caulfield12

It’s not like the Dodgers HAD to trade him...it was only if a better than expected return came around. Maybe Buehler warned them off Fulmer. Maybe the Dodgers’ SEC/Vandy/Southeast Region scout sabotaged it. It’s just as likely to work that way, as a Grandal being able to bring in his ex-teammates from the Dodgers or Brewers or pretty much any NL pitcher, as he’s going to be more familiar with most of them than anyone in the Sox organization, facing them as a hitter as well as talking shop with rival catchers. Anything is possible, but it’s not like Friedman was ordered to deal Joc at the best available price, like the Padres did with Shields or the Indians with Bauer. https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/sports/white-sox-dodgers-deal-for-outfielder-joc-pederson-still-possible-sources-say/ There’s a story within a story here. The report was broken Jan. 19 by Jason Kinander, a student at Saint Ignatius who writes for the website FanSided. His proud mother is NBC Chicago sportscaster Peggy Kusinski. Kinander’s tweet came within hours of the sides discussing a deal. Baseball media big foot Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic credited Kinander after tweeting Jan. 20: “On rumors of Joc Pederson trade to #WhiteSox: #Dodgers have been discussing Pederson in possible deals, rival executives say. CWS one of clubs in those conversations, according to sources. Not known if talks are advanced to point where teams are close to a deal.”

You're going to get a Greg775 Optimistic Sox Fan Certificate (copyright pending) for that level of dedication. (Bearer entitled to one large soft drink, one Jumbo hot dog and a souvenir Sox mini-pennant.)

In retrospect, getting Bummer for 2 years of Pederson wasn't going to be such a great deal for the Dodgers. Bummer might have ended up recording 5-6 fWAR with the Dodgers, but they would have had to replace that outfield production...and it usually cheaper to find a couple of veteran from the LH side rather than giving up core pieces on the position side via trade. UNLESS they had a magical way to unearth Fulmer's "potential," but that train has long left the station.

In the end, this "teasing" of fee-based sites is always going to be piss people off, no way around it. Just like charging a fee for SoxTalk, for example, to provide a higher quality product, more paid/compensated writers, etc. You'd find half would appreciate it and support the idea...and you'd also lose the other 50% who would be turned off. It's likely a game of driving traffic to his site, at least partially (assuming it's his SECOND job or hobby and not primary source of income). If he gives those "nuggets of wisdom" away for free, then why would someone pay a subscription to such content? Granted, there's always going to be posters across all sports message boards who want to take that paywall content...bring it to other sites, or maybe they even want to claim it as their own...making them "board experts" dispensing wisdom to the masses.

Players/agents involved find out about it...quickly call the front office to ask what's up. Certainly, those players are under control of their organizations, but the Dodgers couldn't leave the deal dangling out there in public for days and then not damage the relationship going forward with Pederson to some extent. For example, if they ever had designs on extending him...which doesn't seem likely, if the whole storyline of the trade (right now) is clearing roughly $8.5 million from payroll to jam Cole or Strasburg or Rendon under the luxury tax.

Well, sure...the Dodgers were in a playoff run, where he was going to be consigned to coming off the bench. They already must have known that Ozzie was adamant about wanting the positional flexibility (which turned out disastrously) in 2010.

There's just NO way they sign Ozuna and Castellanos. They have to keep that money for one of the better FA's, unless they're going to trade the farm for one of them. They can sign ONE of those two and a cheaper DH option, like an EE or Cron/Adams/Smoak (if he's still out there), but the numbers are going to start to get really tight adding FOUR big contracts in a single offseason, without knowing what you actually have with so many players on the current 40 man roster.

Giving all that money to Price after his last two seasons...then giving away Burger for nothing, when he hasn't even attempted his comeback in 2020, that would be insane. It's one thing if you're leveraging that to get back Benintendi or even Betts. But just for Price, when there are plenty of guys to sign who just cost money? That's just a recipe for running into payroll problems in the future. The last time we made a move like this that really worked out well was Thome + cash for Rowand...although we dumped Thome one year too early and it cost them a division in 2010.

