caulfield12

Ironically, the Cardinals are probably thanking their lucky stars Price and Heyward spurned their offers. Even teams with 2nd or 3rd best attendance in MLB have a problem when going up head to head against the Red Sox and Cubs. It was actually a bit shocking he chose the Sox over StL. Maybe the single most surprising event for the Sox this decade.

To read SoxTalk, it has already gotten well underway.

You must not read much at Cleveland.com, they’re incredibly brutal with the Dolan regime because of how many teardown cycles they’ve been forced to sit through. Maybe even worse than Twins’ fans with the Pohlads.

They’re actually going to say it was all a ruse to excite the fanbase but they never really expected to sign either player, but were willing to get involved in order to drive up the price for competitors like the Yankees and Cubs?

Shades of the days of juggling Teahen, Beckham and Viciedo around come to mind. Sigh. Oh to be an Indians’ fan and be so bored of not winning it all that you ‘re actually in favor of trading Kluber, Bauer, Lindor and Ramirez and starting the entire process all over again. Bring back Buddy Bell.

Based on what?

Lol, that it was pretty much rigged to a foregone conclusion from the very beginning. ”For the good of the game.” Etc.

Let’s take his single best attribute, range, and negate it. Not only that, but a lot of bobbled balls will result in errors that proximity to first base bailed him out of last season...

Unless it comes out that we were actually willing to offer at least 15% more than the Yankees, this was always an exercise in futility. Feel a bit sorry for Alonso, actually.

In the end, they’re still in risk mitigation mode. It isn’t going to placate the fans much...not nearly as much as the rebuild going more positively than negatively. It’s the equivalent of cheering for ND or Oklahoma today. Sure, there’s a 3-5% chance. But it actually hurts a lot more to get fully invested and get your hopes up. We’ve seen this story play out one too many times to believe in the fairy tale Disney movie ending.

Pretty much sounds like the history of one entire century of Sox baseball, minus 2005. Participation trophies, for sure.

I have a vague recollection of getting hammered for taking this position originally, lol...

Machado to NYY Harper to LAD or Cubs Encarnacion and Alonso to Sox (directly/indirectly bailing out the Indians from payroll problems) Abreu traded Hahn contract extension Maybe we can just buy the Padres, Rays or A’s....that might be the better strategy, then combine the two franchises together. Contraction makes more sense than expansion. Pirates would be another viable option.

Without that outlying 10 fWAR year, and his age, he’s probably looking at half that...

At least playing for the Orioles in recent years has mentally prepared him for what a season in Chicago would look like...at least 2019 and probably 2020 as well. Not sure how well that would sit with Harper.

https://www.mlb.com/news/most-improved-farm-systems-in-2018/c-302225978 Three AL Central teams, M’s and (sigh) Astros five most improved farm systems

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/rays/2018/12/27/tommy-pham-rays-need-a-new-stadium-or-a-new-city/ This is a huge reason why Machado to the Sox is much more likely than Harper 1) He’s used to playing in front of small/er crowds the last couple of years in Baltimore. 2) His agent is not out to get the biggest contract in the history of the game 3) Positional need 4) Already comfortable in the AL 5) All the players they’re surrounding him with in an effort to make him comfortable 6) Johnny Hustle comments/postseason 2018 and injury history have put a ceiling on his value to many teams...

That "opening with a reliever/s" approach might actually work well...as long as Giolito gets to come in with a "clean" inning and doesn't ever have runners on base when he enters the game. One of the most interesting targets out there was Lance Lynn, and I personally would have gotten behind that particular move (3 years) rather than Nova for one, just to provide that veteran leadership/stability...and Lynn already had a taste of the AL Central and improved quite a bit in the last few months after finding his footing with the late start to the season. That said, maybe they have a plan to sign Kikuchi. If they don't get Harper OR Machado, they have a LOT more money to spend next off-season in the free agency market, but it's likely to end up as an overpay no matter who they target. Assuming that Cease and Dunning stay healthy and Kopech comes back (three big assumptions) cleanly, we should be in really good shape with ONE key pitching addition who overlaps into 2021-22. We just might go fast-moving college pitcher #3 next June, nothing can be ruled out. Of course, we still don't know ultimately what will become of Rodon's Sox tenure.

It's only going to make sense to those of us who spent 2-3 days battling over the "marketability" of Bryce Harper about 3-4 weekends ago and what it would mean to the Sox franchise...didn't even bring Katie Ledecky back into it, lol. For "non-insiders" to that particular insane thread, it will be coated in meaninglessness.

This is Pirates Of The Caribbean without a pirate or Caribbean, a knockoff to suit prejudiced audiences like cricketer Virat Kohli who prefer to exclusively admire the locally made. In this 1810-set adventure, Aamir borrows the Jack Sparrow eyeliner, while Amitabh is literally given the bird, his entrances on screen preceded by a noisy hawk. Bachchan plays a rebel, a freedom fighter rallying troops against the colonisers, while Khan is a two-faced rogue on the Company payroll sent to infiltrate Bachchan’s squad and bring him down. For those who remember the Q-Rating battle royale over Harper, a mention of our new SoxTalk-favorite Indian cricketer in a review of Bollywood film The Thugs of Hindustan, lol.

Well, with all those veterans, it obviously depends what they have left, stuff-wise. You never know what wonders a change of scenery can work. Of course, they more likely end up like Felipe Paulino than Esteban Loiaza or Phil Humber. No harm in at least bringing them in for workouts, right? Covey, from everything we observed last year, is much better suited for the long relief or swing man role, where he's typically only going to see hitters a single time. That said, the odds are 50/50 of Giolito not even being in the rotation still by mid-season, but you have to give those two and even Fulmer or Stephens looks before you completely pull the plug with a Shields/Holland-ish innings-eater.

Oh, for the 2007ish days of Aardsma, Sisco and especially MacDougal (who Cooper would typically just tell to throw it down the middle of the plate and the movement would take care of itself).

The biggest problem with Arenado is going to be those home/road splits and the transition to the AL. That said, the two most successful Sox position player acquisitions of the last 10-15 years or so (trade-wise) both came from the NL West, Carlos Quentin and Adam Eaton.

Sounds like Robertson for stretches with the White Sox...until he would just completely fall apart and then somehow get it back together again.

It’s not going to create a long line at the ticket office, that’s for sure. Then we’d have to dump Castillo for pennies on the dollar, as well.