caulfield12

Plus they need to start seriously considering the cost/benefit of a Giolito extension. Of course, if he repeats 2019/20, then you have to think Reinsdorf would definitely hesitate on giving out $100+ million extension to a pitcher with a TJ surgery is his past. The Danks extension would be used as the excuse as well. 4-6 year contracts for Sox pitchers...we’ll believe it when we see it with our own eyes. And you’d have to think Giolito was paying close attention to the Wheeler deal...even if those market conditions no longer apply.

Kopech + ? Vaughn isn’t going to the Cubs unless they are planning to part with Rizzo or the NL goes to the DH. Crochet has more value to the White Sox that he offers the Cubs. Which leaves the package short unless they’re willing to empty out the entire next tier of pitching prospects. Collins, Sheets and all our minor league outfielders have negligible value, but let’s just say Adolfo for argument’s sake. Leaving you Kopech, Stiever/Thompson/Kelley/Dahlquist (pick 3) and a lottery ticket in Adolfo. Hahn simply can’t afford to give up that much young pitching in one trade if he doesn’t have the budget to go shopping on the open market.

By the way, the Padres despite having the a bottom five MLB local media market...are projected to run out a $162 million payroll in another pandemic interrupted season if they don’t make any more major moves. https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/nba-market-size-nfl-mlb-nhl-nielsen-ratings/ Just once, can the White Sox even make it to $140 in 2021 or 2022?

There really isn't one that doesn't include Kopech/Vaughn. Vaughn would be blocked by any future deal for Rizzo...same reason they (well, also depends on fate of the DH in NL.) Maybe he does make sense if they're completely cleaning house and Baez/Contreras/Bryant are all sent packing, but it's hard to imagine letting fan favorite Rizzo go, too? Madrigal would have been superfluous with Hoerner/Happ. They would basically have to completely empty the shelves of Tier B/C lower-level pitching prospects along with one headliner. Crochet, obviously, would have been interesting to them as well, especially if they can dump Kimbrel (but also as a potential starter.)

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/30/politics/giroir-better-job-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-cnntv/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/30/us/florida-coronavirus-vaccine-line/index.html The first time I can remember someone from the Trump administration admitting they need to be doing a better job...of course, they come from a military and not civilian background, so not 100% shocking. "Although I'm grateful to get the vaccine, I feel that there's got to be a better way to distribute this," he said afterward. "For people that really need it, elderly that might be disabled in some way, they can't endure this process, so there's got to be a better way to manage this." The long wait is a preview of what looks to be a tumultuous vaccine rollout and reflects the public's pent-up demand for vaccines as well as the logistical difficulty in administering them in an orderly way. The issue is partly a consequence of the lack of consistent federal guidance in administering vaccines, as President Donald Trump deferred that decision-making to the states. In turn, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis broke with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to focus first on vaccinating the elderly rather than essential workers, and he has encouraged each county health department to make its own decisions on administering the vaccines. But the Florida situation is a perfect example of what NOT to do, which is making the elderly camp out or wait in lines of up to 8-9 hours. Imagine if you live in the NE, Rust Belt, Rockies, etc. They could literally be killing off old people due to exposure...ironically, while waiting in lines to get a vaccine to save themselves, the fighting over the vaccine itself might turn out to be even more dangerous than the virus.

That said, he'd already appeared in the Futures Game and there was a TON of hype on him. It's really hard to compare him with a slew of Top 11-16 guys out of a very deep Padres system. Those guys are much more likely to end up like Basabe or Victor Diaz before all is said and done. Even the Top 75-100 guys like Mejia have a high bust rate, as Francisco was once considered the top catching prospect in all of baseball when he was in the Indians' system. Now he's a cross between Miguel Olivo and Zack Collins. I just think it's weird that some are defending the Cubs for going quantity over quality, when the evidence is overwhelming that going for 2-3 top prospects over a collection of 3-5 lower guys almost always tends to favor the former strategy over the latter one.

The media killed the Obama administration on the ObamaCare rollout, and (for the most part) rightfully so. It was already a disaster when you can keep your doctor turned out to be untrue. There’s been nothing in the entire pandemic response to cause one to believe the vaccine distribution will go smoothly. Whether we wait for weeks, like the botched Hurricane Katrina response...or days, or hours...to criticize, the reality is that some many false promises have been made that it was never going to live up to anything close to those earliest, most rose-colored glass projections by Admiral Giroir.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/yu-darvish-trade-grades-padres-get-another-a-and-another-ace-cubs-start-sell-off-with-low-marks/ https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/padres-are-serious-about-world-series-contention-three-reasons-why-thats-especially-notable-this-winter/

Retool.

If we didn't have journalists to put politicians' feet to the fire, what would do it, other than fear of defeat at the ballot box? The fact of the matter is that the initial rollout has been going much more slowly than predicted. Not unlike the original rollout of ObamaCare, perception becomes 90% of reality.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/louisiana-congressman-elect-dies-covid-025154687.html It finally happened, we lost a member of Congress, at least Congressman-Elect, a Republican out of Louisiana...of course, since it's not a "big name" anyone is familiar with, it will be barely a blip on the radar. But you can bet your bottom dollar that every single GOP member of the House and Senate will now be vaccinated if they haven't already.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/best-movies-of-2020-140015811.html Nomadland and Ma Rainey’s Bottom are both really excellent. First Cow, struggled with the first 45 minutes but really enjoyed the last hour or so as the story picks up steam. Have seen 10/25 so far.

