caulfield12

Before last season, though, pretty sure he had a net positive on DRS... he certainly wasn't Pete Incaviglia or Josh Fields out there.

Then why not just go out and get a Joc Pederson or even a Steve Pearce-equivalent that specializes in crushing RHP? I will reserve the comments on Grandal's overall defense and ability to work with Giolito for mid-season, but can't see how Collins or Mercedes would inspire much confidence there.

The market for GameStop became unsettled this month after activist investor Ryan Cohen, the founder of Chewy, secured a seat on the retailer’s board of directors. GameStop’s stock soared as he stepped up his efforts to transform the company, and soon members of a Reddit group called Wall Street Bets began buying up shares in the game retailer. Soon, investors betting against the stock — which had faced trouble amid a shift to digital video games — had to buy the stock too, to cover their losses. The stock went from $65 a share at market close on Friday, Jan. 22 to close at $347.51 the following Wednesday. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/we-bull-ceo-explains-why-trading-was-restricted-amid-the-game-stop-market-mania-172539318.html

The two biggest miscalculations in terms of allocating resources are Grandal (not keeping McCann at half the price, plus his chemistry with Lucas) and Hendriks, because we already had a full stable of bullpen talent with Bummer, Crochet and a few others capable of closing out games. By leaving two huge holes at the back end, not allowing for any falloff from Keuchel and Lynn, we’re going to destroy the bullpen by the last two months of the season.

It really comes down to Robert and Moncada looking like superstars, because Abreu’s unlikely to repeat (see Keuchel as well), and we’re down a big insurance cushion in McCann as well...nevertheless, if one of Cease/Kopech can pitch to their ability, they should be fine. Just like in 2012, a new coaching staff usually results in a positive change. So we can feel kind of blah (grades ranging from C+ to B for this offseason), but there’s also a general wariness that comes with being a White Sox fan and expecting too much entering a season. That said, the closest feeling is still 2006.

Apparently you missed all those games down the stretch. It’s a bit premature to argue Kopech is better than someone who pitched regularly last season. Never once said they are better, just that they’re two more moves away from being a competitive ballclub in our particular division. And whenever you write something like Cease > no one, that invariably means someone will come out of nowhere, as they always manage to come up with pitching year after year after year. Sure, there’s no Kluber, Clevinger or Carrasco, but they’re far from dead. They’re still dangerous as long as Jose Ramirez is in that lineup. Had we decided to take Odorizzi or Cruz away from Minnesota, we’d be in much better shape. At least Odorizzi would have covered up the glaring hole in the rotation and relieved all the pressure on Cease and Kopech.

They at least had made the playoffs for two consecutive years before 2019. Baseball fans could argue the same thing about both Central Divisions with the exception of the Cubs over the last five years.

Story, Marquez, Blackmon, Gray...the fire sale is off and running.

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/01/29/nolan-arenado-traded-rockies-cardinals/ The Rockies, faced with a money crunch following the pandemic-shortened 2020 season played without fans in the stands, found a way to unload a large chunk of Arenado’s large contract. They also resolved the dispute between Arenado and general manager Jeff Bridich that has been going on for more than a year. For their part, the Cardinals added a powerful, right-handed bat and took a big step toward winning the National League Central. In order to make the deal work, Arenado waived his no-trade clause. The third baseman has often expressed his admiration for the Cardinals’ baseball tradition and commitment to winning. Arenado, 29, hit .293, launched 235 home runs and finished with an .890 OPS in his eight seasons in Colorado. He’s hit 40 or more home runs three times, including 41 in 2019 when he also hit .315, the best average of his career. Raw numbers, however, don’t begin to tell Arenado’s story.

Matt Moore signed for $3 million to come back to MLB (Phillies) after spending 2020 with Fukuoka ...

Because Bieber, Plesac, Civale, McKenzie and Karinchak are just as capable as our Top 4 and closer...and then you have Francona. As things currently stand, we need to be more focused on the division than the World Series.

C.Hernandez Jo.Ramirez Rosario F.Reyes Naylor R.Perez Jimenez/Rosario O.Mercado Daniel Johnson Obviously the bottom of that line-up is weak, but if they can somehow upgrade the bottom two spots they can at least be competitive.

https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2021/01/cleveland-indians-trying-to-sign-free-agent-outfielder-eddie-rosario.html Also brought back Cesar Hernandez. Rosario hit .257 with 13 homers and 42 RBI last year for the Twins in the 60-game sprint. He made $7.75 million last year. The veteran outfielder will be a boost to the Indians because their outfield production last year was among the worst in baseball. The nine players who appeared in the outfield for the Indians last year hit a combined .194 with 11 home runs.

