caulfield12

It's consistently playing veterans over young players with at least some limited potential that is really the heart of the problem. Nobody wants to watch guys like Maton Palacios and Amaya. And who's the best prospect from all of the trades acquired this last year other than Crochet? Might be William Bergolla...who probably ends up as a utility infielder at the big league level.

There's really no better option than Jacob Amaya available in the entire world? Some have been screaming until blue in the face that SS was going to be an issue for this team...yet here we are, still. I guess Jose Iglesias was unwilling to sign with the Sox if any playoff contender would still give him a shot.

Shane Smith and Vasil? Palacios was at one point a Rule 5 minor league selection... The real problem is if none of these 50-75 players cycled through are worth anything 2-3 years from now. And that's not always true...the Dodgers in 1955 had nowhere to play Clemente because of Amoros Furrillo and Snider so they attempted to literally hide him on the bench in Montreal so scouts wouldn't be able to see him play.

https://www.mlb.com/marlins/tickets/specials/barbie

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/11/cnbcs-official-mlb-team-valuations-2025.html Teams with highest debt loads to net valuation... 1. Marlins 38% 2. Nationals 27% 3. Rangers 25% 4. Twins 24% 5. Royals 19% 6. Padres 17% White Sox 9% Cleveland 6% Detroit 10% Rockies 7% Pirates 10%

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6228151/2025/03/24/minnesota-twins-sale-pohlads-valuation-debt/ The Twins, in talks with one interested group, deemed a $1.5 billion valuation a non-starter. Any professional team sale is complicated but Minnesota’s presents specific challenges because of market size, questions about future profitability, and the team’s current debt. The Twins have accrued in excess of $425 million of debt, according to multiple people briefed on the sale process, which is one of the highest figures among MLB’s 30 teams. Though nearly every team operates with debt, the Pohlad family — which has owned the team for 40 years — is motivated to ask for a higher sale price as a result, potentially limiting interest. A considerable portion of the team’s debt has been added since the start of the 2020 season, according to a club source, which coincided with both the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis.

The Mets' minor leagues also offer an abundance of options, though none of the players are ready now. MLB Pipeline lists nine players in the Mets’ top 30 who can play outfield, from Jett Williams (No. 2) and Ryan Clifford (No. 4), whose primary positions are in the infield, to Drew Gilbert (No. 10) and speedster Nick Morabito (No. 17). None of those players are ready now.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&type=8&season=2025&month=0&season1=2025&ind=0&team=4&qual=50 Thaiss is far and away the most valuable Sox position player so far. And Vaughn/Amaya alone almost cancel out all the positives by themselves.

"But there’s one last wrinkle in the DK Pittsburgh Sports story. It noted that the Pirates were at their most profitable in 2013-2015, when the team was spending the most it has spent to this day on payroll. That’s the last time the Pirates had a winning record, and winning brings with it the reward of more fans and more revenue. This is the conundrum these (small market) owners face. If you want to understand another reason why commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB's plan to remake TV/streaming contracts in the late 2020s involves pooling the local TV rights together, this helps explain it. In part, there is a belief for MLB that they can get larger TV contracts (and potentially more advertising revenue) by pooling the rights. The ability to pay on a monthly basis makes teams even more dependent on fan sentiment. If a significant portion of a team’s monthly subscribers cancel in the middle of a disappointing season, that’s millions of dollars in expected revenues that will have disappeared. But if local TV revenues are pooled, owners don’t have to worry about that nearly as much..."

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/what-the-pirates-twins-finances-reveal-about-mlbs-revenue-divide/ Now.we know why Ishbia passed on the Twins: an additional $450 million in debt, RSN monies cut in half and no possibility of building a new stadium. Arrives at the conclusion the Pirates still lost $2.2 million in 2024 also largely due to severely diminished RSN revenues. https://dkpittsburghsports.com/team/site-stuff/feed?page=0&content=pirates-losing-money-bob-nutting-investigation-mlb-dk Pirates' finances will leave you at a loss

Huge difference in Baty's future costs vs. Vaughn though. Baty is 2B 3B, which is our deepest position organizationally. If he could actually play SS, sure, go for it. Or he would be shifted to first...but Baty has not been a huge power and run producer up until this week.

Smith has less value than we think, because he only pitched 94 innings and will eventually be looking at similar restrictions as Crochet faced the final two months in 2024...at least if he maintains his current IP/start pace into the summer months. Mostly joking but at least 25-33% serious/resigned to moves like this to sell off players for cash.

Pretty clear there's about 11 smaller or mid market teams and around 10 that would be 100% opposed to any type of spending cap. Maybe 9 in the middle. Large: Dodgers Yankees Phillies Mets Giants Cubs LA Angels Boston Texas Toronto Med: Padres Braves (under Liberty) Houston AZ StL Wash Seattle Colorado White Sox (Ishbia) Small: Milwaukee Baltimore Detroit Cincy Cleveland KC Minnesota Pittsburgh Miami Sacramento TB/Orlando

Looks like it will be the Rockies... Somehow they average over 25,000 fans per game despite being on a 28-134 pace. Padres Brewers Mariners and Rays the other four teams without a WS title as of yet. Mariners are pretty close with Colorado in the battle for most inept but still relatively well-supported teams.

Keith Law @Thomas R. He's cleaned up his swing. That was the whole thing last year ... his swing was a mess and it was different every few weeks. I think he's back to the guy he appeared to be in 2023.

That's still much better than taking on Devers' contract for a 1B/DH and being locked out of the FA market for the next half decade or so...

This season...for the whole team, unless Eisert had one. He already had some for the Red Sox last season as a 32 year old rookie, though.

Yoan Moncada AB AVG HR RBI SB OPS 40 .250 2 9 0 .913

First save and pretty sure first two run victory of the season...what did Earl Weaver say about three run homers again?

Sosa...sigh.

Burke nearing 60 pitches. 5 walks. Not finishing off his fb. High and away pretty consistently.

Dumb challenge.

Sosa chasing a 3-0 ball outside of the zone lol. Hopeless. Elko GDP. Oh well.

Burke at 97 Needed that punch out. Curveball most effective pitch so far.

Marlins 2/30 with RISP this series