caulfield12

Are there any interesting ads at least? Stuck with the Australian ESPN channel, so only this crazy KFC cricket one set to DMX.

Hating the team is not something fans do. It’s invariably the front office/ownership group. Or the manager. Or the pitching/hitting coach, etc. What good, for example, was hating Mazara and EE when most Sox fans were already skeptical about them from the get go? On the player side, Madrigal has undoubtedly been the most polarizing from the moment he was drafted. He’s supposed to represent the player whose value can’t easily be measured in terms of intangibles, which drives the younger generation of more statistically-oriented fans crazy.

Frederick being out is going to be used as a partial excuse, but they just don’t have that knack for pulling out close games this year...Bohannon having that run of game winners in the past really sticks out. When he isn’t hitting threes, his presence kills you on the defensive end. Blowing that 7 point lead in the final minute at Minnesota was the first warning, then the only game they didn’t have a chance the final minute, losing at home to Indiana really opening the floodgates and the doubts just crept right back in again. Weiskamp is frustrating as heck. Sometimes he’s like a Jared Uthoff/Adam Haluska and you think he could make the NBA, then he’ll fade away for an entire half. Garza gets the most of his ability, but he can’t do it all alone. McCaffrey has relied on his son too much this year at PG...but he’s lacking the fire of last season in his play. They have three athletes behind him, but none are true scorers. Seems like every season since George Raveling was pushed out that Iowa is always an elite athlete or two short, which invariably impacts them defensively getting critical stops. There once was a time when Iowa could realistically compete for McDonald’s All Americans, until they started losing them all to Roy Williams.

I think you mean the farm system of 2-3 years ago. If you told me TLR, Hahn and KW can make it through the season together peacefully and Robert/Moncada can consistently maintain an 850-900 OPS, would feel a lot better. It’s always excitement tempered by nervousness in these situations. Any White Sox fan would also tell you those 1977, 83, 2000, 2005 and 2008 teams came out of nowhere. (Or that the 2003 team or 2006 team before the wheels came off from injuries were the most talented.) When expectations increased the following season, invariably disappointment. You can even say the same for 2011 when we added Dunn...then 2012 under new manager Ventura was a positive albeit ephemeral shock, other than the last two weeks. Or the year we brought in Samardzija, Robertson, Cabrera and LaRoche, etc. Basically, they’re going to have to prove they belong in a full season. Nobody’s going to be all that happy if they make it as a wild card and get eliminated quickly, the expanded playoff format bailed them out last year. Then again, perhaps Renteria doesn’t take his foot off the gas the last couple of weeks and let the Twins and Indians overtake them with only 5 teams eligible for postseason.

Can serve as role model for Burger in his recovery, or lack thereof...well, certainly at least Yoelquis. Improves White Sox players’ car collection by 50%.

I just want to know who’s going to play Greg775...? “Searching” is one of the first movies I can recall that relies almost entirely on technology to tell the story, but this one might require claymation figures to bring it to life. At any rate, Liam Hendriks definitely deserves some residuals.

Seems the original founder already sold the movie rights for a figure rumored to be in the low six figures. Greed never fails to bring out the worst in people.

Do Fangraphs and most of the elite projection models have the Twins now ahead of the White Sox? At peak, we certainly have more potential, but certainly wouldn’t be betting my house in Lawrence on it, either.

Hawkeyes are dead again in late season swoon. Have now lost 4/5, will likely be ranked behind undefeated Drake. Can’t believe a team ranked #3/4 is now on the verge of finishing 9-10 in the conference. Never would believe rescheduling Nebraska game even mattered. It’s almost worse than being a White Sox fan, because the odds of another World Series title for the Sox are greater than Iowa even getting to the Sweet 16 for the first time since Tom Davis was kicked out after taking his final team there in 1999. The last Iowa team that really played in conference goes back to 2005-06, when they got knocked out by Northwestern State in the first round. I remember growing up in the 80’s and 90’s when Hawkeye basketball games were must-watch family events, and almost as big as the football season, if not more so some seasons. Something was broken (fanbase-wise) in that Pierre Pierce/Alfraud situation that has never entirely been repaired, a rift that still hasn’t healed.

Billy Beane might disagree with you. The only way the A’s could compete was undervalued, fringe high OBP players filling out the rosters.

Yeah, if Grandal goes down for an extended time, they’re really screwed without McCann to rely upon.

