caulfield12

"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.

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.