caulfield12

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28291941/injured-yoenis-cespedes-agrees-pay-cut-grievance-settlement Cespedes takes big cut to settle grievance, Wacha and Porcello give Mets six starters. New ownership!

Who are we taking about? Vaughn and Collins are the only players who would be blocked...and, right now, Collins is getting 70-75% of the at-bats as a LH DH and part time catcher.

See Twins, Minnesota.

You can add the Beane Family and Ron Washington as well. Of course, for all the shots KW took in Moneyball over Chad Bradford or Foulke, but Cotts turned out to be a key X factor in 2005, when all was actually said and done. Olive was transformed into F.García.

When? Konerko? Baines at the end of his career? Now Abreu? If you go back to the 90’s, we’ve almost always let star talent walk eventually. Obviously, many come back into the fold as team ambassadors, but it’s not like we have broken the bank to extend All-Star, in their prime White Sox players. Think about how many of those 90’s players were cast aside. They did the same with Ordonez, Lee and Durham. Thomas, McDowell and Ventura, etc. Buehrle. Dye. We held onto the 2005-08 core for a long time, sure, but those weren’t ever true superstar players either that would be garnering $200+ million on the FA market. They were all aging veterans.

He did a good job signing McCann, Soria, Fat Albers for half a season. But it’s impossible to make the case there is a demonstrably WORSE GM in MLB today. He doesn’t have the right underdog type of mentality necessary for fronting a mid market team. He always seems more concerned with how he’s perceived than being judged on what he actually accomplishes. There are typically more excuses and rationalizations than actual, concrete results. The Brewers, Twins, A’s, Rays, Indians and Reds are all examples of teams who are embracing they’re limited financial resources and still putting a competitive product on the field. This mentality is why Madrigal, in particular...will quickly become a fan favorite. In the end, we’re not the Knicks or even the Marlins/Mariners/Orioles...but we’re not exactly relevant either, with the Machado and Wheeler situations just reinforcing that.

Not to mention first class travel while flying. Just that idea of Stearns sitting back in economy class with Yelich and two playoff appearances while we obliviously waste money on things that don’t contribute to winning...it’s no wonder we are where we are and they’ve transformed into a franchise to be reckoned with despite being one of the smallest markets in baseball.

Not only this year, but next year’s class as well. And that’s before Betts or Springer are off the table and we have another fruitless offseason of Joc Pederson Talk, Version 3.0

Mike Fiers, lol. At least it would spark a rivalry with the Astros.

Scott Kazmir, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito are all considering comebacks. And we need a lefty. One wonders if Mark Buehrle could have pitched any worse than our parade of 5th starters last year...

Add Encarnacion, then you can argue with those “Pitching Posse“ members (patent pending)...well, you don’t have to face the White Sox offense AND you can beat up on the Tigers and Royals to pad your stats and increase your FA asking prices for next offseason. Chicago Summers! Heck, the Indians’ lineup isn’t going to be that hard to beat without Lindor, right?

Here’s where Fulmer, Burdi, Hansen, Adolfo, Rutherford, Basabe, Collins, Burger, Rodon...if just ONE of them had lived up to their potential, we’d now be in a much better position to put together an attractive trade offer, with no other legit FA’s being left on the table. Instead, we’re seriously considering taking on David Price’s contract...it’s like we’ve learned absolutely nothing over these last 12 years of being shut out of the playoffs. Or, even worse, being forced to trade Madrigal or Vaughn for more proven talent. It’s sheer lunacy for a mid market team to make trades like that and hope to consistently win them.

I’m starting to think that they simply need to overpay for pitching for one reason only. Just to get out of the Central. War of attrition. Bumgarner, Ryu and Keuchel are no longer playoff aces...but they should be good enough to take out the Twins and Indians. It’s no longer about being better than Houston or NYY. It’s just maximizing playoff appearances and going back to the ‘ol KW philosophy of adding at every trade deadline (somehow) when they’re competitive. Certainly, you shouldn’t be letting one of those key remaining pieces go to the Twins. Maybe they can exert their financial flexibility in the June/July trade market...but, for God’s sake, we need at least one reliable pitcher to keep us in the race so we can at least be in a position to be competitive for the division or WC in the second half. Or do something really creative like signing 3-5 of those scrap heap pitchers, as suggested recently. Do whatever you have to do to win the division, knowing the WS is ultimate (for now) highly improbable without running a $170-185 million payroll. At least with the playoff appearance and increased expectations that go along with it, you can start pushing the payroll up year by year to where it needs to be, realistically. And, at the very least, they should not be completely rebuilding the bullpen again going into 2021. This offseason shows you can’t keep waiting and waiting to do some of the heavy lifting.

