caulfield12

I'm sure it means the White Sox, unless he's a closet Cleveland Indians' fan holding out hope they can keep it together for the next two seasons before they're forced to trade Lindor and/or Jose Ramirez.

Other than the Mauer contract, I can't recall in the last 20 years the Twins breaking the bank for anyone. They're even more "penurious" than the White Sox, typically. Mauer was $184 million, and that practically tanked the franchise....well, maybe not for a decade, but 2011-2016 were really BLEAK years for Twins' fans. Let's not forget that the Twins were one of the top bidders for Yu Darvish before he picked the Cubs. http://www.startribune.com/twins-definitely-could-use-a-big-free-agent-but-history-shows-the-perils/563300722/ Left brain: Most of the biggest contracts in baseball history were busts, or disappointments. The biggest contract in Twins history — the $184 million Joe Mauer signed for — contributed to a near-decade team slump. The Twins should never weigh themselves down with that kind of contract again. Right brain: Imagine what one great pitcher could do for a team that won 101 games without a true ace. Imagine facing the Yankees with someone like Gerrit Cole pitching Game 1, followed by Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi. LB: That’s the thing about free-agent spending — it always sounds good at the time. Remember: The conventional wisdom surrounding Mauer was that the Twins couldn’t afford to not sign him. They would have looked cheap and shortsighted. Then they signed him, and looked foolish and shortsighted. Last winter, the Phillies and Padres spent a combined $630 million on Bryce Harper and Manny Machado and missed the playoffs; Harper’s old team, the Nationals, made it to the World Series. Craig Kimbrel, the most accomplished closer on the market, signed midseason with the Cubs, who missed the playoffs. The 11 biggest contracts in MLB history have combined to win one World Series while the player was under that contract — in 2009, when Alex Rodriguez won a ring with the Yankees. The Los Angeles Dodgers outspend almost everyone and haven’t won a title since 1988. The Yankees have won one since 2000. RB: All true. So is this: The four teams that made it to the League Championship Series this year ranked in the top eight in payroll. The Nationals made it to the World Series without Harper, in part, because they spent big on Max Scherzer and Patrick Corbin in free agency. And Harper and Machado could still prove valuable if they can elevate their franchises in the future. RB: But you’ve got to try, and the Twins could win it all with the right addition. Why don’t the Pohlads just spend more? LB: They’re businesspeople. They have invested heavily in growing the front office and analytics department, they pay their people well, they invest their own money in keeping Target Field among the best sports venues in the world, and they generally spend when their general manager asks them to. Their GMs know that if they spend the wrong amount on the wrong player, they’re putting their job on the line. Successful businesspeople don’t make a habit out of losing money or spending recklessly. RB: As owners who received public funding for their ballpark and thus have had the value of their franchise increased, don’t they owe it to the public to do everything they can to win? LB: Yes. The question is whether spending hundreds of millions on fragile assets is the best way to win. RB: I’m sick of you sticking up for billionaires. LB: I’m sick of your unwillingness to accept the way the real world works. RB: Let’s go back to not talking to each other.

The biggest concern is whether Collins can maintain his offensive rhythm without regular playing time...that said, if he's facing mostly favorable pitching match-ups (and almost no LHP), it will allow him to build up some confidence, not unlike how Ozzie protected Viciedo against tough RHP before his first (and best) full season in 2012.

Except we don't know that, 100%. We just know that it's open to being renegotiated in five year's time. One can make two assumptions...that the deal is fronting them more money than past ratings would merit (allowing the White Sox to significantly increase payroll?), investing in creating a better entertainment product from 2020-24, or; NBC Universal wants the protection on the back end of the deal that if the rebuild is a flop, they're not stuck paying the White Sox above-market rates over 20-25 years for a team that's put together some of the worst 2-3 year local ratings since the Astros in the beginning of their rebuild.

Don’t think he would be happy in the AL game, giving up his hitting and seems very comfortable on the West Coast.

Usain Bolt is still unsigned after his aborted soccer career. Could take down Dyson and Gore as designated PR’s like Rodney McCray back in the day. With the extra roster spot, you can actually consider it...as a late innings weapon.