Can always go with Taylor Heinicke...between Vince Papale, and then Nick Foles, the Eagles have three Disney movies’ worth of material. That’s the kind of underdog QB that Bears’ fans could really get behind, compared to a Winston. Of course, the Foles’ magic was quite transitory there.

I have a feeling the “well, we almost signed A-Rod argument” will get thrown out there...and Machado. And Tanaka, originally. That said, the Twins’ and Indians’ ownership groups are far cheaper. Despite that, their results on the field have been much better. Much higher efficiency in $/fWAR. And they also place more emphasis on scouting as well as managers/coaching staff. If you just objectively looked at potential media markets and payrolls (AL Central speaking), you’d realistically expect to win divisions at least 50% of the time.

Arrieta reunion tour with Cubs on the way...apparently.

Hertz tried to do this in similar circumstances, but you have to possess a viable business model/turnaround strategy that reasonable investors could buy into.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/reddit-investing-mania-will-end-with-many-losers-says-dow-35000-predictor-maker-jermey-siegel-174656657.html

“Due to extraordinary market conditions, we've temporarily turned off Instant Buying power for crypto,” Robinhood said in a statement to press. “Customers can still use settled funds to buy crypto. We'll keep monitoring market conditions and communicating with our customers.” Robinhood did not say, in its statement or in its blog post about the restriction, what the extraordinary conditions were, nor did it cite specific cryptocurrencies. But bitcoin (BTC-USD) was up 15% on Friday, a bounce accelerated by Elon Musk on Twitter; meme-based token dogecoin (DOGE-USD) was up 165%, fueled by social media. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/robinhood-restricts-instant-buying-of-crypto-citing-extraordinary-market-conditions-171153654.html

Easily $2-2.5 billion with all that stimulus in the economy...

The profit margin is similar to some of the GameStop moves this week. "Our goal is always to get to the World Series and win it. If you're not, you should probably work in another business. That's our goal, but to get there you have to have a good regular season, which means having depth and winning 90-plus games to give yourself a chance.” Name that quote. https://www.startribune.com/derek-falvey-values-flexibility-in-players-contracts-in-constantly-reshaping-twins/600016256/?ref=nl&om_rid=48311239113&om_mid=2314830281 While the Twins' slow negotiations with designated hitter Nelson Cruz have given the casual fan a sense of stagnancy, the Twins have signed an excellent shortstop, a former closer (Hansel Robles) and a veteran starter (J.A. Happ), all on one-year deals. As scouts and GMs like to say, there is no such thing as a bad one-year deal. This is in keeping with Falvey's philosophy. He wants maximum flexibility — whether in the form of players or contracts — and doesn't want to block any of his top prospects. A year from now, if top prospect Royce Lewis is ready to play the infield, the Twins can simply let Simmons go. Are the Twins close to being done? Falvey reminded me that since 2018, the Twins have acquired three front-line starting pitchers — Lance Lynn, Jake Odorizzi and Kenta Maeda — during spring training. EE and a certain Machado relative say hello on that one year deal philosophy.

Yoelkis or Yoelqui?

GME swinging back over $400 in pre-trading. The GameStop saga finds its villain: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-game-stop-saga-finds-its-villain-morning-brief-110507174.html

Do I still get a trophy if I just delete those ten names, lol? There, it's cut down to "just" four...amazing, right?

It's fair enough to say Pederson isn't the be all, end all. That his fWAR numbers "overestimate" his real value as a typical swing and miss player, and largely platoon bat. That said, there were/are all kinds of players like a Jackie Bradley, Jr. or Eddie Rosario in that price range or a bit above (Eaton's) that arguably would have been better bets due to health reasons alone. Now Eaton's a better RFer than Rosario, but Bradley, Jr., would have been more than acceptable. Pederson always was mentioned because of the trade talks 2-3 years ago and the fact that he was usually not getting everyday playing time because of 1) talent on that team/bench, and 2) the terrible splits against LHP. Full list of other outfield options. http://www.espn.com/mlb/freeagents/_/position/of