caulfield12

The other thing that's inarguably less valuable with Robert's current deal is that option years or financial commitments for 2027 are to be avoided rather than embraced...by all but the wealthiest of teams.

Not sure if Robert is a net positive still at this point, but at least we don't have to watch Fletcher out there in CF again...

Cubs' rotation now: Horton Boyd Taillon (final contract year) ??????? ??????? Steele (midseason) from bleedcubbieblue.com "I don’t think this necessarily means Imanaga won’t be a Cub in 2026. The Cubs could try to negotiate a longer-term deal that’s different from the option years he had in his previous deal. They will almost certainly give him a qualifying offer, which for 2026 is $22.025 million. That’s significantly more than he would have made under the contract option in 2026, so it’s possible he could take it and go to free agency after 2026. This would also keep the Cubs in line with having most of their long-term contracts expire after the coming season (to avoid lookout year commitments). One other reason the team option might have been declined is that it would have triggered a full no-trade clause. Again, this is something that could be negotiated in a new deal."

"In spite of his lackluster season, a poll of MLBTR readers on September 10 suggested that more than 91% believed the Cubs should exercise his club option. From that point onward, what seemed at the time like a borderline call became more clear as he posted an 8.04 ERA in his final three regular season starts before posting an 8.10 ERA in the postseason and ultimately being passed over for a winner-take-all Game 5 start against the Brewers in the ALDS despite him being on regular rest. By that time, this outcome seemed far more likely." Imanaga's shockingly now a FA "The Cubs declined their three-year, $57MM club option on Imanaga’s services for 2026-28, and Imanaga subsequently declined his $15MM player option for 2026. It’s an outcome that would’ve seemed unthinkable just a few months ago. Signed out of Japan to a deal that was on paper a four-year, $53MM contract during the 2023-24 offseason that had the aforementioned complex option structure set to kick in after the 2025 campaign, Imanaga was nothing short of sensational for Chicago in his first year as an MLB pitcher last year." mlbtraderumors.com

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/white-sox-exercise-club-option-on-luis-robert-jr.html

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/world-series-2025-game-7-tv-ratings-1236416448/ 26 million US 18 million Canada "In the past 20 years, the most-watched Saturday baseball game prior to Game 7 was Indians-Cubs Game 4 in 2016 with 16.7 million. As Saturdays are the least-watched night of the week, it is rare to see a sporting event of such magnitude scheduled for the night. The only marquee, championship level event that regularly airs on a Saturday night is the NCAA men’s basketball national semifinals, none of which have ever averaged as large an audience as the across-all-platforms figure for Game 7." sportsmediawatch.com

delete

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/article/dodgers-loom-large-over-mlb-124500153.html

https://nypost.com/2025/11/04/sports/hugh-freezes-passion-for-golf-helped-get-him-fired-at-auburn/

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46653213/2025-nfl-trade-deadline-ranking-top-25-candidates-players-available

Ranked 27th at Yahoo Sports https://www.yahoo.com/sports/article/way-too-early-mlb-rankings-121915724.html

Luke Fickell, Wisconsin +150 40.0 Hugh Freeze, Auburn +300 25.0 Mark Stoops, Kentucky +600 14.3 Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia +800 11.1 Dabo Swinney, Clemson +1200 7.7 Mike Norvell, Florida St. +1200 7.7

Who exactly is Rome Odunze? Anyone concerned he's not looking like a true WR1 or does it not matter, as long as they're winning?

During the All-Star break, Buxton was asked about the possibility of him being traded ahead of the deadline, to which the 31-year-old responded, “I’ve got a no-trade clause.” “I’m a Minnesota Twin for the rest of my life. That’s the best feeling in the world, knowing when I walk into the clubhouse every day, it’s going to say Twins.”

Note this was written the day the Sox were officially eliminated...many now expect Minnesota to dump more vets to continue clearing payroll/lowering debt load. "White Sox fans will be disappointed to know that this team is still not ready to climb out of the AL Central basement. Significant free-agent additions are unlikely at this point in the rebuild, and there’s a good chance the veterans who stabilized the bullpen will either regress or pitch for other teams next year. The measure of progress in Chicago in 2026 will be the development of several talented youngsters. Fans should be watching Meidroth, Colson Montgomery, Vargas, Sosa, Shane Smith, Burke and Taylor to determine which members of that group can be part of a core that eventually contends for a postseason berth. Additionally, it would be exciting to see Schultz and Hagen Smith make an impact by next summer." https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/chicago-white-sox-2025-offseason-preview-with-reasons-for-optimism-emerging-whats-ahead-this-winter-in-chicago-190136150.html Crazy there's not even a Top 150 fantasy pick...but Teel and C.Montgomery would have to be close. Bullpen too veteran-laden has to start changing this year.

