caulfield12

Translation from an AI or ET hovering outside the Milky Way??? Enigma cryptography? It says, we've already received news in the future of Harper signing with the Sox and are beaming it back to Planet Earth?

It really does come down to how much confidence Boras/Harper have in Hahn/Hostetler/Getz/Vizquel/Renteria, etc. Thinking about what happened with the Nationals' clubhouse/chemistry this year, past incidents...stability and "respect" for the coaching staff/manager has to be one of the biggest issues. For the Cubs, there's so much uncertainty hanging over Maddon right now. Maybe Harper believes he can just stride right into the clubhouse, win another WS title for the Cubs and everything will take care of itself. It's difficult to imagine he would want to sign with a team, then have a guy like Girardi or even Scioscia come in the following season. I think that's also another thing working against the Sox...Renteria has been positioned as a placeholder and not good enough for "playoff-caliber" teams, so how would that work to the favor of Reinsdorf and Hahn? He's going to tell Harper let's just get through this season and Omar Vizquel will be the manager in 2020? Doesn't seem likely they would take the risk of something like that getting out.

Logically, he's a "buy lower" candidate because of the Johnny Hustle comments and the fact that he's not a marketer's dream like Harper...in terms of the White Sox ability to put together a playoff team, he's a much better fit. That said, they really need to sign one of the two or we'll be right back to the default position of "wouldn't they be better off selling or moving to Portland?" for at least another year. The Kopech, Giolito and Moncada setbacks last year were tough on even the most die-hard of fans. At least we're not the Redskins or Bulls?

Well, it's almost impossible to argue the Dodgers, Yankees and Cubs aren't well set up to be winners for the next 3-4 years (right around the time the first opt-out would theoretically kick in)...although the Cubs will have their work cut out for them, especially on the pitching side. If Moreno really wanted to shake up things, he could go after Harper, pairing him with Trout and Ohtani. That SHOULD be a marketer's dream, yet the idea of him "being THE man" has to have at least SOME appeal to any star player. Same with a team like that Giants that have tried to hold on around a core of Posey and strong defense/pitching but desperately needs another elite position player. You'd have to think SF would be one of the top 5 markets for a player to select.

In all fairness, you have to also include Berrios, Rosario and Kepler...which is still a better "core" than the White Sox have developed previously (unless you somehow want to count Q/Eaton/Abreu as having been "developed" internally) from the minors in the last 15 years.

Shelby Miller's still out there...I'd rather spend $4-6 million on someone with upside, but I understand they wanted the certainty of Nova. Still, considering that Miller and Covey could share time or piggyback, wouldn't mind a one year deal with an option and/or incentives that would trigger a more generous option year in 2020 (if met). Clay Buchholz and Trevor Cahill would be two more names to follow up on...no interest in Edwin Jackson, lol. That would be almost as torturous as James Shields for fans. (And yeah, two years is definitely not "long-term" or franchise-altering.) Miller became a free agent last week when he was non-tendered by the Diamondbacks, ending a nightmare three-year stint in Arizona. In 2016, Miller went 3-12 with a 6.15 ERA. His 2017 season ended after just four starts when he had to undergo Tommy John surgery. He returned briefly in June of 2018 before being shut down with right elbow inflammation. As disappointing as his last three seasons have been, Miller showed incredible talent his first four Major League seasons, compiling an ERA of 3.22 between St. Louis and Atlanta, and earning a trip to the 2015 All-Star Game. At just 28 years old, he certainly has time to get his career back on track. Miller earned $4.9 million last season and $4.7 million in 2017. He figures to get less than that next year due to his recent struggles and injury questions. Miller could end up being a nice low-risk, high-reward signing.

Derek Holland was another that backfired who felt like a reach for the AL at the point at which we brought him in (and a higher salary than expected)...although he pitched somewhat decently for stretches last year.

Right, obviously Pippen and Grant were great picks and they made some excellent veteran acquisitions for the second run, but they’re just fortunate not to have those titles ending up with the Trailblazers. Fine...the Bulls COULD have won behind a healthy DRose, but it certainly wasnt guaranteed by any stretch of the imagination.

The only way Hahn is getting off the hook now is if it somehow comes out the White Sox has the biggest offer on the table for Harper and/or Machado and he/they passed. Anything else is going to be a punch to the gut, as it would call into further doubt their commitment to add a franchise-altering star going into the 2019-20 offseason. God help us if it’s the Cubs for Harper, somehow. (Note: no Cubs’ fans are fretting about potentially losing him to the Sox.)

