SAT-TUES? I understand Covid-19 and all, but staying up until midnight (blowing off work) and watching those late games in Utah or somewhere out west that first Thursday of games was always something worth looking forward to.

Down and out goes the Big 10 season that looked so promising just weeks ago. Really didn't prove themselves outside of conference (other than a few rare examples like B10/ACC, and the ACC was way down this year)...and it showed. Well, one thing's for sure, without Livers there's no way Michigan was going to stop Gonzaga...

https://www.cubshq.com/story/Is-everyone-enjoying-the-Marquee-Sports-Network-17031

Not really...many Australians/New Zealanders are connected to South America. Lots of Colombians marry and live in Australia or study at university there. There are a number of trade relationships as well between those areas... There's also the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), the point is that the world is so interconnected now (despite massive oceans between them) that it's almost impossible to imagine all these hot zones like Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Chile flaring up and not somehow affecting the rest of the world at some point. When this whole thing started, there were a number of scientists worrying about the health care infrastructure in Africa/India/poorer Asian countries not holding up...and, other than South Africa and a few outbreaks, they've really done quite well. For now.

One positive with only five playoff spots is that it eliminates another 6-8 teams (if not 10) from competition earlier and makes it much more likely the Sox could pick up a pitcher in his last three years or pending FA and extend them (due to uncertainty over CBA) to make up for potential loss of GIOLITO.

The Papua New Guinea situation is very dire, and risks spilling over into AUS and NZ.

With Verlander out for the entire season...and facing LONG odds at his age that he'll ever be the same again, McCullers' injury history, etc., the odds are indeed great. Comes down to that highly-touted farm system producing. The White Sox are projected by SportsLine to win 87 games this season, putting them five games back of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. SportsLine's forecast gives the White Sox a 44 percent chance at making it to October for a second year in a row.

Well, Lewis is/was one of their best prospects and already out for the year. Kiriloff SHOULD be fine, but he's probably not a superstar in waiting like a Kelenic. They're also looking to lose/trade Berrios and Buxton these next two years.

So they would both have to qualify as Wild Cards, somehow with NONE from the AL East/Central (that seems highly unlikely), then the Angels behind Ohtani beating them in sudden death? Also, weird thing going on recently as well as all the "hot" money is flowing towards Ohtani as a darkhorse MVP candidate in the AL a 20-1 odds. Seems the last week some were consigning his pitching career to the garbage bin...might have been a bit premature on that call.

Already saw this story with Iowa during the regular season. And Iowa had that done to them by Oregon in the tourney, then USC ran all over Oregon, etc. The Michigan/UCLA game SHOULD be either a really close one or a Michigan fairly easy win. Which means that UCLA will clearly blow out the Wolverines hanging in there without their best player. How many chances are the Wolverines going to get here at the end...? Unless UCLA can shock Gonzaga, we're left waiting for Gonzaga/Baylor, as it has seemed all season long to be destiny (minus the Michigan and Illinois runs).

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-2021-season-predictions-expert-picks-for-division-winners-world-series-champ/

Jimenez...Cordero....Engel.

Severino? Andujar?

Penn National has the ability to pay an additional $62 million in three years to bring its stake up to 50%. After the initial deal closed, The Chernin Group's 60% stake had been reduced to 36%, matching Penn National's stake. The remaining 28% is still owned by Portnoy and a few key executives like CEO Erika Nardini. As of right now, Penn National is worth $17 billion. That Penn stock of Portnoy’s has risen in value from $28 million to roughly $75 million right now ($37 to $100ish). WYOMISSING, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Penn National Gaming, Inc. (PENN: Nasdaq) (“Penn National” or the “Company”) today completed its previously announced acquisition of a 36% interest in Barstool Sports, Inc. (“Barstool Sports”) for total consideration of approximately $163 million, comprised of approximately $135 million in cash and $28 million in non-voting convertible preferred stock. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200220005183/en/Penn-National-Gaming-Completes-Acquisition-of-36-Interest-in-Barstool-Sports-for-163-Million

This apparently happened in October... The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Diamond Sports, Sinclair’s regional sports network subsidiary, was seeking to restructure an estimated $8 billion debt load. The group’s business has been rocked this year by reduction of games because of the pandemic and the loss of some carriage deals with pay-TV distributors. One bright spot for Sinclair was the July agreement it struck with Comcast to carry Marquee, its other regional sports networks, the Tennis Channel and 78 local TV stations. The Journal reported that in a subsequent earnings call Sinclair Chief Executive Chris Ripley told analysts that 85% of Sinclair’s RSN subscribers were locked in at least the next two years. For disgruntled Xfinity subscribers, the only way to get out of paying for Marquee, short of dropping Xfinity altogether, would be to reduce their service to the basic tier. Seeing as that would eliminate not just Marquee but NBC Sports Chicago and Big Ten Network as well, it may not be a satisfactory resolution. https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cubs/ct-chicago-cubs-hulu-drops-marquee-sinclair-rsns-20201022-gnkqclhsuvbrroqs3adfp2kzda-story.html This new channel is expected to bring the Cubs an additional $30M of revenue compared to other stations, excluding any advertising and the aforementioned regional sports fee. This fee will be subsidized not just by Cubs fans, but by all TV subscribers with any cable package that exceeds basic cable, who will pay this regional sports fee regardless of whether or not the cubs are playing games. This regional sports fee is a fee being charged to all in-network TV subscribers against their will. The Marquee Sports Network should be removed from standard sports lineup and only be offered as a premium channel to those willing to pay extra.

But at the same time, this entire sport is about entertaining the fans. That is the reason it exists! Is being cold and calculating in an effort to maximize wins at the most efficient price tag part of that? Sure. We like to watch wins, and we like to watch wins over a long period of time. But we also like to watch players we enjoy. Players we feel connected to. That also has value. And also? Taking care of the face of your franchise has value that goes beyond fan service or even his performance on the field. You gonna tell me this Rizzo situation doesn’t mean anything at all to future players who consider extensions? To future free agents who are pitched the idea that this is a players-first organization? If the reporting here is accurate, the Cubs need to step up and revise their offer. Period. Five years and $70 million at this moment in time for Rizzo is an unacceptable offer. Maybe it won’t take much of a bump up to get Rizzo’s camp talking again, but it needs to happen. If Rizzo winds up walking and this was the best offer the Cubs made, it will not be hard to see how fans will never forget this one, regardless of how things actually play out for his next contract and his next half-decade of performance. That’s the nature of fans. https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2021/03/29/cubs-initial-offer-to-anthony-rizzo-was-reportedly-just-70-million-over-five-years/ Feels similar to the time Reinsdorf pushed out Buehrle, although not quite so insulting as the Cubs are being

Marcus Semien says hi!

Better to just gratefully listen to what Hahn tells us through Sox friendly media than to dare question him...he has only once admitted being wrong, on a certain transaction with the Padres.