caulfield12

https://www.sportcal.com/features/big-in-japan-how-mlb-is-swinging-for-the-fences-in-the-asian-market/ https://historicbaseball.com/baseballs-international-expansion-new-markets-and-talent/

To be theoretically decided before he leaves job in 2029 (there's that year again)... “I've said this before, you know, I'd like to have teams picked before I'm done,” he said. Nashville is considered a front-runner for one of those two teams, while the other city is a complete mystery box following the Oakland Athletics’ impending move to Las Vegas. One location that, understandably, receives a lot of speculation is Montreal, which hosted the Expos from 1969 to 2005. With the Jays in the World Series and the Canadian market performing so strongly, Manfred was asked whether Montreal might be in the mix for expansion down the road. His answer? “Certainly other cities in Canada that would be viable besides Toronto." yahoosports.com Vancouver is the only one that immediately comes to mind, but too close to Seattle...Edmonton used to have a AAA team, along with Calgary. Others: Charlotte, Portland, Salt Lake City, Austin/San Antonio, Orlando likely out if the Rays stay in TB, Mexico City (highly unlikely) https://gameday-analysis.com/2025/06/07/whos-next-15-cities-that-deserve-an-mlb-expansion-team/ Some of these names seem completely improbable like Louisville and Albuquerque.

Well, except for the territorial rights "invasion/encroachment"...

Aren't MLB and the NBA pretty close to par on yearly total revenues, with the NBA holding the tv rights advantage but MLB international tv making huge progress in Canada and Japan with the Blue Jays and Dodgers? And now the NBA has an even bigger issue with the FBI gambling investigation. Not to mention the growth trend in China has been blunted by political considerations

https://www.purplerow.com/scaling-the-rocks/76093/a-modest-proposal-to-contract-the-los-angeles-dodgers $242 million in deferrals not being counted on this year's payroll alone is pretty insane. More than doubles Milwaukee's entire payroll of $115 million. https://www.mlb.com/news/munetaka-murakami-market-mlb Kerry Miller (B-R) then makes a prediction which will leave the rest of the fanbases around the league operating with a collective groan. "Get familiar with the name. You're going to hear about Munetaka Murakami a lot this winter, and probably for the next decade," Miller added. "There's a good chance he'll immediately sign for north of $200 million. And probably with the Dodgers, much to the chagrin of most. https://www.si.com/mlb/dodgers/news/dodgers-could-cut-ties-with-all-star-third-baseman-to-sign-top-free-agent-says-insider

Dodgers finally wearing down Toronto pitching in this one... Interesting decision to start Scherzer over Bieber in G3. Glasnow, then Ohtani (probably) for LA.

I'm not responding...I started it. And Varsho is living up to his talent now/again. Nobody else agreed that Varsho was even an interesting possibility. But it's also an interesting snapshot of where the Sox were at that point.

He did become an "almost" immediate flip candidate in 2024 with a 3.1 fWAR...he also has a Gold Glove and 17.9 career war now. And the problem is Cease after his down 2023 was never going to fetch a star quality player, Getz instead going for quantity over quality deal. Will never know if de Vries was on the table or not. Ethan Salas would have been a mistake based on his last two years of under performance.

But is Colson and Braden legitimately enough to go out and add FA's to? The Sox will be in this position forever unless they absolutely luck out for once with their pick at 1-1/2/3 in 2026.

At that point he had three relatively cheap arbitration years of control... And we can only say with hindsight that 2024 team was never expected to be at all competitive...either JR, Getz or both were (intentionally or through deliberately blindness) lying to the fans. But that's why it was "outside the box." However you slice it, Varsho ended up having considerably more value than the package actually received for Cease.

Yes, but even now one year of Varsho has a lot more value to a contending team than whatever's left of that deal and weren't we supposed to NOT be wasting a year going into 2024? 8 fWAR (assigned a 2.7 for next year, split differenbe between 2024/25) for Varsho through 2026 vs. Iriarte and Thorpe...isn't that even a net negative fWAR so far due to Iriarte's implosion? Remember, the premise implicitly promised was to put a competitive team out there according to JR's press conference announcing Getz. Three years of Varsho compared to one of Cease isn't such a bad deal for a team that hasn't had any younger 2-3 fWAR outfielders other than Robert's 2023 in about a decade now.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2025-10-24/plaschke-column-dodgers-blue-jays-world-series-game-1 Not sure the Toronto crowd taunting Ohtani with “we don’t need you…we don’t need you!!!” chants is the greatest strategy. But it does add another layer of intrigue. With Guerrero, Bichette and Varsho in the starting lineup, this is the first time in World Series history three sons of former players started for one teamh/t @EliasSports — (@slangsonsports.bsky.social) 2025-10-24T19:37:02.164Z

https://www.si.com/mlb/revisiting-hour-baseball-world-thought-shohei-ohtani-destined-blue-jays-private-jet Before someone starts arguing the Blue Jays are a mid-market success story, they were the clear runner-ups for Ohtani with the Giants right there offering essentially the same deferred money deal he ultimately signed with LA.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/nbas-gambling-scandal-should-terrify-the-nfl-and-commissioner-roger-goodell-for-one-primary-reason-001559255.html

Buck Martinez? Hard to believe Getty Lee is 72 now.

Gutsy call to go Yesavage G1. Now they have Gausman and Bieber to go against Yamamoto and Glasnow unless they move Ohtani up to #3.

Series on... In 2018, Addison Barger was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the sixth round of the Major League Baseball draft and made his professional debut with the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Blue Jays that season, recording a .194 batting average, three home runs, and 18 runs batted in (RBI).

Clement has been unreal...this would have been a place where Kopech could have been utilized. Instead a young rookie backup starter transformed to reliever. Former Indians/Guardians in Clement Gimenez M.Straw, not to mention Bieber...

Especially with so many Merkin fluff articles on his leadership and all those emotional call ups to the majors videos. Kiss of death? Vaughn was similarly profiled the previous year while shedding the majority of remaining 2020-2022 veterans...

5.3 fWAR the last two seasons with one more year on his contract would have provided a lot more value than what the Sox actually got back for him. I was crucified/dismissed in this thread but actually wasn't wrong in my assessment on Varsho. Was coming off just a 1.9 fWAR season in 2023...which is now celebrated as a huge success for guys like Vargas or Sosa, btw.

Bump

Oops...jinxed him 19/43 in postseason, .442 avg, got another for 20 hits now Ernie Clement was originally drafted by the Indians in the 4th round. Clement was claimed off waivers by the Oakland Athletics on September 23, 2022.[38] He appeared in six games for Oakland, going 1-for-18 (.056) with a double.[15]

The Indians were definitely the team on the rise at that point...those mid to late 90s offenses were like Murderer's Row, modern day version.

So basically it's the Dodgers versus the Yankees for him...w/ Cubs barely an afterthought as they tout Owen Caissie's readiness.