caulfield12

A couple of years ago, you would have thought a place like Mexico City would have had a shot, but that's no longer in the cards with the political situation, or even a Caribbean country. Buffalo, Louisville, Charlotte, Nashville and Indy were other names you would hear historically, but as much recently. MLB really seems to be considering the possibility (at least) of going back to MON, but two West Coast teams, that's the most logical play in terms of scheduling and demographics/population growth.

Like getting Cano to leave NY for Seattle?

Except Yolmer SANCHEZ has outproduced his fWAR over the last two seasons. Throw out their outlier seasons in the last three, you have a 4.0 (TA) versus 3.9 total over two “peak” years. Nobody is clamoring to see Yolmer start for another season, well, almost nobody. 2 is more or less “okay” for SS, but he still needs to bump it up to 2.5-3.0 to really be a significant positive contributor.

It’s more the Indians still having at least $50+ million in bad contracts...that’s the only way to create any payroll flexibility whatsoever, to deal a starter or Gomes in a package.

Reassuring that the White Sox are simply snakebitten with every 1st round draft pick besides Chris Sale.

Why would a team absorb all the risk and give us anything resembling his often-stated “potential” value? Dumping Avi and Rodon basically would require the front office being called to the carpet on two more talent misjudgments. If Fathom’s right, between the work ethic, Ptac’s concerns about the repeatability of his delivery and the Boras Factor, it’s yet another blown first round draft pick (especially at 1-3) by the Sox. Someone missed out on two pretty significant red flags. Might as well turn him into Andrew Miller. He’d arguably have more value...except he’s not good at holding runners or limiting walks.

Why would they trade Rodon now, before he’s proven that his velocity is back and that he’s 100% healthy for another 3-4 months? What’s the rush? What do the Sox know that everyone else doesn’t? I would be tremendously suspicious as a rival GM if Hahn actually tried to push him this offseason. Put another way, when’s the last time a team traded a young, still cost-controlled pitcher from the LH side with his stuff? Well, other than Chris Sale...I guess the deals for Archer and Cole, but both those guys were more established than Rodon.

Luis Robert needs to be ready at some point in 2020.

So basically this move makes no sense (at all) unless we're signing a whale. One year of competitive window for a huge chunk of our farm system that hasn't yet defined itself is the definition of sabotaging the rebuild. Not to mention we're already discussing trading a pitcher, Rodon, who's under the exact same amount of control and who still offers significant upside (although not like Thor's).

I guess I was confusing him with deGrom in terms of remaining contract years. Well, if we were willing to trade Robert, Cease and Madrigal...something like that would be the asking price. I'm assuming they would ask for Jimenez first, and Hahn would nix that idea. With pitching longevity being so up in the air these days, trading "plus" position players for pitching seems a recipe for trouble, especially in the position the White Sox are in, trying to lock in their starting line-up of the future in 2020.

Adding Thor (with limited years remaining before FA) to the ticking time bombs we have in Rodon, Giolito, Kopech and Cease seems to be the definition of insanity, not only because of the talent we'd have to give up...but, most importantly, the likelihood he'd either get injured, or that Cooper would have him throwing at a more comfortable 94-96. If we're doing that, might as well trade even more for deGrom, sign Harper and roll the dice. Odds are we'd still end up being short unless we spent another $150 million (over two years) on free agents to supplement the line-up and bullpen.

Trying desperately to sell more season tickets?

This Is Why Poor People’s Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense We know that the very act of being poor guarantees that we will never not be poor. It doesn’t give us much reason to improve ourselves. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-tirado/why-poor-peoples-bad-decisions-make-perfect-sense_b_4326233.html In the end, that article “earned” her over $60k at GFM.

The White Sox ALREADY have the 12th biggest t.v. contract, despite the fact that the last five years have in-arguably been a complete debacle. So let's go with the worst-case scenario...a Mariners (who spent BIGLY with their Root Sports windfall, only to see it fail to payoff) or Pirates-style franchise implosion. Only 4 ways to avoid it: 1) Our Top 50 prospects become the perennial All-Stars they were projected to be, at the very least, 3-4 of them. 2) Sign Harper or Machado (and Harper's the ONLY one, arguably, who has the power individually to elevate the t.v. rights deal beyond basically an extension at roughly a 5-10% increase)...put another way, why would our CURRENT broadcast partners have any reason to significantly invest (or increase) their investment unless any of these 4 events were to occur before the 2020 season? 3) Trade for Arenado and get him to sign an in-season long-term extension (extremely low probability event, unless he also has a Sox family connection.) 4) The perfect combination of "under the radar" veteran acquisitions at bargain prices, international free agents over 25 and trading prospects for major league ready talent (the equivalent talent injections of Floyd/Danks/Ramirez/Quentin). Also: note the current pressure on the Mariners, Rangers, Tigers and Giants to live up to their t.v. contracts. All those franchises are under duress, particularly SEA, TEX and DET.

