caulfield12

https://talksox.com/news-rumors/boston-red-sox/the-power-of-scott-boras-team-friendly-extensions-the-changing-dynamics-of-baseball-business-r2438/ Long long article but worth a read...thought the stuff on trying to block the Merrill extension and partial vs. full non trade clause vwas was interesting. How and if the Boras model is evolving...

https://nypost.com/2025/04/25/sports/watch-deion-sanders-reaction-during-crushing-shedeur-2025-nfl-draft-moment/ Ofc the QB the Titans are now replacing was one of those rare second rounders due to the rookie contract/4th and 5th year control issues. One almost has to think Sanders goes to CLE, since that front office and ownership group remains a circus as well.

https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2025/02/24/white-sox-broadcasts-chsn-ratings If Blackhawks are down 80% and Bulls 63%, one would hate to see the Sox numbers. Ofc Cubs conversely are now taking off at the exact perfect time to cushion the move to a higher tier pricing model at Comcast.

https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/stat/runs-per-game Shockingly...not really...Twins Royals and White Sox are all at the bottom here. Rangers and Rockies (stadium environment, but historically inept) are the only anomalies. Cubs and White Sox couldn't be any more diametrically opposed...

Seemingly no faith in Elko. Seemingly no faith in Baldwin or Sosa to play SS well enough. Just don't see how learning everything at the big league level is going to make Baldwin a positive fWAR contributor when he makes so many fundamental mistakes...isn't going to steal you 30-50 bags and isn't going to hit much more than 10-12 maybe 15 homers in a stadium that relies on pop to win during the summer months. We pretty much had that player in Romy Gonzalez...minus the higher grade speed.

DeJong and Pham were two of the better hitters for most of last season. None of the vets other than Benintendi are hitting a lick now. And still might need to rely on Drury coming up if they can't hit for any more pop. (Note all Royals are hitting a combined .569 ops except Witt Jr. in mid 800s, somehow generating less offense than even the putrid White Sox.)

Well that all depends on the quality or pitchability of those guys...Gilbert could keep them all off balance to start the game or get his brains beaten because you're spending up their bats on mistake pitcher. It worked for the Rays historically and the Tigers specifically last year. Otoh the Tigers seem to be excellent this year particularly due to Flaherty Mize Olson and Jobe all pitching lights out (supplementing Skubal) and giving the pen more of a breather to last the entire season after being overused down the stretch last year.

Also have to dump Benintendi as well...someday. When his remaining money owned is less onerous.

SoxMachine mock draft pick for Sox The highest-rated college players on my Watch Board are Oklahoma RHP Kyson Witherspoon and Tennessee 2B Gavin Kilen. While I’m tempted to favor my feelings, we're trying to guess which direction Mike Shirley and Chris Getz will pull the White Sox with their first-round selection. My gut says that it’s Arizona outfielder Brendan Summerhill. Summerhill checks off many boxes that Getz and assistant GM Josh Barfield have stressed since starting Rebuild III. Defensive versatility allows Summerhill to play all three outfield positions, possibly providing an answer to who plays center field once Luis Robert Jr. is gone. At the plate, Summerhill has more contact over power and is tough to strike out (11.8 percent K-rate this season). With six triples, Summerhill has good speed out of the batter’s box. The downside is a lack of home run power (probably a 40 grade at best), and base stealing technique is poor for Summerhill’s athleticism (16-for-28 in his college career). Plus, Summerhill fractured his right hand against West Virginia in late March and has almost missed a month of games. Weigh the pros against the cons, then note that he's a local product (Whitney Young High) who hit pretty well in the Cape Cod League last summer (.286/.358/.441 in 24 games). Summerhill feels like a White Sox pick. https://soxmachine.com/2025/04/2025-mlb-draft-report-mock-draft-1-0#coral_thread Just believe they need more impactful power in the minors... Wolkow and Zapata are both struggling right now. Reading this write-up, he feels more like a slightly lesser version of Andrew Benintendi coming out of the Univ of Arkansas. Plus any hitter who's dealt with an injury in his draft year can be a bit scary...although obviously Braden's off to a fast start in Low A. Being a local product makes it even more likely the Sox take him for the "feel good/marketing" angle as well.