Hugh Freeze out at Auburn...

Thomas/Ventura over 35 years ago the only two Sox prospects that could be even close to guys like Boggs (and Gwynn, by extension).

The Dodgers acquired Rojas from the Miami Marlins in January 2023 for infielder Jacob Amaya, who since has been with three other organizations and is now a free agent. But Rojas isn’t the only Dodger who joined the team as a modest acquisition. Through superior player development, the Dodgers often turn minor moves into mini-coups. Reliever Will Klein, who pitched four scoreless innings to close out the 18-inning victory in Game 3, is one example — he arrived from Seattle in a June trade for lefty Joe Jacques. Third baseman Max Muncy, who hit the eighth-inning home run in Game 7 that pulled the Dodgers within 4-3, is another. The Dodgers originally added Muncy as a minor-league free-agent signing in April 2017. His home run was the 16th of his career in the postseason, a franchise record. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6770381/2025/11/02/los-angeles-dodgers-world-series-champions/?source=athletic_pulsenewsletter&campaign=15400823&userId=310262

Depends on Walker Jenkins' health and whether Ryan/Lopez (and maybe even Buxton) are all traded? Holding onto Buxton after a healthy productive year?...been there, done that with Luis Robert.

Varsho was striking out a ton, though...

All of these things were better off left unsaid. You know which phrase is the most popular to repeat? “I don’t have a lot of time left. I don’t want to go through a long rebuild. I only expect to be here another 10 years,” Reinsdorf said during a rare media session. ..... “That moved me to the thought — what is it I owe to the fans? I think one of the things I owe the fans is to get better as fast as we can possibly get better. Speed is of the essence. I don’t want a long-term proposition. “It became clear to me that he [Getz] would be one of the major candidates, alongside these other candidates. And then when I started thinking about the SPEED (my emphasis) I owe the fans, I realized that if you bring in somebody from the outside, it’s gonna take him a year, he’s gonna have to evaluate everybody in the organization. So you’ll lose a year." Well thank god we have Getz so we can compete in 2029 now instead of 2030!!! How the HELL are they acting like speed of the rebuild is a priority???? Total unadulterated B.S.

Or you should be asking why you can't afford $46 million (inflation adjusted) when he's bringing in $100-150 million in additional revenues ally himself for LA. His contract more than pays for itself. And that's not counting all the other Japanese and Korean players now even more likely to join the Dodgers. "How do you give a guy $325 million without ever throwing a pitch in MLB?" — Josh Reddick (@JRedDubDeuce) December 22, 2023 Well, the answer to that for LA is all explained in the Jeff Passan article copied above. "Watching people work at his clinic in Osaka is special," said Galen Carr, the Dodgers' vice president of player personnel and a fixture in international scouting. "They do things with their bodies -- contortions and twisting and balance and strength -- and it's body weight, not stuff we do here. And somehow that kid throws 98 and he's 5-10. ... Maybe we can learn something from him." Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers president of baseball operations, wasn't sold until he saw it himself. At the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, he watched Yamamoto long-toss from the right-field corner to home plate. Yamamoto wasn't taking crow hops or hurling parabolic throws. "I wish someone had videoed me watching that before the game," Friedman said, "because my mouth was agape." Even if the list of short, slim, front-line right-handed pitchers could be counted on one hand, the Dodgers were already perfectly happy to get into the outlier business, giving Ohtani a 10-year, $700 million contract Dec. 9.

You're going to be hard-pressed to find that for under $10 million. Chris Flexible types? I was just reading a Cardinals' offseason article and they're desperately trying to get rid of Sonny Gray's $35 million for 2026. That's high Tier B pricing for a starting pitcher, although he was once Tier A.... (They basically added 2.8 fWAR last off season and subtracted 10.6 fWAR and still won 20 more games because of all the rookies and second year guys.)

It's a violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement to publicly utter those words. And how did it benefit the fan base in any way? (Did the Royals ever make a statement saying they couldn't afford to extend Bobby Witt, Jr.?) Jud demoralizing to hear it said about. Everyone in the world knows he could only realistically sign with 4-5 teams, although some might argue it's actually closer to 13-14 teams.

We're going to hear a lot about how passing the Twins for fourth place is the next indicator of progress. But it's far from guaranteed.