Dodgers $204 M 25/$8.35 B 2014 2038 100% LINK Angels $118 M 20/$3 B 2012 2031 25% LINK Yankees $98 M 30/$5.7 B 2013 2042 20% LINK Red Sox $80 M 2006 80% LINK Mariners $76 M 18/$1.8 B 2014 2031 71% LINK Cubs $65 M 2004 2019 20% LINK Phillies $60 M 25/$2.5 B 2016 2040 25% LINK Astros $60 M 20/$1.6 B 2013 2032 No LINK Rangers $56 M 20/$1.6 B 2015 2034 10% LINK Tigers $55 M 10/$500 M 2009 2018 No LINK Giants $54 M 25/$1.75 B 2008 2032 30% LINK White Sox $51 M 2004 2019 20% LINK

In the end, it feels like a pretty dubious plan (overall) when so much is riding on the unlikely signing of Harper/Machado/Arenado or the projected health of Cease/Kopech.

If you have to spend $50 million (combined) per year on Moustakas, Donaldson and Brantley, the rebuild never had a chance, either. The only way this works is not paying full freight but hitting on at least 4-5 unquestionable “bargains” like we did with Dye, AJ, Contreras, Jenks, Hermanson, Pods, Iguchi, etc. It certainly can’t be overpaying like the awful 2014 cycle again.

In the end, we would have been “luckier” to get Brady Aiken in that draft year, if we could have actually followed it up with Bergman/Tucker/Cameron (since dealt) and NOT drafted Carson Fulmer. That would have addressed two HUGE holes in our lineup on the cheap. Instead, it created two more question marks in the rotation.

Aren’t we still basically limited to a 3 or, at best, 4 year window...having to wait until 2021 for Madrigal/Robert and the fact that there’s still so much volatility/variance around Kopech/Cease/Dunning/Hansen? Because you’re already going to be losing Rodon, Abreu...it seems impossible to put together a 5-6 year span like the Cubs and Astros are pulling off, even in our weak ass division. Not to mention the fact that the Twins are positioning themselves to get there to follow up CLE before we do. Unless the internal bullpen candidates morph together like the 2005 team did, you’re going to be spending $30+ million there alone (per year) and praying for offensive breakouts from Collins, Burger and any of those A+/AA outfielders.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-does-the-early-retirement-movement-have-so-many-haters-2018-11-12?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo Opinion: These are the bad things about early retirement that no one talks about https://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-are-the-bad-things-about-early-retirement-that-no-one-talks-about-2018-09-26?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo

But live sports provide limitless content where they don’t have to pay performers, writing and production staff, etc. If you look at the ROI required for a new Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Hulu or even YouTube original content show, it’s quite substantial. You also have to consider the legalizing of sports gambling adding $250 million to upwards of $1 billion to franchise values, and then the competition to be an owner of any pro sports franchise with so many newly-minted billionaires in the last ten years. Finally, football has peaked and will gradually lose fans and players over issues like concussions and career longevity being vastly greater in other sports. AI and VR and AR will not only make e-sports a threat, it will enhance spectator experiences and help increase participation levels for live sports. Not all of that growth will go to basketball and soccer. Not to mention baseball provides twice as many opportunities to make it to the highest level as the NBA.

A Phillies-Indians-Mariners bonanza Phillies get: Corey Kluber, RHP; Yan Gomes, C; Jean Segura, SS Indians get: Edwin Diaz, RHP; Roman Quinn, OF; Adonis Medina, RHP Mariners get: J.P. Crawford, SS; Sixto Sanchez, RHP; Adam Haseley, OF; James Karinchak, RHP A trade featuring a two-time American League Cy Young Award winner, the reigning AL Reliever of the Year, an All-Star shortstop, an All-Star catcher and four guys who have all appeared on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 prospects list in the last calendar year? Yeah, that's a blockbuster. Here's what each club would accomplish: • Latest Hot Stove rumors Indians: In moving Kluber ($17M) and Gomes ($7M), they get immediate salary relief for 2019 that they can apply in free agency while pairing Diaz with lefty Brad Hand in a dynamic back end of the bullpen, improving their outfield composition with the speedy, switch-hitting Quinn (or Nick Williams could be a substitute piece here) and improving their long-term rotation outlook with Medina. Despite the key departures, they'd remain prohibitive AL Central favorites while extending their championship window.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25341102/former-nasa-engineer-sig-mejdal-joins-baltimore-orioles-front-office

The Red Sox winning a 4th title in the same amount of time they've managed to win only 1 is not being particularly well-received. In that sense, the Yankees fans are kind of dealing with the Braves' 90's and 00's phenomenon...lots of success during the regular season, but not winning a World Series makes sustaining interest at the ticket prices they charge increasingly challenging (especially as we look to be heading into a recessionary period in 2019-20). And swapping the Sabathia/Tanaka money for Corbin isn't a big deal. That said, they should a thorough investigation into Corbin's background and make-up (just like they're doing with Machado), because so many players just aren't up for performing in NY, Boston, Philly, etc., where the media and fan scrutiny and expectations are so high (after all, that's exactly how we ended up with Jose Contreras).

In this day and age, with all the Ivy Leaguers in front offices, I'd find it hard to believe you could actually "sneak" anyone through that other teams were actually interested in...even in the days before a major holiday when many are traveling. For front office staff, they're already 100% focused on the Winter Meetings.