caulfield12

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...

There's no way they trade Price AND Rodriguez without a pitcher like Lopez coming back. It has to be Price and Benintendi, with the idea of Boston pulling out all the stops to keep Betts off the market. Price and Jackie Bradley isn't going to be do it, with Bradley just being a one year rental. If it's Price and Benintendi, then Collins pretty much has to be the one to go.

Zero excuse for NOT BEING MORE AGGRESSIVE with Cleveland and Minnesota retrenching or holding back resources. The Twins at least kept Odorizzi and Pineda...they lost Gibson and Perez wasn't even on their post-season roster, but they have three legit starters, Graterol, and 3 guys who would have fit in well with the the 2019 White Sox 5th starter's parade (granted, Dobnak put up amazing numbers in SSS, but repeating it will be a near impossibility.) (Cleveland at least developed Clevinger and Bieber to go with their front-line starters, which is why they were able to trade Bauer and potentially Kluber and still remain competitive until they also have to shed Lindor and/or Jose Ramirez.) But the Twins have a major advantage here. They at least have a SURPLUS of position player talent to TRADE for a starter (not to mention better minor league depth.) For example, Eddie Rosario. Our best trade chips are players we simply cannot afford to trade. At a certain point, they will have to move on from Berrios and Buxton if they won't sign extensions, but they still have enough core offensive players to remain competitive. We might have the higher rated system for the moment, but that all goes out the window with the 3 anticipated graduations this year. At best, we're in the low 20's as an organization. We just traded away our 6th best prospect and he's already ranked 12th in the Rangers' system. We're way too top heavy.

JR finally sold? Charlotte White Sox, sponsored by Bank of America...

Rendon balked at getting a lot of money deferred from the Nats, like Scherzer ($100+ million) and Strasburg ($80+ million) agred to. The overall numbers might have been higher, but not after factoring in inflation and taxes. Does anyone know for a fact the Wheeler money wasn't partially deferred in the Sox offer?

Then why the HELL did we spend so much time/effort chasing after Wheeler instead of honing on Keuchel/Ryu all along, like we did with Grandal? So that "extra information" didn't tell you that it would be a fruitless pursuit in the end...? The Boras excuse, yet again?

Can we hoist some type of flag up on one of the GRF flagpoles with this: "Most close-misses on conversions of any GM" But at least we tried. That has to keep the fanbase satisfied for another year, surely.

The funny thing is how much more efficiently the Brewers allocate their resources, better trades, better ROI on the pitching front, two consecutive playoff appearances, beating the Cubs, etc....meanwhile, we're spending our new t.v. contract dollars on first-class airfare and giving international bonus pool money away. Rewarding our execs for their excellence (well, Thome doesn't deserve any crap, I guess.) Referring to the idea of contract relief for other teams. What are the odds that David Price is the pitching equivalent of Alex Rios...? If we could get Rios' accumulated White Sox fWAR (obviously one season was a complete disaster, solid otherwise) out of Price, that would be a huge win. The problem is where he's on the shelf but not retired or kicking in the 70% insurance payouts. It's such a huge gamble. No team in baseball would just take on Price's contract, like we did with the Rios deal. Would almost prefer Eovaldi if they're going to choose that approach (which is still better than decimating the farm system or trading away Madrigal/Vaughn.)

Benintendi would play everyday in hopes of capturing his 4 fWAR peak...although he's a bit out of position in RF due to his arm being average. More or less, it would be similar to having Ozuna out there and maybe a notch or two above Castellanos. None of those three are really ideally suited for RF play, but the smaller nature of the outfield and not having to worry about the CF gap and playing balls off the ball and off the side should definitely help Benintendi to feel more relaxed, IMO. Plus he's a Midwest kid, so he would feel comfortable in Cleveland/Detroit and his family would be able to see him play more often. Mazara would be the LH side of a DH platoon...not sure who the other hitter is or whether it's more of a rotation of RH hitters that need rest. Could easily be Leury.