I’m not one of the Millennials, but would guess it means that Madrigal used his boyish good looks and earnest charisma to swoop in and steal your gf or wife away. Although the addition of the literal man part sounds a bit aggressive/assertive. So everyone will clap back and break the Internet like a recent Liz Hurley or Salma Hayek bikini post. Before men had the VS Fashion Show. Now, there is only this. The last bastion of civilization.

New SoxTalk record for likes on one post. Good job, Kotsay/Epstein/Getz.

Gerrit Cole, 3.86 and 4.28 ERA’s in Pittsburgh before he became one of the top five pitchers in baseball.

Padres are sitting on a boatload of prospect capital...and they will need a CFer if Taylor Trammell busts. Manuel Margot is their version of Yolmer Sanchez. The problem here is that the Cole trade gave them Musgrove/Martin (not enough from Feliz/Moran) so they’re going to need to go for more high-end, premium talent if they are to deal Marte, who caught fire again in the second half. It won’t be a numbers game of 4-5 guys who might be 1.5-2.5 fWAR guys but MUCH more likely replacement level.

That number for Wheeler is two years and $52 million more than the initial projections... Someone got cute and wanted to figure out how to come up with a salary figure higher than Machado’s $250 million. Of course, it should actually be $17.8 + $74 + $100-105 million. That gets you to $191-196 million, not exactly $256. All told, we gave an extra 1 year/$14 million to Grandal and 2 years/$32 million to Abreu already.

Really love the feel of this so far...especially the narrative voice of Mando without the facial expressions. The 30+ minute setup works out fine, because they can invest the money they save into the action sequences. Seeing the Jawas and whatever the hell that massive rover machine is called really brought back memories. Someone criticized the soundtrack, but even then it makes sense to depart from the traditional orthodoxy of a John Williams score and try something more eclectic. Liked Nick Nolte’s turn, as well...and Werner Herzog tried his best. All things considered, pulling baby Yoda out of thin air is what has really made the series in terms of audience engagement. It’s not just about selling Christmas toys (hopefully.)

Insanity is 11 years without a playoff appearance as the only large market team in a division filled with 4 of the 8 lowest local tv broadcast rights deals in all of MLB...and operating like a “beg packer” in Thailand instead of a Top 10-12 franchise in terms of Forbes valuation. At one point we were 8th. Now we are all the way down to #13-14-15 because of JR/KW/Hahn...so the question remains, do we really want to win it all or just put the team in a position to be contending and make more moves in June/July? Even that strategy is dubious when you need to run $160+ million payrolls to get to the ALCS/NLCS.

Sure, we can play this game when/if the White Sox make the playoffs 2 out of 3 years or win another World Series. We haven’t even signed a top pitching target yet, the biggest need that can most easily be addressed for just money. Looking back at 2004-05, it was later obvious that jettisoning Ordonez, Lee and Valentin allowed us to allocate the money more efficiently across eight veteran players...and discovering Jenks helped a lot, certainly. Or we can just as easily debate Cole >>> Wheeler/Grandal/Abreu, right? Most are, at best, neutral on Abreu and we overpaid Grandal one year and about $18 million over what would have been ideal...granted, that’s the opportunity cost of shopping among the Top 10-12 Free Agents, right? At any rate, way way too early to be celebrating anything. This sounds like a thread from the year we signed Cabrera/Robertson/LaRoche...Dunn...or brought in Javy/Thome to reinforce the best team in baseball. We still have lots of uncertainty/volatility across the entire pitching staff.