We can just send Rudy Guiliani with his melting Just For Men dye job to scare them off (and simultaneously make sure to hide any Kazakhstani girls employed at 35th and Shields). https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/elijah-tatis-follows-footsteps-of-superstar-brother/ By the way, I've still, to this day, never seen any evidence of a 14-15 year old Tatis brother or half-brother awaiting in the Lat Am pipeline. Fernando Tatis Jr. The son of Maria and Fernando Tatis Sr. His dad is a former 11-year MLB veteran infielder, widely known for hitting 2 grand slams in 1 inning on April 23, 1999 @ LAD (with STL) off Chan Ho Park... Has 3 brothers, Joshua, Elijah and Daniel, and 1 sister, Maria Fernanda. His younger son Elijah is also a baseball player and was signed by the Chicago White Sox in 2019. Tatis III is the oldest of five born to Fernando and Maria. The other boys are Joshua, Elijah and Daniel. Maria is the girl. https://www.mlb.com/news/padres-might-be-best-baseball-team-2021

That said, one of the two lower rated players from the Padres supposedly made huge strides in 2020...to the point where "observations in swing improvements" led him to the periphery of their Top 10. I guess the other part of it we just jumped from Crochet's draft year to him directly being an integral part of the current roster and not considered a realistic trade piece (due to the possibility of following in the lines of Sale.) Normally, those recent draft pick guys would build depth in a system over a 2-3 year period. We also have the 2 big Lat Am signings, but those realistically aren't considered legit trade pieces since doing so (quickly) would put a damper on the so-called Cuban Connection.

He went on a crazy homer tear that one year. Not unlike that crazy Golden Gopher going 8/9 the other night from 3 after being 2/10 previously. Everyone has their 15 minutes of fame.

Lawsuit?

Arugula?

Just don't let him get married again. We don't need another McCourts drama like the Dodgers went through...

The DeVos Family would be quite elated with choice #6. #8 is DON'T EAT? It probably should be don't eat OUT everyday, lol.

He's fine at the back end. They quickly learned this post-season, though, that's he's not the kind of pitcher you can necessarily rely on to shut the other team down in the playoffs, and that's all that matters to SD right now (and getting past the Dodgers.) Just imagine in 2022, they'll have Gore/Lamet/Clevinger/Darvish/Paddock as their starting rotation...but they still have Morejon, Ryan Weathers, Lucchesi (back end/spot or swing starter/trade piece like Davies) and Michel Baez to back them up or make yet another trade. The top options will likely be Luis Patiño and Adrian Morejon. Patiño, who turned 21 this week, had a 5.19 ERA and 1.85 WHIP this season. Although these aren’t inspiring numbers, he was just 20 years old all season long and has a lot of work to do now that he has made his MLB debut. His 21 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings show promise in his stuff, though. Morejon, 21, recorded a 4.66 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings. Both of these young pitchers had a huge opportunity on this Padres team this season to showcase their abilities. Another pitcher who is worth looking at is Joey Lucchesi. Lucchesi was one of San Diego’s workhorse pitchers in 2018 and 2019 but only made three appearances this past season. With Lucchesi and Morejon currently being the only two LHP with a solid chance to break the rotation, one of them will likely make it. Manager Jayce Tingler would likely go with the younger Morejon for 2021, as shown by his usage in 2020. Two other left-handed pitchers that turn heads are Ryan Weathers and MacKenzie Gore. Weathers, 20, made his MLB debut in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers. In 1 1/3 shutout innings, he walked two batters and struck out Cody Bellinger. Weathers is the Padres’ No. 6 prospect and will be intriguing to watch if placed on the roster in 2021. MacKenzie Gore. The Padres’ No. 1 prospect, the top pitching prospect in all of baseball, and the No. 3 prospect in all of baseball. Gore, 21, is expected to be a future top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher. Due to COVID-19, Gore, along with all minor league players, did not have a season. https://www.eastvillagetimes.com/an-outlook-at-the-2021-san-diego-padres-rotation/

Paddock really regressed last year, but that rotation if Gore even comes anywhere near fulfilling his potential is closer and closer to rock solid right now. They also managed to retain Morejon and Baez, who have been Top 75 or above MiLB guys in recent years. And CJ Abrams is a lot like Profar, where he can play basically anywhere on the field. All things considered, they’re in a pretty good place...just need one more stud in the bullpen (or one of the castoff starters to take off). Of course, as long-term White Sox fans well know, nothing goes quite like planned in baseball.

Mejia is a lousy defender but has a rocket arm, think of him a bit like Miguel Olivo at this point. But equating his value with Collins is borderline ridiculous.

Crochet not a chance with his likely reliever profile. Kopech’s the closest. I would think 75% of MLB front offices or more would prefer Patino. Most notable is not giving up Abrams, either. Better package here than the Clevinger one because of the possibility of Mejia breaking out and obviously Patino’s got a ton of potential, but there’s more risk for the Rays as well (compared to the Indians, who were almost forced to trade their guy.)

Just look at the hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars paid for music catalogs...the exponentially increasing value of fine art collections, etc.

Kemp in Georgia and Reynolds in Iowa, along with Noem in SD...the former finally stood up to Trump these last 4-6 weeks, but not knowing anything about how the virus is transmitted months into a pandemic is pretty pathetic.