One thing’s for sure, KW didn’t offer that quote. If Ivan Nova is the biggest acquisition of this offseason (reminiscent of Derek Holland, maybe even less excitement), Brooks Boyer better dust off his best sports marketing books. The JR legacy in Chicago could easily be lucking into Michael Jordan and two imperiled rebuilds...and one flukey WS title in terms of its place in history. Hahn’s popularity will be somewhere between May and Macron’s numbers.

Send out those season ticket invoices, stat!

Looks like Verdugo is the centerpiece of the talks with LAD about Kluber...surely, the Dodgers would prefer to trade both Pederson and Puig OR Kemp rather than their best prospect, but a young/cost-controlled player makes a lot more sense for the Indians. Something like Puig and Verdugo would open up RF for the Dodgers (to potentially sign Harper) and simultaneously fix two holes in the Indians' OF for 2019.

It's going to be extremely tough to keep Lincoln Riley from going to the NFL...will take the two Heisman Trophy winners. Doubt that Stoops would return to coaching, and his brother at Kentucky wouldn't quite be a big enough name for head coach, I'd actually prefer former assistant Brent Venables from Clemson because somebody needs to get that defense sorted out at some point if they want to win another title.

1981: 56 games missed, add 50 hits 1994: 50 games missed, add 50 hits 1995: 18 games missed, add 16 hits TOTAL: 124 games missed, add 116 hits Add the 116 hits to Baines’ 2,866 career hits and we have 2,982. If Baines has 2,982 hits, how likely is it that the White Sox allow him to stick around for a few more months to get to 3,000 in 2001 when he was a 42-year old designated hitter? The Sox have a history of helping veteran players create milestones. They nudged Early Wynn toward 300 wins, and they signed Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton late in their careers. It’s fair to assume that if Baines entered 2001 less than 20 hits away from the magical 3,000 plateau, the Sox would have found a way to get him there. This is the same franchise that put Minnie Minoso in uniform in 1976 when he was 50 and again four years later in 1980 when he was 54, just to get him the title of “oldest man to get a base hit in the big leagues.” The White Sox even noodled the idea of letting a 64-year old Minoso play in 1990. Playing an over-the-hill Baines at 42 to get his 3,000th hit in front of the hometown fans wouldn’t have been the sideshow that the Minoso affair had been. http://baseballegg.com/2017/02/12/did-harold-baines-come-within-a-whisker-of-the-hall-of-fame/

America’s trade deficit with China reached a new high — $34.1 billion — in September. That’s a 13 percent increase compared to last year and is the second-straight record month after a deficit of $31 billion in August. That takes America’s trade deficit with China for the year to $225.8 billion — about $30 billion more than at the same point in 2017. ... The US trade deficit hit $55.5 billion in October, the highest since October 2008. The increase in the deficit is the result of continued growth in imports, while exports actually fell. The trade deficit with China also hit a record level. One of President Donald Trump's goals for the trade war was to reduce the trade deficit, but the president's own policies are likely in part prompting the widening gap. Shrinking the US trade deficit has been a key goal of President Donald Trump's trade war. But the US Census Bureau announced Thursday that the US trade deficit grew to $55.5 billion in the month of October, the highest in exactly 10 years. That was a 1.7% jump from September, as imports rose by 0.2% and exports fell by 0.1%. https://www.businessinsider.com/us-china-trade-war-record-trade-deficit-trump-2018-12

I take back my comment about A Star is Born. Really powerful film, pretty darned impressive accomplishment for first-time director and completely reinventing the image of a cultural icon in a genuine and authentic way.

Is it good enough for a Best Picture nomination? Feels like it will forever be compared to Driving Miss Daisy, there’s lot of PC crowd talk about the story being one of “white redemption” versus from Ali’s perspective (like Sam Rockwell’s win as the deputy)...and Mortenson hasn’t helped matters by using the N word on the publicity tour. Feels a year when The Favourite or Vice, because of a political subject could win...can’t remember such a weak class of films at this late stage in the year. https://www.oddschecker.com/awards/oscars/best-picture Out of the Top 15 here, have only seen 3...granted, quite a few still haven’t been released. And I’m not sure I can stomach Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga winning everything for A Star is Born. Fwiw, have Tully next on the viewing list.

At first, it seemed someone threw rocks off an overpass...the corrected story was rocks causing an obstruction in the road caused the crash, setting them up for the robbery.