Unless you’re willing to extend Betts right away for some crazy number like $400 million...then you pretty much have to find a one year fill-in. Simply because none of the other options are true difference makers, Castellanos will also be overpaid and the Abreu signing forces him out into the field or 1B, which would block Vaughn. That calculus could change with a quick Wheeler signing, but that still leaves you in need of/with: 1) Second veteran pitcher for backend 2) Insurance for Colome/Bummer/Herrera in high leverage, basically, RH relief help 3) Uncertainty about how well McCann and Collins will hit...DH could work out well or be another issue 4) Not sure you can play Garcia and Mendick as starters and hope to get out of the gate well...maybe a Gennett gets added that has the versatility to play RF and 2B. This assumes Yolmer is gone, of course. Arguably, with a Betts 6-8 fWAR season...they could still compete, but the biggest problems will obviously arise on the pitching side. With that being the case, relieving the pressure by having (at least) an above-average RF defender might be worth sacrificing some offense for. It would also relieve some of the defensive pressure Robert will be under. It’s almost to the point where you at least consider adding a CFer and moving Robert over to RF.

Add in Haniger and then you really have a post-season competitive team. But it would leave the farm system in really sorry shape, it it isn’t already...

Ford vs. Ferrari was a worthwhile watch, a tick better than the Hunt/Nikki Lauda one with Thor. Seems like retro days, with Midway being the type of movie that came out in the 1950’s, but with CGI...actually enjoyed that one more than expected, the battle scenes were awesome but exposition in between and Ed Skrein (last time I saw him was Akita Battle Angel) was over the top annoying. Frozen 2 (saw it yesterday with 4 year old son and wife) was a shadow of the first one, but with a catchy soundtrack, improved animation and more overly cute product tie-ins. It’s tolerable, but one’s mind wanders. Had a 72% positive rating at RT last time I checked. Some really cool scenes from a child’s 3-D perspective.

Konerko won us a World Series, but, even then...his last four seasons, and final two especially, we felt a bit sad for him as the ability to hit an elite fastball left him. No matter what, I can’t imagine many Sox fans were boing him. With Abreu, they would be better off booing JR, he’s the one that signed off on the contract. They would have been much better off going year to year instead of locking in a player in the heart of the contention window with declining skills. Sure, Zimmerman made it to the World Series, but they ran a good-sized payroll to get there. If we could be confident in a $160-170 million payroll going forward, it wouldn’t bother most fans that much. But we also can’t help but be aware of how this team has been run the past decade. Just citing 2006-2010 payrolls, coming off a World Series title...doesn’t guarantee we’ll be back in that Top 6-12 payroll range automatically. Signs definitely point towards it, but who the hell really knows until we see what the starting rotation and RFer looks like on Opening Day.

A team better positioned for an extended playoff run will definitely make a run at him, but more likely at the trade deadline. The new GM will have to see if they can compete in the first half...and weigh the possibility of extending him (for $325-375 million) going against every fiber of a former Tampa exec’s being.

Probably something like Calhoun, Castellanos (odds just went down considerably), Gardner, Polanco/Marte, Haniger, Nimmo, Peralta, Puig, Avi... Ozuna for RF is a huge long shot now, at best.

Moustakas would be fine for a couple seasons, but it’s dumb to even contemplate without another frontline starting pitcher. Even then, you’re better off going for the 3-5 year window than putting all your eggs in one basket. Unless we go back to 1996-97 and the try at ARod, the White Sox have have never been the team to set the market on a superstar.

Which player is most likely right now for RF...if there was a betting pool?

Look at his spray chart. He hits with more frequency and pop to the opposite field compared to pretty much any young hitter in the game today. Remember...he was only 20. Moncada required how long to hit his stride? Personally... I think he's closer to an 875~900 ops guy than 950~1000+, but his base running and defensive ability (once he settles into his career) are Top 3~5% in the big leagues. He already has the best arm... and still might grow another 1/2" or 1". When all is said and done... a player of that size has never managed SS in the way he does in terms of athleticism. A Rod is the best comp, not Griffey Jr. IF IF IF he can stay healthy.

The predictable spin will be that Renteria, Abreu and Grandal will reign him in successfully, in a way the Dodgers, Reds and Indians were completely unable to do. And that “clubhouse management/respect” is what makes Abreu’s contract a virtual bargain regardless of the fWAR output, along with playing a pivotal role in the recruiting of Machado (well, he tried), Robert and Grandal, etc.

Raspberry or Blueberry Yogurt sounds good.