We’re currently 5th at this site to win the WS. https://www.vegasinsider.com/mlb/odds/futures/ Not even expecting them to beat the Twins this year unless they sign Odorizzi too and make the rotation more of a strength than a potential weakness. With Grandal, Moncada and Eaton, it’s not like we are totally bereft of LH hitters. We do need one more veteran LH bat, though. 2022 and 2023 are the years with zero excuses. That said, we can still make adjustments at the ASB, likely taking on a salary or two for the last 1/3rd of the season and playoffs.

I didn’t include him simply because he was one of the highest ranked FA’s that year. MLB has certainly changed...it’s certainly not like the minors, where autographs were plentiful, everyone in general is more relaxed and approachable, parking is free or under $5.00, beer is affordable (Two for Tuesday, Thirsty Thursdays) and you can all go out in some type of garden or patio and talk to all the relievers down in the bullpen leaning across a mere chain link fence. You can watch a backup catcher from some obscure Latin American country show off his arm throwing a ball out of the stadium and over the Mississippi River bridge, or hang out with players, coaches and the one team beat writer at the local Hooter’s. Those times are fast disappearing, attitudes are becoming more corporatized, terms like risk mitigation/liability override fun and entertainment.

Except the White Sox have had about a 25-30% success rate in free agency with these Tier B/C free agents like EE, Alonso, LaRoche, Cabrera, etc. The only way this philosophy works is if you’re at closer to 50-60% in free agency, or have great coaching as well as talent evaluation on a consistent basis. Teams like the Rays, Braves, Cardinals, Brewers, Indians and A’s just a few that come to mind. What doesn’t work well is being stuck in the middle. Which is where the Mariners have been since their near great Ichiro-led teams of the early 2000’s.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/were-cocky-amc-investors-reflect-181841782.html

There has always been this “paying one’s dues” in baseball for young players. Basically, you’re a first rounder with a huge signing bonus or you’re going to spend many years proving doubters wrong. Now, you are seeing more players in Rounds 2-10 getting money like Kelley, but it has always been a front-loaded game. We can compare with the NFL and NBA, but first, but top picks in those sports are expected to make instant impacts...whereas the majority of high school picks take 4-5 years to even reach the majors, three if they’re extremely talented. It’s hard to imagine that changing because the interests of MiLB ownership groups and MLB talent development has never been aligned in a way that there’s ever been a foremost concern about the product minor league teams have to market/sell.

Won’t that put small market teams at even more of a disadvantage and also disincentivize, at least somewhat, the construction of a Top 10 farm system?

https://tylerpaper.com/ap/sports/patrick-reusse-modern-baseball-devoid-of-any-of-the-games-past-charm/article_bfce4367-69cb-5aa3-b717-1deb4a6af1fb.html Thus, an e-mail, to Anthony C. Clark. Dear Tony: It's good when owners have a chance to rake in a pile of millions. The hope for that to occur is the reason a talented, wacky right-handed starter can fetch $85 million in his first two seasons of a brand-new contract. And, there's nothing you can do in a salary cap-free environment to make the Eastern-educated, analytics-believing front offices of today's baseball to sign a flawed 30 years-plus position player for more than one year at $8 million, even if you as an ex-player and the agents all remember when they could talk teams into big contracts for 33-year-olds who weren't stars. It's true that analytic zealots — bringing as they do quick hooks for effective starters, endless relievers, hitters striking out 45% of the time and still in the lineup, only home runs and no rallies — have made 75% of MLB games sparse in action and suffocating in time. And guess what? Culpable as they are in baseball's dwindling watchability, you're still not going to get the brainiacs to give more than one year and $8 million to Eddie Rosario. Yes, Tony, the game is gasping, and all you can do by fighting a plan to allow owners to make substantially more honeybuns of hundreds to help pay Trevor Bauer's ransom is to hasten its ruination. Yours truly … Despondent baseball lifer.