That regionalization was especially important when teams like the Royals and Cardinals had radio networks extending across 12-15 states and teams fought each other for territory city by city...I’m not sure what team today would realistically have a chance to even break out of regional and more into a national appeal outside of the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Cubs. Guess one could have legitimately argued the Astros but probably not anymore. It would also take a Patriots-esque winning stretch, which is almost impossible to accomplish in baseball.

https://nypost.com/2019/12/03/yankees-teaming-up-with-amazon-to-stream-games/

That clinches it... Price and Perez for Collins, lol.

Hill is out for roughly half the season... and Matt Moore isn't retired?

Wacha to the Mets... was it really only $3 million or incentives also?

If just a $60-70 million signing could entirely derail the rebuild, why did we even bother to rebuild in the first place?

https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cubs/ct-cb-chicago-cubs-more-marquee-questions-answered-20191109-2wuk23netnfivoexdezts4u7dq-story.html Still an ongoing mystery with monthly Trib updates...we might not even know until February when Marquee starts carrying spring training games.

If you look at all these huge local RSN/broadcast rights deals...especially the Dodgers' one of over $2 billion that has been so controversial because the majority of local residents weren't even able to watch the games even though the team was raking in hundreds of millions...I can't think of a single one that has been shrouded in so much mystery. Each new announcement has been trumpeted in the press and often has led to huge spending by those beneficiaries, like the Mariners going out and bringing in Cano and Nelson Cruz or the Phillies now being able to operate almost like the Yankees/Red Sox/Dodgers/Cubs/Angels/Nationals/Rangers/Giants/Mets/Astros. Now, with the way things are breaking this off-season, not to go all Parkman/Conspiracy Theory here, but it seems exactly like the type of thing that you wouldn't want coming out so obviously in the local media...that they had an extra $50-75 million or whatever the number is to play with, but they weren't spending very much of it at all (although they're obviously trying to "spin" or sell Abreu's deal as part of this new "spending spree" even though they're the only ones who wanted it for three full years, along with Greg.) Now LOGIC here would dictate the White Sox would actually be better off investing the money back into the product on the field so that they would be in a dramatically improved position to renegotiate again after the 2024 season with local ratings comparable to what the Cubs are/were drawing (from 2015-2019)....which should ALSO be right in the middle of their contention/playoff window, even if they couldn't hold onto Moncada and/or Giolito. One thing that makes sense is that some quant wizard determined by running a cost-benefit analysis that they might be better off just sitting on the profits because the ratings of the Bulls and Blackhawks are also likely to decrease or decreasing, and the White Sox alone improving wouldn't be enough to create much movement in the overall value of NBC Sports Chicago/NBC-Universal. As much as we like to argue the Bulls and White Sox are fire-walled or separated from each other (certainly, profits from one are not going to subsidize losses with another...or allow for deficit spending, etc.), this seems to be ONE case where the simultaneously depressed local ratings for all three teams make it financially unwise for the White Sox to spend well beyond their historical norms (and we're not even close to the $120's and 130 millions from a decade or so ago!) because it won't move the meter enough to outweigh the depressed value of the entire package due to the Blackhawks and Bulls dragging everything down. (Of course, we could just as easily argue that significant improvements from the Bulls AND White Sox, irrespective of the Blackhawks...would be enough to drive up the value of the entire network significant for the re-negotiations in five years' time.

Balta has already mentioned having to (eventually) trade Giolito and Moncada before the end of 2023...like the Indians are doing with Lindor (two years before FA). While waiting until at least the middle of 2022 would seem to be much more likely (as long as Hahn's still in charge at that point), there's probably no turning back at this point...at least with this ownership group and front office. (Of course, the Indians are considering their third tear down since the early 2000's, but they also produced a number of playoff teams and even a near-World Series winner in 2016.) Meanwhile, we haven't accomplished anything now in the last 12 years. Just don't see how White Sox fans could tolerate everything being blown up again unless you dumped Hahn/KW OR brought in new owners and completely transformed the way in which the franchise is being run. We've been delayed by one year by Kopech's TJS, and now it looks like the exact same thing has happened with missing out on a single player in free agency, Zack Wheeler. What kind of well-constructed rebuild plan could be so flawed and seemingly vulnerable? Everyone can look across the current landscape of the American League and see the Astros, Yankees and Angels spending huge amounts of money to build World Series-contending teams. The Rangers are entering a brand-new facility and can outspend the Sox if they so desire. The Twins, Indians, A's and Rays are simply better-run organizations, and more efficient with resource allocation. The Red Sox have won FOUR World Series in the past two decades and can instantly put together a contending team in the span of 18-24 months of retooling. That leaves the White Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles, Royals, Tigers and Mariners. The bottom 40% of the American League. We can confidently say we're certainly better off than five of those teams (at least superficially), but we still have nine lined up in front of us to be passed. That's another significant reason we couldn't convince Zack Wheeler to sign with us. We're not relevant...until JR decides we are going to be part of the national baseball conversation again.

