caulfield12

That takes less than 5 minutes in the Cubs/Dodgers game, lol...

Still SLIGHT hope...

Pretty challenging to have 10 hits and just one 1 run... Must be close to an MLB record...probably 1 and 11/12 hits, maybe 13

https://www.mlb.com/news/2025-al-rookie-of-the-year-contenders Write ups on Smith, Quero, Nick Kurtz, Luke Keacshall...wide open race at the moment. Travis Bazzana CLE on the near horizon?

Cash crunch? They're seemingly willing to eat smaller bites here and there...but they were very deliberate/intentional about no new FA contracts over around the $5 million mark. The problem is they keep throwing away $25-35 million every season that could clearly be much better more efficiently allocated across baseball operations, tech/analytics and infrastructure.

At least Benetti picked the right time to get out...away from the total train wreck that is Stone/Schiffren and to a market that seemingly embraces his underdog/blue collar/fight for every opportunity persona. Thankfully DJ and Kasper are professional enough to strike the right balance of criticism and homerism/optimism, not laying either on too thick and demonstrating a lot more patience/long-term mindset about the current sorry state of affairs.

10. Chicago Bears — Kelvin Banks Jr., OT/OG, Texas The Bears have revamped their interior offensive line, but still have a hole at left tackle across from Darnell Wright, who is one of the better offensive tackles in the league. Enter Banks, who should be given a chance to play left tackle but can play guard as well if one of Chicago's guard investments doesn’t work this year. latest...#9 version of yahoo sports mock draft

Extreme Arrogance is what got them in this predicament in the first place.

They counted 100%...Hahn and Boyer...on renegotiating that last three or five year deal upwards, bigtime. Ofc that renegotiation timeframe for their unprecedented competitive window fell right in 2022/23, when the team had already started to descend towards unwatchable.

Seems like 90s and 2000's almost all imported catchers except for Karko. AJ defined 2005-2012 team peak. https://www.mlb.com/news/white-sox-catchers-all-time-ranking Fisk defined the early reign of JR. Kurt Brown over Bonds, worst draft miss ever. Charles Johnson 2000. Tyler Flowers and James McCann had a few decent individual seasons...and Grandal started off quite well, then imploded. Miguel Olivo was fun for awhile...then faciltated Garcia trade. Narvaez mostly succeeded elsewhere. Yermin terminated by TLR. Few standouts. Certainly no Salvador Perez types since AJ.

Blackhawks chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz said Monday that the report’s numbers didn’t take into account all of the available metrics, but they were close. Wirtz said in March that he was hopeful of creating more access to CHSN in the future. He was firmer Monday in his response to the latest numbers. “At the end of the day, the availability of our games on TV this past season was unacceptable — and our fans deserve better,” Wirtz said. “I am focused on finding potential solutions for next season with our partners at CHSN. We are about to celebrate 100 years of hockey as well as usher in the next generation on the ice. I am committed to ensuring our fans can see that.” https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6297335/2025/04/21/blackhawks-chsn-viewership/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiNw_Ld3uuMAxViEkQIHR6wMAMQFnoECAEQAw&usg=AOvVaw2b6Z6nMnff8mZAJ7wvvpFA

Showing White Sox games once a week or so...let's say every Sunday afternoon, isn't really going to accomplish all that much. Those 25 games works out to 1 for every 6.48 games played per week, essentially. Weren't the White Sox even on WGN more often than that when nearly every Cubs' game was broadcast...certainly all the home/day ganes.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance All five AL Central teams, along with Cincy and Pitt, bunched together at the bottom of attendance. Warning signs for Seattle Baltimore and the Milwaukee Brewers as well...Milwaukee's slow start inevitably leaves only the Cubs/Cardinals drawing well. Five playoff teams.

I would venture that Sportsvision made even more than this endeavor...inflation-adjusted to the early 1980s. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/19/white-sox-chsn-comcast/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjw1Nit2OuMAxUXK0QIHf23KksQFnoECAIQAw&usg=AOvVaw0kA9mxVpbdwCHVRofUYJDg "CHSN may need to think outside the Comcast cable box with Bulls and Blackhawks done and White Sox struggling..." Blackhawks btw have shed more viewers than ANY team in the NHL this season. Shocking! WGN would potentially carry 10-15 Bulls and Blackhawks games and around 25 White Sox games. As a CW affiliate, WGN would have to work to schedule games around the network’s ACC and NASCAR coverage. Local sports have been integral to WGN’s history, carrying Cubs, White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks games at various points between 1948 and 2019. Several MLB, NHL, and MLB teams have announced arrangements to simulcast select games on over-the-air stations, increasing the reach to include antenna-only homes. This arrangement is somewhat different as CHSN is already broadcast over-the-air in Chicago (channel 62.2), essentially meaning the simulcast games would be available from two different broadcast stations in Chicago. https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2025/04/wbd-tnt-spin-off-netflix-sports-nhl-rsn-playoffs-chsn-wgn-simulcast/

In the end...for LAD, Diego Cartaya went from their top prospect entering 2023 to almost worthless in eighteen months, and yet another top catching prospect, Keibert Ruiz, was traded to the Washington Nationals as part of the Max Scherzer-Trea Turner blockbuster on July 30, 2021. The deal guaranteed $50 million over eight years for the Venezuelan catcher. In return, the Nationals received a big haul, including pitcher Josiah Gray. So moral of the story is don't hold onto catching prospects TOO long... and that the Orioles might want to heed this with their own blocked catcher, Samuel Basallo.