Let’s not forget that only one of his 13 starts last year was against a team with an above-average offense. The first winner is Bauer, who turned brash self-promotion and two strong seasons into the two highest annual salaries in MLB history. This deal is the validation that baseball’s Mark Zuckerberg has craved all along. It’s a giant middle finger in the faces of all those who questioned his methods, the perfect mic drop for all those who dared to doubt him. The second is the Padres, the pesky title-less franchise two hours down the coast (without traffic, anyway). Their brilliant moves this offseason baited the rational Dodgers, three months after winning the World Series, into overspending for a starting pitcher they don’t need. Even if the Dodgers are still the better team this season, such a deal could prove restrictive for them and give San Diego the advantage moving forward. ..... After all, this is the same person who told Sports Illustrated two years ago, “I want to be a billionaire. Not for any other reason than just to say I did it.” So the Dodgers are tied to him for at least two years. Meanwhile, Clayton Kershaw and Corey Seager—two of their best and most beloved players—are set to become free agents after this season. Keeping one, or both of them, will become more difficult with so much invested in Bauer, especially with Cody Bellinger and Walker Buehler expected to get significant raises through arbitration and Mookie Betts making more than $20 million next year. The Dodgers are projected to spring well above the luxury tax line with Bauer on the books. Will ownership have the stomach to stay on that course for much longer? If so, it'd make Los Angeles the only franchise seemingly willing to do so for an extended period. https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/02/06/trevor-bauer-dodgers-contract-unintended-consequences

Pat Mahomes, Tom Brady or Matt Rodgers are not macro trends indicative of anything geographically but the critical nature of the QB position in the NFL, and scouting. Watch the Packers without Rodgers, or Patriots without Brady. Not to mention there are very few MLB players drafted who can make a team-transforming impact in their draft year or second season in the game.

That’s very exhaustive research. Of course, past trends aren’t indicative of future performance. The Buffalo of 2021 could never support an MLB franchised permanently based there. The Dodgers have made the playoffs every year since 2013. Like the Braves’ run in the 90’s and early 2000’s (and now again), not many WS titles but consistent success. Right now, the Dodgers, Padres and Braves are the three best teams in baseball, and the Yankees/Red Sox don’t look anything like they did in the past. The Yankees still spend, but even they have limits, and Cohen is desperate to make a big splash. Outside of those five teams, it would be even money in Vegas against the other 25 teams in baseball for the next 3-4 WS titles.

One “niche” the White Sox definitely have...spending millions and millions on 1B/DH types. With the exception of Abreu, we must have the lowest return on investment of any team in baseball from 2011-2020 at the DH spot. Realistically, Jimenez and eventually Grandal will be there as well.

Yes, sure, but look at where those teams are now, along with the Indians...maybe, just maybe, the Astros are a playoff team for another year or so, but they’ve already peaked. Wisconsin, for example, has been fortunate with the Brewers, Packers and Bucks, but how long can their luck hold out? Is it possible to imagine Buffalo as one of the four best MLB teams, no way, right? Twenty five years ago, they were still one of the best AAA markets in existence, but even that has faded. It feels like it will take a long time for the Central divisions to get back again to where they were from 2006-2016. The only example I can think of running against the entire “Coastal Trend” is Pac 10 football and basketball falling off the last five years. On the football side, it’s 50-75% the SEC and Saban Effect and the power of national t.v. contracts and first round draft pick bonuses. And, of course, the NCAA’s not quite professional sports, but even there you have Florida and Texas in play in terms of the SEC. Same reason for the existence of MD and Rutgers in the B10. (Of course, the Marlins, A’s and Rays are MLB anomalies that would take some additional time to explain.)

The Giants, Cubs and Red Sox are all going backwards or retrenching. Other than the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets and Angels...maybe the Rangers or Padres, who’s going to lead the spending? MLB has now become FANG vs. the Russell 1000. Young kids growing up basically in anywhere from the Rust Belt to Midwest to Near West can’t even dream of a World Series. It’s two coasts and flyover territory, depending on one’s definition of Texas in the new order. It’s just a reflection of life as we know it in reality. Chicago will do its best to hold on, but how many markets in the two Central Divisions can realistically even support a superteam?

Albert Belle V.2. Look at those numbers. 1 1/2 great seasons, a 3.3 fWAR (but hardly worth Lionel Messi of MLB numbers, let alone Yasmani Grandal) and everything else under 3. Unfortunately, only the Twins offering such a deal would shake the White Sox just a little bit, but they now operate even more conservatively than the White Sox after the Mauer deal went south. And Belle was unquestionably one of the top 2-3 hitters in MLB back in 1997, along with Bonds, Thomas, Griffey Jr., M. Ramirez, McGwire and Sosa. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/trevor-bauer/12703/stats?position=P On top of all that, he might be less marketable than Belle even in terms of butts in the seats. Heck, not even Zack Greinke.