caulfield12

That’s like saying the Eaton and Sale trades were good, except for the fact those acquired players are underperforming expectations. If you don’t execute the plan, identify the wrong players to target...or put the apple cart before the horse (could have waited until after Machado signed to go out and get Alonso, Jay and Kimbrel instead of Colome/Herrera), then it’s still a failure. In the end when those players contribute to a 68-72 win team, fans won’t remember. Baseball is about entertainment. Without a star, and the belief your team can legitimately compete, fans won’t turn out for most MLB markets. In lieu of that, you need exciting/dynamic young position players to rally around, not Fulmer/Collins/Burger.

Jimenez, Mendick and Robert in lineup today... https://www.mlb.com/gameday/white-sox-vs-brewers/2019/03/11/567544#game_state=preview,game_tab=videos,game=567544

Profitability is much higher at $90 million unless they can sign a superstar who will actually move the needle.

LFer’s reaction is hilarious... https://www.mlb.com/video/garcia-s-solo-tater-c2523508783

Best Fans in America/Cardinals’ Nation believes it.

I just meant any type of pitcher who flies through the system as a starter or reliever. Boone Logan and Radinsky come to mind. Or McCarthy/Hudson. Lambert, potentially...Hansen as a reliever, but that’s an iffy proposition. Flores doesn’t really have dominant stuff.

Take back that last sentence!!! Color everyone skeptical about Collins and Zavala behind the plate. For Hahn and Hostetler’s sake, they need to be right about one of these guys in the 8-12 range of the 1st round eventually.

McCann has looked good so far...actually just 28, throws quite well...but many still would have preferred Maldonado. Detroit let him go at that age for a reason. Of course, we did the same with Tyler Flowers.

Not giving up...but not counting on until he puts up a 15-18 homer season, at a minimum...over 140 games.

Too much seems to be predicated on Burdi. Other than Hamilton, maybe...who else has the ability in their minors to make that jump up 2-3 stops in one year? Fry, if his elbow holds together? Burr, not likely. Veira? Ruiz? Seems like a bunch of optimistic suppositions so far.

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/st.-louis-cardinals/matt-carpenter-8735/ Carpenter will be 34 next year and StL has an $18.5 million option for 2020. If they lose Goldschmidt and Ozuna, they almost have to bring him back unless he totally falls apart, in which case he’d be the perfect White Sox signing.

Color most of us skeptical that we won’t end up wasting another $45 on riff raft that not one single ticket buyer is motivated to attend a game due to their ongoing presence. It’s like we signed the equivalent of five Jeff Keppingers as far as the fanbase is concerned.

Which puts his return to real game action mid to late June...and probably not really clicking until mid July due to the missed spring training time and (April/May also toast) in order to get his offensive rhythm back. Robert never really found himself last year until the AFL for that very same reason.

Balta already made the point that Abreu, Alonso, Colome, Herrera, Rodon, Leury/Yolmer, Anderson, etc., gets you fairly close to $75 million before you even blink.

Sheets is about as close as Burger to being in anyone’s plans for 2020. It’s going to take Basabe until early/mid July to be in game form, so counting on him or Dunning or Adolfo seems foolhardly coming off their various injuries...in terms of MLB starters next year.

Bogaerts, Cole, Ozuna, Puig, Castellanos...only five big-time free agents will be under 30 next year. Rendon, Wheeler, DiDi G, Bumgarner and Scooter Gennett will be 30 exactly, with everyone else older. Of course, our supposed strength is OF prospects, so that means either Bogaerts or Castellanos at 1B/DH.

At least Votto, Suarez and Puig are established hitters. Senzel looks like he’ll be fine in CF. Ervin and Winker have a lot of potential, but might get buried behind Kemp, Schebler, Senzel and Puig. Barnhart and Farmer are a solid catching tandem, too. They could always hold onto Gennett like they did Suarez recently.