What would you like to know? Ask a question. The Dodgers are the team that best exemplifies the philosophy behind the article. The Dodgers have employed this practice and have lost former Top 5-10 system catchers because of 40 man issues, as well as traded Liranzo with Sweeney for Flaherty...then also have Dalton Rushing, a Top 30-40 MiLB catcher backed up behind Smith and Barnes. The problem with Teel and Quero is they're going to have to play 1B/DH secondarily where their position and value will be downgraded...and it's likely neither would hit 850-925, enough to justify a spot at that position in the first place. In general...having 4-5 quality SS's like the Dodgers have in their MiLB system is ideal. The White Sox currently don't have ANY with plus tools other than maybe Bonemer...who might actually be a 3B or 2B or 1B/DH when all is said and done with filling out his frame. In theory, the White Sox should trade from their catching depth for a legit two way CF or SS, but that's easier said than done here. And the Dodgers actually have the most players at both positions but no need for either Teel or Quero. So maybe they have no choice but to take on a character concern player in CJ Abrams...who's not a great fit for the rebuilding timeline. The main problem there is Getz supposedly purged the Sox of all such players now.

Gilbert's a failed starter with well below average stuff even for a LHR. Might be held back to eat innings for starters who get in early trouble. Booser otoh has to sustain his positive numbers in high leverage for at least 2-3 months.

Hopefully both Quero and Teel work out....but we all know from past prospect history the odds are just one if we're fortunate really makes it, at least a 2.5-3 fWAR contributor.

https://www.mlb.com/news/why-catchers-are-so-important-to-mlb-executives Everyone might have assumed it was CF SS and starting pitching that would be most desired positions to build the foundation of a team around... The responses got us thinking: if the best catchers in the game are seemingly in such high demand, why do so few of the elite backstops test the free-agent market? “Catching is incredibly hard to find,” Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said.

Anything is possible. Iriarte or Clevinger or Nastrini would probably pitch that amount or less simply because they suck so bad. With Shane Smith, it will be more deliberate/intentional. Cannon and Martin are what they are, mostly forgettable 4th/5th starters who can/will eat as many innings as possible per start.

There's a difference. CONTENDING teams on a limited budget SHOULD be signing those veterans...there's basically no choice but to hope for some impact there, knowing that 2/3 just might not work out, will eventually fail, as many guys in their early to mid 30's often do. This is a classic case where the "spare parts" end up being worth more than the sum of the individual pieces if only they can find the right environment to thrive as "complementary" players and aren't called upon to do more than they're capable of. Then you have the White Sox....who should be playing 75-80% youth under ages 27-28 and approximately 20-25% veterans. Once again, those veterans shouldn't be comprising over one half the starting line-up. And let's be honest, Gurriel is 41 years now, he's on his VERY last legs. He's not even DeJong or Pham or Robbie Grossman, this is his last team in professional baseball, at least in MLB.

This is going on the 5th season now without Don Cooper. Herm Schneider became the head trainer emeritus in 2019. We can't even say that the "Hahn" regime pitchers were THAT lucky, because you had the likes of Sale (later with Boston), Rodon, Giolito (the last 2-3 years of his Sox career, second TJS last year w/ Boston), Kopech, Dunning, etc., all breaking down due to various injuries. Dylan Cease was pretty much the only one that emerged intact, knock on wood. Reynaldo Lopez made it to 2024-25. The real "hey-day" for Schneider and Cooper was actually 2000-2012...which marked the last "legitimately competitive" Sox team in 2012, which turned out to be kind of a "freakish" or anomalous occurrence under Ventura in his first year managing. Of course, you also had John Danks going down due to injury in this same timeframe, which is the primary reason JR still refuses to sign pitchers (internally or as FA's) to contracts beyond 3 years.

34% improvement...just incredible!!!

Greg, I think 98.9% of the board would probably agree with that sentiment...especially with the recent news that Martin Perez might end up missing all of the season (for surgery), when all is said and done. Also, Shane Smith only pitched 94 innings last year...so they're going to have to cap his innings increase somewhere in the 130-150 IP area, so he might end up getting "babied along" like Garrett Crochet down the stretch (no more than 3-4 innings per start the final two months.)

-1.6 extrapolated vs. -6.0 BIG - TIME IMPROVEMENT...congrats to the Getz Regime Now go trade one of the last remaining "legit" MLB hitters in Benintendi for pennies on the dollar.