F.Garcia wasn't a rental because they knew he would sign an extension through the Ozzie family connection. McCarthy for Danks...Hudson for Edwin Jackson, those were two of the better internally-produced guys they traded in the last decade. The poster child for terri-bad deals with Todd Ritchie acquired for Wells/Fogg/Lowe and then not having a 5th starter in 2003 when they really needed one to back up Loaiza. Acquiring Gavin Floyd was a success. But that's been well over a decade ago. Trading Hector Santiago worked out extremely well. Thornton for Borchard worked out extremely well. And the Damaso Marte acquisition seemed like a huge overpay at the time but worked. They were always more successful going through the bargain bin to get guys like Jenks, Politte, Humber, Sergio Santos, Crain, etc. If you look at Hahn's moves, other than Santiago/Eaton....they were nothing burgers, like Addison Reed for Davidson...where few if any of the returns had a significant long-term impact on the franchise. Shark and Frazier turned out poorly...especially Samardzija. Just that move and Shields surrendered two MVP candidates...but the last MVP candidate we acquired other than Jose Abreu in 2014 was Carlos Quentin in 2008.

Do/did they do that with the Bushes in Arlington or Houston?

Not sure of years at this point, just overall contract value...until recently Strasburg was $160-175 million in most projections.

Have seen some projections now of $220-235 with Cole closer to $285 million.

Well, then you’re stuck eventually where the Cubs are, but at $160-170 million instead of their $200+ million payrolls. Their only hope is to leverage Contreras for the perfect combination of players. Not easy. But I’m sure every Sox fan would take another World Series and four consecutive postseason appearances (granted, 2018 was a disaster in the end.)

If Oklahoma had a defense like Stoops’ first 5-6 years when Venables/M.Stoops were the coordinators...just don’t have any confidence in them stopping anyone when it really counts. Have watched the same scenario play out over and over again recently under different coordinators and now Riley. Baylor kind of came out of nowhere this year and Texas is down...

Who gets in if OSU loses? OU? Ohio State? Wisconsin already has two losses. Feel pretty confident OSU would destroy OU if they were actually motivated to play.

That would only put our system back to 28th-30th in the majors. They have no incentive to deal Marquez. If they do, they’re trading Arenado, dumping Blackmon and completely rebuilding. Gray at least makes some sense, but they need him, Freeland and Hoffman pitching to their potential to compete. No pressing desire to trade him right now when he’ll still be under control for 1 1/2 years at the deadline. Unless someone blows you away with an offer, which the White Sox most certainly won’t do.

Castellanos Career fWAR=10.5 Ozuna Career fWAR=20.4 If you limit it to the last two seasons, Castellanos has the slight advantage but most of the advanced metrics favor Ozuna...with Castellanos, you’re really buying (high) into his 2018/19 seasons being the new norm for him offensively, but his outfield defense means any major slippage offensively or significant time at DH lowers his overall value.

The Ryu connection makes sense largely because of Grandal...but I don’t know if he was his personal catcher or they rotated or maybe he didn’t catch him at all...not being a Dodgers’ fan.

Because Pollock is never healthy...if they can get away with Ozuna and Ryu for Wheeler’s money...that would be a huge victory.

In this argument, the Sox blew the pick or are selling low on him...I can’t remember the last time we traded a first rounder so early...Poreda and Royce Ring I guess, but they weren’t anywhere close to top 3-5 overall picks. Selling Madrigal after his debut year would have been similarly dubious...give him a full season (and spring training) to get his feet underneath him. Or Luis Robert, for that matter, although he was much more inexperienced than two PAC 12 players who have been playing at the highest competitive level since age 14-15.

Trading Vaughn is also not advisable due to the fact we shouldn’t sniff another Top Ten pick for five years or more...1B/DH spending has always been a huge area of blown opportunity cost/inefficiency with this organization, and we need those younger, cost-controlled players to balance out the more expensive veterans.

Everyone who hates Oklahoma and OU football is going to be annoyed seeing them yet again in the CFP. Beating the same team twice isn’t easy, but these Sooners aren’t as strong as the last three teams with Mayfield and Murray. That said, kudos to Jalen. Hurts. Dude is just a winner, pure and simple. Unless Wisconsin can beat OSU just enough to make the playoff but not knock Ohio State out altogether.

Everyone who hates Oklahoma and OU football is going to be annoyed seeing them yet again in the CFP. Beating the same team twice isn’t easy, but these Sooners aren’t as strong as the last three teams with Mayfield and Murray. That said, kudos to Jalen. Hurts. Dude is just a winner, pure and simple. Unless Wisconsin can beat OSU just enough to make the playoff but not knock Ohio State out altogether.

The irony is Lopez is one of the few starters without a major injury (knock on wood) in their past and he’s actually the one with the most high-risk profile in terms of high velocity fastball usage.

Well, he’s definitely no Joc, Jose Valentin or Moncada against LHP prior to this year. He’s an everyday player, assuming he’s healthy.