Caleb Williams: If Williams doesn't have a big season, there should be alarms going off in Chicago. The Bears keep setting up Williams to succeed. They didn't get it all done last season, not putting enough resources into the offensive line and making a poor decision to stick with head coach Matt Eberflus one year too long. But this offseason the Bears built up the offensive line in free agency and trades. They hired Ben Johnson, a coveted offensive guru who had a great run as the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator. And to make it even better, they grabbed tight end Colston Loveland with the 10th pick of the draft. The Bears passed on Penn State tight end Tyler Warren and other good prospects at receiver and running back — not to mention plenty of help for the defense or offensive line — which is an indication of how excited they are about the versatile Loveland in the offense. It's hard to say any second-year quarterback is facing a make-or-break season. But Williams, last year's No. 1 overall draft pick, doesn't have any excuses this year. yahoo.com/sports

No, this is NOT part of the game thread!!! FRI Tyler Gilbert, then Burke vs. Luis Severino SAT J.Cannon vs. Sean Springs SUN Martin vs. Bido Now hitting a much tougher stretch of the schedule... Brewers Astros @ Royals Marlins @ Reds @ Cubs Mariners Rangers @ Mets @ Orioles

fWAR standings... 122. Vargas (positive fWAR defensively) 136. Luis Robert, Jr. 145. Marcus Semien 149. Tommy Pham 153. Andrew Vaughn Sosa the only qualified hitter not in negative numbers at 0.0, Thaiss 0.4 leads the team and Benintendi at 0.2 Amaya at -0.5 has JUST 50 at-bats or so, but is ONLY ahead of Jeimer Candelario, A.Vaughn, Nick Massey and Michael Toglia (Rockies). He BARELY has a positive defensive rating at +1.2. Amaya behind all of the following SS's defensively (12th in majors), when his offense makes him the worst overall... (List from fangraphs formatted correctly on my phone and didn't look the same one hour later.)

No chance against Miller.

"Dart of the Deal" lol at that NYpost headline Poor Sanders family...not feeling too bad for them, maybe he'll be better off it he goes to a team where he can learn for a year or two in a system that fits his talent set.

Really like Golden if you're a Packers fan, which obviously most here are decidedly not. Kind of less exciting having no Iowa picks, last year at least it was Cooper DeJean and T.Taylor. Kaleb Johnson will be the first Hawkeye picked this year, likely late 2nd or early 3rd round.

The other problem is you've got Cannon and Martin lined up following him as well. One obvious choice would be Shuster in the Martin Perez spot. Tyler Schweitzer, yet another. Obviously you're not going to totally rearrange your active roster for just ONE series...in a meaningless season, but it does make a certain amount of sense to protect your RHP'ers and give them at least more of a fighting chance against that type of line-up.

Omarion Hampton goes 22....really moved up the last six months on draft boards, UNC obviously had a challenging season, but that didn't hurt him at all. Fits perfectly with the ground it out/ground and pound style of power fb favored by Harbaugh.

That was the knock on either him or Hagen Smith earlier in the season...that they were hesistant to work the inside half of the plate, especially on same side hitters.

Surely they will ask Harbaugh about him and Loveland will get a glowing review...Warren isn't as exosive in?open field but man what a bull he is like Skattebo at rb from asu.

By my count at least 5/6 LHH in their first seven....but those hitters won't disappear the second time through the lineup. Might be over thinking things...but they must want to show finished pitcher from left and follow up with Burke more traditional big power arm. Langeliers is right handed. Batters ATH B HR RBI SB AVG OPS Butler, LRF L 4 7 5 .275 .827 WilsonSS R 2 11 1 .337 .816 SoderstromLF L 9 19 0 .283 .959 LangeliersC R 5 12 1 .250 .814 BledayCF L 2 11 1 .217 .657 Brown, SDH L 1 1 0 .160 .580 Kurtz1B L 0 1 0 .250 .500

This one won't be ultra popular...have to hope he's another Kittle or Bowers. At the very least, Mark Andrews.

Heck Nishida would be more interesting even lol.

Bonemer and Oppor stars of early game...btw. Schiltz era down to 4.30 after two scoreless.

Jacksonville always doing Jax things...what a franchise. And does Pat McAfee have to ruin all things related to football lol?

Jeffrey no bueno but bases loaded with no hits lol...11-2 but still no hits allowed. BIRM lineup so few hitters to get excited about...Bergolla might be the best.