Another DC Comics dud. Saw Aquaman today in China. Think it will end up in the 30’s or 40’s at RT when reviews eventually trickle in. Venom, for a movie at just 29% when I watched it, was MUCH more entertaining. In fact, it has already grossed about $300 million in China alone (note, only $75 million of that goes back to the U.S.) The visuals for Aquaman were great, Momoa was fine, but Amber Heard and Patrick Wilson were really miscast.

So how much are we willing to give Gonzalez? 3 years seems kind of pointless, unless we're also getting Harper or Machado. 4 years, and potentially 5, seems what to be this particular free agent market is looking like, especially for a current 29 year old. The one caveat being he accumulated 4.3 fWAR over 5 years with the Astros (not counting the one really good season), meaning his average was actually BELOW 1 for the majority of his career. So to predicate a pretty darned big contract for a hitter with one outlying 4.0 season...who has already (arguably) reached his peak, that doesn't seem to make sense unless the White Sox were looking to compete THIS year. Even if you average his last THREE years together, he's still below 2. And yet he's likely to get $45-70 million from SOMEONE. Just doubt it's the White Sox, not when we already have guys like Yolmer and Leury on the roster. The risk of him NOT being that 4 war player is just way too great.

Responding to the potential interest in Marwin Gonzalez expressed in the Heyman article: Not sure Gonzalez makes sense...but I thought he was older than 30 for some reason (actually 29, will turn 30 before next season). Definitely could play OF and 1B/3B, veteran presence, lots of post-season experience, the whole question is whether he would be better off on a team that would be contending right away, versus two years from now. Of course, the usual caveat, depends on years/$$$. Buy on the dip, or buy into his "over-performance" run in 2017/18 being over?

https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-indians-looking-move-trevor-bauer-corey-kluber-mlb-trade-market-heats-232621659.html The Indians’ austerity comes after getting bounced in the first round of the AL playoffs with a club-record payroll that neared $150 million. Cleveland’s current projected payroll is around $120 million, according to Baseball Prospectus, though it could drop prohibitively after 2019 even if the Indians did hold on to Bauer and Kluber. For $8.5 million, they could buy Edwin Encarnacion, Jason Kipnis and Yonder Alonso – who this season will make a combined $44.3 million – out of club options. Bauer and star shortstop Francisco Lindor will be in arbitration, starter Carlos Carrasco will make a reasonable $10.25 million in the first year of a new three-year, $37.5 million contract he signed Thursday, and MVP candidate José Ramírez ($6.65 million) and closer Brad Hand ($7.58 million) are under team-friendly deals. Young standout starter Mike Clevinger will be in his first year of arbitration. Owner Larry Dolan bought the Indians for $323 million in 2000. Since then, according to Forbes, the franchise value has increased to more than $1 billion, and the team profited more than $30 million in the 2017 season.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/06/opinions/arresting-huawei-exec-is-a-case-of-spectacularly-bad-timing-andelman/index.html

I don’t see that direct link with military spending and Michigan, WI, IA and PA. It was simply the Dems doing a terrible job of convincing lots of middle and lower middle class Americans they had a dynamic and actionable plan to improve their lives in any significant way. The actual revenues from the tariffs are pretty insignificant, compared to the overall budget imbalance. The stock market is still up around 35% from Election Day, 2016, although near correction territory now...and off 20-30% for some of the technology bellwethers. Goodbye, FIRE movement, we hardly knew ye. Fwiw, China is very quickly positioning to move manafacturing to countries like Vietnam and Malaysia to avoid the tariffs...the main companies being hurt are entities like Huawei, ZTE, Apple and everyone along their supply chain, particularly chip and semiconductor manufacturers...or Foxconn’s deal with Wisconsin, which is likely to be blown up. As far as the politics of it all, if the GOP tries to move forward with the Ryan/Mulvaney/Norquist plan of gutting SS and health care...they’re going to destroy any remote chance they had of winning in 2020. As it stands, Trump will have an incredibly difficult time, and that’s without facing the headwinds of a recession. Other than a few corporate elites, the majority of “flyover” voters are pissed about the tax cuts and even more pissed about health insurance being held hostage with nary a solution in sight. With a Federal debt fast approaching $22 trillion, there’s just no way to convince young people, Hispanics or suburban white collar women that they should do anything less than fight desperately to protect their futures, and the imperiled financial futures of their children and grandchildren.

Cue Hoosiers soundtrack with Coach Norman Dale cameo...and the swinging gate play for Chitwood, errr...Holliday.