caulfield12

My main idea was preserving a way to make advancing from the WC Game(s) more interesting, while not punishing the 3rd division winner (maybe they have a tougher division to win) and simultaneously preserving at least one home game for each team to make the playoffs...and also prioritizing winning your division, or giving an enough of an incentive for teams to improve in the offseason instead of waiting for the trade deadline.

https://www.ibtimes.com/yankees-rumors-manny-machado-offer-low-new-york-still-has-chance-sign-top-free-agent-2756231 The Yankees are still supposedly involved...simply because many writers are choosing to believe the 7/175 offer over something like 8/240-260. At least some writers are invested in keeping their name involved, is a better way of putting it. The Padres and Lozano have nothing to lose going to Miami...that’s for sure. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2818457-manny-machado-rumors-no-decision-on-the-horizon-hasnt-met-with-padres-yet Even though Morosi noted Machado himself hasn't met with San Diego officials, Acee cited "multiple sources aware of talks between the sides" in his report. Per The Athletic's Dennis Lin, the Padres have "expressed interest" in a face-to-face meeting with Machado that could potentially take place in Miami.

None, according to. MLB...because Trout’s not interested in marketing himself and Haroer’s Only had one transcendant season with negligible results in the post-season. Need to to go back to 154 games...expand the number of teams into the playoffs to twelve, with the best (record-wise) division winner seeded first and the other three WC teams playing what amounts to a version of a mini-College World Series (double elimination) to advanced into a division series (3 out of 5) against that top seed. Teams 2/3 play other series with 2 having home field advantage. This would make for more excitement and guarantee wild card teams at least one home playoff game. GM 1, Rays at Yankees (Rays lose) GM 2, Oakland at Rays (Rays lose) GM 3, Yankees at Oakland (Oakland wins) GM 4, Oakland at NYY (Yankees win) GM 5, coin flip or go by best record for the team to host deciding game, Yankees win The travel would be crazy, but it would make things more interesting...or they could always play at a rotating neutral site which would change every year. Or play the wild card series in another country like Japan, Korea or Mexico.

Make it where the worst teams aren’t automatically getting the corresponding pick with their finish in the standings...like the NBA Lottery. Maybe they could tweak it in some way to still protect the true small market franchises like TB, Pitt, Oak, Cleveland, KC, etc.

I was referring more to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube TV, etc. A decade ago, network/free t.v. seemed to be dying...and it was almost impossible to imagine many Hollywood stars would be more attracted to 10-13 episode mini-seasons than shooting a feature film. But here we are, I think it’s something like a 3-4X increase from a decade ago. Not only that, but there are a plethora of DC and Marvel related shows to soak up kids’ attention. Plus so many are switching to satellite tv or streaming (I watch every show in China through satellite or streaming though IPad) options. “The number of scripted TV shows released in the U.S. swelled to a new high in 2017, reflecting the growing efforts of Netflix, Amazon and YouTube to steal viewers and advertisers from traditional networks. Streaming services accounted for 117 of the 487 shows released last year and almost all of the growth from the 455 programs released in 2016, according to a study by FX Networks, a division of 21st Century Fox Inc. The number of shows released in the U.S. has more than doubled in seven years.”

To take White Sox fans’ interest in Machado and monetize that interest by misdirecting it to a beer selling proposition, lol.

There was some good news...all the White Sox better minor league prospects didn’t get injured playing “tag” in the Dominican Republic, and they can market outreach/donations to that country in their Machado follow-up. https://mobile.twitter.com/JRFegan/status/1085994039109959684 I can just imagine if Cease would have slipped there and blown out his ACL on the playground while being chased by all those kids. Madrigal would have been less popular than Alonso/Jay. And at least it looks warm there!

Have you seen the combined start totals for MLB pitchers with multiple TJ surgeries? Not good.

But isn’t it the job of agents to maximize their clients’ deals (and their commissions)? We can just as easily blame advanced analytics and previous huge contracts like Pujols...but both these guys are 26, not the wrong side of 30. The only way things will change for agents is if more Tier B players get stuck like Moustakas, Lynn and a number of others at the end of the game of musical chairs with no suitors...but that simply means that more money will be going to the really difference-making players AND increases for those in Years 1-6/7 (the middle gets squeezed harder, except relievers.) If revenues continue increasing while players continue to get the same or even smaller share of the pie, there will be another devastating strike in three years.

