caulfield12

2 p.m. One team has to get their first ST win, as Giants are 0-2. Location: Just down the street from Paulie’s place in Scottsdale Battle of southpaws, Manny Bañuelos vs. our old friend Derek Holland WGN 720 AM, MLB.com is picking up Giants’ broadcast

I’ll repeat this again. Had they signed Pollock to his Dodgers’ deal, Keuchel (3-4 years) and Kimbrel (3 years)...I would have been absolutely elated, knowing what we know now about the unwillingness to sign offer the guaranteed money to lock in one huge megacontract.

And your position is what exactly here? From my standpoint, there’s only about five posters (Ray Ray, Shack, Eminor, PTAC, Southsider2k5etc.) who haven’t been ripping the front office to shreds. Balta, Dick Allen, Chitown and Chicago White Sox, not to mention Fathom...have been ripping the front office as well since last Tuesday. Same with most of the mods like BMAGS and Tony. Which Sox fans do you know personally who are actually content with the way things have gone this offseason? This is some real Stockholm Syndrome stuff here to keep giving this front office carte blanche to make mistake after mistake.

We should just offer to take Pollock and/or Pederson off their hands to make this happen...would MUCH rather help the Dodgers than the Cubs on the salary relief front.

If there was a “do over” this post-season, it would have been Pollock, Kimbrel, and Keuchel. That’s pretty much the best we could realistically do if we’re continually unwilling to sign one huge megacontract.

https://www.mlb.com/news/here-are-the-new-2019-top-30-prospects-lists White Sox are going to be one of the Top 10 systems for MLB Pipeline...exact number, yet to be determined

Marwin Gonzalez was the final domino to fall...

These 5 teams will be better than you think 1. White Sox You look at the White Sox this spring and see the Cubs, Astros, Royals and Braves from recent seasons. Like those teams, Chicago has so many elite prospects that winning feels inevitable, and in the American League Central, that can happen fast. So even if the White Sox don't sign Bryce Harper after missing out on Manny Machado, they're on the verge of a turnaround. Outfielder Eloy Jimenez is the best of the young prospects on the cusp of the Major Leagues, but outfielder Luis Robert, right-hander Dylan Cease, infielder Nick Madrigal and others have a chance to help the club win in 2019. Also, Yoan Moncada could be in line for a breakout season. If Harper does sign, so much the better. He would draw off enough attention that the youngsters would be able to develop in a somewhat normal environment. Speaking of environment, White Sox manager Rick Renteria might be the most underrated manager in the game. https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-teams-that-could-surprise-in-2019 REALLY MOVING UP THAT TIMELINE ON MADRIGAL AND ESPECIALLY ROBERT...sounds familiar though, we've seen this type of thinking over and over again with the White Sox, right?

Right. He also played some 3B in our minor league system, was sort of their version of Herb Milkman Perry.

Green Book, despite all the debates engulfing that film...somehow wins Best Picture. I don't know, for my money, HIDDEN FIGURES was 10X the movie and didn't win, but this was a really strange year again with many people unfamiliar with quite a few of the films other than BP and A Star Is Born. GB was basically the compromise choice between Roma on one hand (which one foreign film, and was seen by about as many viewers as The Artist), and Black Panther on the other. Olivia Colman (The Favourite) and Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) both won...still haven't watched Bohemian, for some reason. Spike Lee also won his first "real" Oscar for Screenplay on Black KKKlansman.

They also are rumored to be looking into Kimbrel on a short/er term deal...

If you add Segura, Robertson, McCutcheon and Realmuto AND sign Aaron Nola to a long-term contract extension...well, that's probably already the best offseason of any team not named the Padres. Harper is just the icing on the cake, and makes them the odds-on favorite for the NL East. Right now, it's a 3 team race with the Mets trying to "get a seat at the table" in terms of their quixotic series of moves this offseason.

Bleacher Report’s Lefkoe is now claiming that a deal has been agreed between Harper and Phillies, with a press conference scheduled for Wednesday. He claims that the deal will be worth around $330 million, which will be an MLB record but the exact length of the contract still remains unclear, with it expected to be either for eight or 10 years. https://www.ibtimes.com/mlb-rumors-bryce-harper-phillies-330m-deal-agreed-press-conference-scheduled-2767898 For some reason, the International Business Times is picking up that story from hours ago about the 8-10 years and $330 million and WED press conference.

Ali and Regina King the first two big Oscars of the Night, for supporting categories. Btw, for those of you who haven't seen it, the Japanese film Shoplifters (one of the five nominees) is excellent. That director has 3 other similar films in his filmography, just started watching Nobody Knows, the story of a single mother in Osaka who brought 2 of her 4 kids (all from different fathers) into her apartment in a suitcase because there was only supposed to be one (was hiding them), and wouldn't let them go outside or go to school...then basically abandoned them for a man to fend by themselves. Kind of the other side of Japan we never see...much like poverty in America.

Well, worst case scenario, we're still somewhere between 6th (BA) and 13th (Law)...maybe BP and Fangraphs have them higher, MLB Pipeline, etc. Hard to keep track of all the different rankings these days. If we get something from Flores or Lambert, that would be a huge boost, because most of us are already counting out Hansen. Dunning's the big wild card, he SEEMS like he should definitely be a solid 4/5 starter.

Where did teorey23 or whatever his name was go?

The best pitching staff in baseball ended in May of 2006 when Contreras got hurt in Cincy. Then we came back at the end of the decade with Floyd/Danks...but that 2008 season was just as much about Alexei and Quentin breaking out as stellar pitching. I'd say we JUST got by with the additions of Linebrink and Dotel, enough to barely hold on coming down the stretch when everything seemed to be falling apart until that last week.

Wow...I was actually mentioned on Twitter, he sincerely made my day, lol.

It all happened at a 2 hour lunch that day...that's been reported out officially by the SD Union Tribune writers.

Other than Rabbit, who's more making "bemused" tweets and not staking out a position about Harper going to the White Sox, the wall of insiders has pretty much gone into hiding, with 2-3 exceptions who have been willing to take it on the chin, not that they controlled anything that has transpired. They're being a lot more honest/transparent than WSD and his company/PR shtick to turn around and defend their not spending.

The market is about as limited as it was for James Shields last year....when you consider his position, his lifetime 740 OPS, his splits and the fact that he was terrible the 2nd half of last year. Too bad the Padres already have invested $144 million into Hosmer, or we might find a taker, since he already spent four years of his career there in SD.

Who's that infielder we had from Oklahoma State about 5-6 years ago that Hawk was always raving about? Chance or Chase was his name? I think he played 3B/1B, never really made it past AA successfully.

The Bulls? They're actually on a hot streak for them, who are you referring to? Oh, Sullivan. This has been the year of media bashing, on multiple levels. Some is well-deserved, some borderline unconstitutional.

It's going to be a LONG year. I'm not sure where the realistic compromise is, though...between the "two sides" in this argument about management/ownership. I guess we can just try to enjoy the minor league season again as much as possible, and the Jimenez and hopefully Cease debuts. You're right about one thing, in the sense that complaining/venting/whining about anything isn't going to change the way this ownership group operates. That said, if more and more season ticket holders like Dick Allen completely abandon this franchise, then they're eventually going to have no choice but to take notice, unlike the Bulls, who seemingly have a 30 year grace period.

Bogaerts is the other obvious one on that side of the infield...Goldschmidt, DH types like Martinez and Khris Davis if he doesn't extend with the A's.