The only possible way the White Sox could be earning less money this season is if NBC Sports Chicago took at least a 25% decrease from their rights fees from last season carrying all four teams. But that's almost completely implausible, for the reasons highlighted below. With the new split going from 20% to 25%, the White Sox, Bulls, NBC/Universal and Blackhawks would each be increasing in percentage ownership by 25% (decreasing from five to four partners.) And the cable/satellite games are all worth more than WGN, so that means they would have to be earning even more money...not to mention the fact that the article below from the Tribune argues that NBC Sports is unlikely to lower their carriage fees even without the Cubs, meaning local subscribers will end up paying another $3-4 per month (estimated) for Marquee Network. The NBC/Universal RSN rights fees would remain the same. So that all means the White Sox SHOULD be increasing their local t.v. revenues from 25-35%, more or less. So with $50 million in profits over the last two seasons (I guess we can subtract $5 million there for Abreu's signing bonus and another $5 million for deferred payments or options not picked up), we're sitting on at least $40 million in unallocated profits from the past two seasons and and then the expected new monies coming in beginning in February or not later than April from NBC/Universal. Yet, other than Grandal and swapping Mazara or Yolmer, we're SOMEHOW going to have a difficult time even reaching the $120 million mark in spending for 2020. The Rocky Wirtz and Jerry Reinsdorf teams will stick with NBC Sports Chicago on a five-year deal that, according to Athletic sources, could be paying the teams a significant upgrade in subscriber fees. That’s important, because without some improvements, their ratings will be garbage without the Cubs. https://www.soxmachine.com/2019/01/03/following-up-the-new-white-sox-tv-deal-is-official/ That’s good news for the White Sox, since NBCSN games generate more revenue. That’s good news for fans with both channels or those with MLBTV, as WGN’s production lagged behind NBC Sports Chicago’s. It’s good news for writers who are just about done reflexively using “CSN,” because that hard work will have been worth it. It’s bad news for cord-cutters and Jeff Vukovich. https://www.soxmachine.com/2019/01/03/following-up-the-new-white-sox-tv-deal-is-official/ Given that a source told us the shorter length of the deal — the teams signed a 15-year deal when the original station, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, launched in 2004 — it wasn’t known if the teams will get any kind of upfront money for a new contract, though one industry source said he would be surprised if they do, considering those teams have ratings issues. Furthermore, the RSN business doesn’t look too rosy across the country, with Disney reportedly struggling to sell the Fox Sports Network stations it got in a deal with Fox. But the teams owned by Reinsdorf will get a larger chunk of revenues from the station, given that the Cubs won’t be a part of it and that the majority of their games will be on the station, rather than split up with over-the-air WGN. The games broadcast on cable TV are much more profitable for the teams. https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cubs/ct-cb-chicago-cubs-marquee-sports-network-questions-20191004-mgodjjxebzhilgqidzzn2cdn5y-story.html Will I wind up paying a bigger cable bill if my carrier adds Marquee? Not necessarily, but probably. That’s just the way these things work. No content provider is looking to scale back its carriage fees from what has been previously negotiated, not even the Cubs-less NBC Sports Chicago, which now will have more games than ever for fans of the Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox. So whatever Marquee charges is likely to be passed on to consumers instead of cutting into the carriers’ profit margin. How much money are we talking about each month for Marquee? That won’t be known until the Cubs start cutting carriage deals with major TV services in the Chicago area, and the figures won’t necessarily become public even then. The Tribune reported in May that Chicago-area cable subscribers now paying around $9 per month for regional sports networks stood to pay $12 or $13 per month with the addition of Marquee, which would snag $6 or $7 of that total.

And we have a brand new broadcasting rights deal... supposedly!!! Interestingly, they don't want the numbers of the Sox per game increase to get out, since it hasn't been reportedly publicly anywhere...or they're totally embarrassed to be getting less money the next five years before going back into renegotiations?

It's absolutely crazy how Kopech TJS and now missing on Wheeler has pushed the rebuild back 1 1/2 or 2 full seasons from what we had to jump start this with...