This is one of those cases where increasing franchise values (gambling legalization) , rising revenues from bigger and bigger broadcast revenues is masking underlying problems with keeping young people interested, compared to those 50+ who grew up with the sport when it was almost co #1 with the NFL. Now MLB earns just a bit more than the NBA but is losing the battle in terms of marketing and worldwide appeal, largely due to the popularity of the game in China with young people. We can blame better tv shows, IPads, tanking or rebuilding teams, mixed martial arts rising in popularity, online gaming, the rising costs of kids to participate on travel teams, the fact that kids aren’t safe to just be outside every day until it turns dark playing (think The Sandlot), more and more kids simply being out of shape or couch potatoes, the amount of space for baseball fields vs. basketball courts (not to mention equipment costs)...it goes on and on. Let’s throw in too much product, regionalism vs. games of national interest, boring divisions like the AL Central and Greg’s yearly diatribe about the always-increasing costs of parking/concession items/souvenirs for a middle class family. As soon as baseball teams start to lose money when the broadcasting deals stop growing or their attendance continues to fall 5-10% per year, nothing will happen. Period. There’s no incentive to change dramatically, not yet. We also haven’t seen how the concussion/CTE issues will impact the number of youth football players...as mothers refuse to allow their kids to play and they likely are forced to participate in other sports like baseball.

It’s anti-Australian bias, clearly! https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-teams-having-unexpectedly-good-offseasons/c-303316940 Five teams that had sneaky good offseasons. We could have done those Rangers’ pitching moves for a lot less than the price for just Colome and Herrera. Rays and Twins definitely under the radar.

At least spell Marwin right...50% isn’t too much to be correct on for paid media, is it?

Maybe we can set up an interview with Dan Clark and ask why he’s so confident the Yankees will sign Machado, and what tangible evidence this is based on...we really need Harper/Boras to make a move with the Phillies or at least ask for a formal offer if one hasn’t already been extended. You forgot to mention Source Wars as well, that’s pretty much all that has happened this week so far.

What was that, 1985 Fleer? How much is that card worth today, 25 cents? Ice Ice Baby — Why Quantum Computers have to be cold It’s a cold, cold world out there if you’re a qubit. Quantum computers are cold. In fact, many quantum computers have to be kept to near absolute zero temperatures. For the non-chemists in the room, absolute zero means 0 Kelvin. 0 Kelvin = -273.15 Celsius = -459.67 Farenheit! Almost -460 degrees Fahrenheit!! Think about it, coldest temperature on record was in Antartica at -128.6 Fahrenheit. The world literally cannot be cold enough for these computers.

You ask how cold is it in Illinois? Answer: It's so cold that even the politicians in Illinois will have their hands in their own pockets. A little climate change humor, non-partisan version.

Erik Johnson was another complete enigma with how he just completely fell apart without much explanation.

I personally think it’s better to take those high schoolers in later rounds and entice them with leftover slot money...the first round, especially Top 10, is a huge gamble, and we learned the hard way with the likes of Hawkins, Honel and Jason Stumm in years past. It’s essentially like buying $300k lottery tickets in the international market, and hoping 1/1000 becomes another Tatis Jr. The odds are certainly low, but non-zero if you have great scouting with the necessary budget to canvass the globe. That said, we will see what happens if Witt Jr. is available this year and if the Sox are confident they can develop him. Betting odds are probably high for a rising collegiate pitcher if they can’t get Adley R. from Oregon State.

They would have to deal Tatum and Brown...

You can also argue that the decision to keep Castillo and adding Colome/Herrera all have Machado overtones or connections. I saw someone wrote we we weren’t far from having the first all-time MLB completely Hispanic lineup paired with a Hispanic manager. We’d have to bench Timmy, though. Moncada Machado Abreu Alonso Jimenez Castillo Yolmer Leury Jay (parents are Cubanos) Lopez/Colome/Herrera

Maybe this means the whole offseason was a misdirection and he signs with Boston (Nantucket’s close enough.) Devers finally ends up on the White Sox, this time for Nate Jones, Fulmer, Fry and Bryce Bush.

Perhaps if you do one for Lozano as well, it might push us over the top...

Hey, but I boosted your likes by nearly 10. I should get some kind of kickback, lol. It’s going to make Fathom have to up his humor game, but he’ll probably catch you in all the game threads...especially if we sign Machado and there are more lively threads this year. At any rate, that’s my contribution to balancing out the board, let’s call it message board homeostasis. A new year arrives, Cold winds from hot air blowing Where are we going? The eclipse is nigh Tomorrow the moon conceals Shadow over us For all the pizzas The world has enjoyed so far the last is not yet

Are you calling out Bucket, lol?

That pretty much describes the situation the Sox are in right now. Machado=Beauty White Sox=Beast (due to an unmitigated disaster over the last six years, and their 40 years of signing only Fisk and Belle that were close to in their prime future HoF candidates) I guess I missed the memo where we had ANY relevant news to discuss...instead of raw conjecture, speculation and 100 multi-faceted theories about what was actually taking place behind the scenes.

Wouldn’t it have been easier to have the extra $30 million (keeping Smith and Narvaez, no Colome either) for Jay/Alonso/Castillo to allocate to both Harper and Machado on the 2019 payroll??? That’s almost the per year salary for ONE whale, at least as currently projected. Not to mention there was no need to acquire Alonso (since your assumption was Harper in RF instead of Palka) when you could simply DH Palka with a RH counterpart and allocate the money elsewhere. In other words, why add three lefties when we already had Palka or Delmonico for DH? Odds are one of those two would give you equal results at a fraction of the cost.