Price and Benintendi for Collins is the only way it makes sense... gambling on Price alone with money coming back isn't worth it. Mazara to platoon DH.

Yet. They are working on a Kluber trade and adding one of the remaining three big names as we speak.

Because if we got Benintendi and significant salary relief...you know Hahn’s giving up Madrigal or Vaughn to pull it off. We NEVER simply eat salary...not to this extent.

Why would the Red Sox get Betts to sign a $400 million extension then trade him when the whole point of dumping Price, Sale and Eeovaldi is to actually be able to afford to keep him long-term? Knowing the White Sox, we would just have him for one year and then lose him and prospects back to the Red Sox after 2020.

Less about teaching than institutional culture as long as KW and Cooper feel empowered to run things and set the tone. Ultimately, we are still more representative of Grady Fuson nearly 20 years ago in Moneyball than on the cutting edge side of things.

They kind of did things backwards...because we’re likely sacrificing Grandal’s best season in terms of hitting or pitch framing to a .500ish team. That said, he has one year to become familiar with the young pitchers and coaching staff. Of course, there are so few impact catchers out there this might have been the best play because next year’s market is so limited. Right now, it doesn’t seem like any team out of the Central will do anything beyond serving as a sacrificial lamb for the East and West. But that’s also the sad part, we can’t even up and seize the reigns against financially-limited organizations...or those who simply operate better in the margins such as the Rays, A’s, Twins and Indians.

Rodon?

You’re assuming they can actually close the deal with Boras in the face of loads of competition...

There are the Big 3 (Bum/Ryu/Keuchel) and Porcello and that’s pretty much it. Everything else is dumpster diving/hoping for rebounds.

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-rumors-anthony-rendon-reportedly-204901666.html Rendon reportedly balked at use of deferrals in Nats’ offer Max Scherzer's contract had over $100 million in deferrals, and Strasburg's has about $80 million as well. Scott Boras talked Tuesday about how the deferrals leave room for the Nationals to sign 'Rendon and many players,' but it doesn't appear the Nationals have a great chance at bring Rendon back if they don't.

http://www.startribune.com/twins-making-a-pitch-for-ex-mvp-josh-donaldson/566117231/ Twins targeting top three pitchers + Porcello, Donaldson, Betances and dangling Eddie Rosario for a starting pitcher Rest of the AL Central? Crickets. Guess Indians’ fans have to be pissed they’re looking to deal Lindor, Kluber, etc. Looks like they have a package in mind to send Kluber to the Angels, one of the players would replace Kipnis. Tribe fans say the return is way too depressed...wait until ASB at least. https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2019/12/la-angels-talking-to-cleveland-indians-about-former-cy-young-winner-corey-kluber.html http://www.startribune.com/biggest-free-agent-signings-again-go-to-big-markets-commissioner-says-small-markets-can-still-compete/566113821/ Small/mid-market teams shut out of big free agent signings. Manfred suggests A’s, Rays and Twins all have figured out how to compete with limited resources.

See the Brewers in 2018, or Nats as the Wild Card team this year...Royals in 2014, White Sox in 2005, etc. You're right about the hottest team often just gets on a roll and rides it all the way, with the obvious problem being we haven't even had the opportunity to try for going on 12 years. Whether that's harder to take than the Twins losing 15 consecutive playoff games to the Yankees, I'm not altogether sure...but at least they got to enjoy six months of the regular season.

I'm 90% sure he's just playing along to amuse everyone...rather than bothering to argue or provide a more positive counterpoint.

Hopefully all this crazy/free spending in the current off-season mitigates some of that risk. Of course, the other thing to worry about is pitch framing being being negated by robot umpires and Grandal getting "old" in 2021, just when we need him. That, also, would be so White Sox. And, of course, being at least one pitcher short in the starting rotation, the story of so many White Sox teams over the decades.