That’s a bold statement considering the odds are 50/50 JDM is back with Boston, Goldschmidt extends in StL and Bumgarner sticks in San Fran as they pair him and Posey with someone like Bogaerts. SF can’t afford to rebuild from scratch with their fanbase, they’re going to need to make a big splash. Odds are still way higher that Santana, Nova or Alonso will still be around. Lopez is the only one most of us have any confidence in being ready to pitch 180-200 innings in 2020. Giolito, Rodon and a Dunning are just as likely to be injured and/or ineffective. We still don’t even know about Kopech, as Burdi’s taken longer than most expected to get back to 100%, especially for a reliever.

It has to do with continued idiotic decisions that won’t contribute to our next playoff roster. How many at-bats do you think Palka should get this year? Should we already deem him a strictly platoon hitter? I have a feeling he will get less than last year unless Jay and Guyer completely lose it. Or Engel is so bad again offensively we have to play Jay or Leury in CF nearly every day.

Sure, with two seam fastballs or sinkers that pitchers want the batters to top and beat into the ground for double plays...

I will save this post for posterity. At least one of Alonso, Nova and Santana will still be around next year, if not two. Santana didn’t dip from 93-94 until that finger injury last year, and Verlander’s proven to quite effective in his mid to late 30’s. Just as importantly, if Dunning’s year is lost, who will we use next year, especially if Giolito flames out? Kopech/Cease will have innings and pitch count limitations, Covey and Banuelos are the only internal options right now. Lambert’s at least 1 1/2 years away, arguably, or Flores. And we won’t spend the money for JDM, Goldschmidt or Bumgarner...as much as you might wish it. Just watch when they send Palka down and Engel/Jay/Guyer are playing everyday.

Except there’s probably at least 15-25% of the population who would wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments expressed...and won’t change until it affects their families or loved ones firsthand (see Dick Cheney.)

Lefties definitely are better low ball hitters. Now “rising” four seam fastballs above the belt at 97+, 90% of hitters are going to struggle to barrel up those pitches. Beckham and Viciedo almost never managed it, just flaring off balls into RF and foul territory...mostly weak contact after Dayan started to get pull happy after his rookie campaign in 2012.

All I said is that there’s a fine line between anti-Semitism and accusing someone of being cheap...and that we/me/everyone should be careful. In this day and age, calling an owner of a baseball team “cheap” could be construed in that way, even though it’s probably one of the Top 5-10 comments that have become the “general wisdom” about the Sox since the early 80’s. At any rate, it’s far safer now to assert that we’re simply behind the times...not spending money efficiently...allocating money on declining veterans (especially hitters) in an environment where 18-27 year olds are much better suited to excel against premium velocity guys in the majority of their plate appearances. Maybe 2-3 years from now Machado and Harper will look like bad investments...but, for now, the daily ticket sales for SD and Philly are making us look penny wise and pound foolish, unable to see the big picture of how much Harper would have driven up ratings, advertising rates, and the overall market value of the 25% Sox share in NBC Sports/Universal. Or not...when we spend $45 million on veterans, we actually lose ticket sales...unsurprisingly. “By the end of today, it’s possible that the Phillies will have sold approximately 300,000 tickets since the Harper signing, given that they had sold 220,000 by Saturday. While it is a rough estimate given that the types of tickets being sold are not being released, sales are almost assuredly somewhere in the neighborhood of $6-$7 million at this point. By next week, it’s quite possible that all of Harper’s base salary for 2019 ($10 million) could be covered by ticket sales since the signing (Harper has $20 million in signing bonus due him this year in two installments on top of the base pay). On top of ticket sales, Harper is already paying dividends through merchandise sales. While figures were not provided, Fanatics said the Bryce Harper No. 3 Phillies jersey is the all-time top-seller for any athlete across any sport in the first 24 hours of availability. So it does not seem outside the realm of possibility that in the first year of the 13-year contract, the Phillies could offset total outlay for base salary and bonuses for Harper’s first year.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2019/03/04/tickets-to-merch-how-bryce-harper-is-already-pulling-in-big-bucks-for-the-phillies/#6a01b7ce5e3d

His fastball is pretty straight...he gets by more with changing vertical angles and planes, but they key as usual will be the secondary offerings. Has a little of McCarthy/Hudson to him, physically. Needs to add another 10-15 pounds, just not bulk, but fast twitch strength.