caulfield12

Or, it’s simply a matter of cutting down travel expenses and missed game action when transferring players around the system. They even had a team in Bristol for a long time, with Great Falls the only outlier. Birmingham’s in the Southern, which is the closest AA league to the Carolinas. But you can also make logical arguments for why your AAA team should be closer to appease the fanbase, like Iowa/Cubs, Omaha/Royals, Toledo/Tigers, Louisville/Cardinals, etc. Not to mention you made an argument against public subsidies for stadiums. I sincerely doubt Bank of America wants to buy the Sox and loan money to itself for stadium construction...but it’s going to take a ton of money to upgrade to MLB standards. Plus that market is already well-served by MiLB. Finally, those affiliates are on limited number of year agreements, so it wouldn’t be that difficult to shift 2-3 of their affiliates to a completely different region within the span of 3-5 years.

How many hitters on the entire Charlotte roster that received regular playing time were under .850? I guess the key difference is Thomas just tore right through the Sox minor league system from the moment he was drafted...whereas it’s difficult to know what to make of last year development-wise for minor leaguers. Gordon Beckham and Luis Robert are the only two Sox rookie position players to come right out of the box guns blazing in quite some time (but both faded down the stretch.) Tim Anderson held his own, too. But that’s still a lot of pressure to put on a Collins or Vaughn if the team is struggling and there are significant injuries on either side of the roster. Now Vaughn’s certainly no Brian Anderson psychologically or in terms of work habits, but only those 1993-94 offenses were comparable to 2006, yet there still came a point in the season where Ozzie panicked and went to Mackowiak instead. We can sit here today and say Vaughn only needs to be around 775 ops, because the rest of the hitters can carry the lineup. But things don’t usually go as planned.

Are you Paul Sullivan?

Now at 67%, highest recorded polling number yet.

Asking JR to pay MJ money per season was never going to happen for a Sox player...not even two decades later.

The only problem is there are usually only about 5-7 per free agent class that are in that 28-29 year age range, and many of them end up being $100+ million players in FA because of their early impacts, like Harper and Machado. The White Sox history has been to take calculated risks on players in their early 30’s, with often disastrous consequences. It’s (age factor) another reason Pederson was coveted around here for many seasons, as well. And he’s not THAT young, 28 turning 29 in April. When Tatis, Jr., hits free agency in four years (more than a 50% probability unless he gets hurt again this season and goes for some security with an extension), he will be just 25, turning 26 the following January. It’s also the massive risk that teams take when they don’t get that extra year of control by holding a player back into May...seeing how things developed and the fact that 2019 was just too early to compete for SD, it’s likely to come back and haunt them now after 2024.

Guess some of us need to watch “21” again but ignore the presence of Kevin Spacey...

Judas and the Black Messiah currently at 98 positive and just one negative review at RT. Good friend of mine with similar movies tastes saw it this past weekend in Michigan and highly recommends.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30857724/espn-baseball-reporter-pedro-gomez-dies-58 Only 58.

Also hard not to believe the incident with Reid’s son wasn’t weighing heavily on the team...although pretty sure he won’t ever bring it up as an excuse.

Bowles is definitely getting his schemes copied by every team that faces the Chiefs the next decade. Of course, the only question is whether teams have the personnel to execute it, but you’d think an AFC West team would either offer a HC position or huge salary hike to go over there when Brady’s done (maybe when he turns 48-50?)

Which is a SLIGHT problem when it’s looking more and more probable Giolito will be gone after 2023. That said, he’s the main loss until Anderson after the following year. However you look at, doing much beyond 2024 is going to be highly uncertain for the two looming super teams in Chicago and San Diego. Of course, you’re always going to have the Dodgers, Yankees and likely the Braves or Blue Jays to contend with over these must-be-competitive seasons.

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.