caulfield12

98 K's Ohtani high out of strike zone

Smith started almost twenty games in the minors last year. He'll be fine.

They have to decide whether to keep Smith on the roster AND no reason to let Martin start against them when he might face them in July out in LA.

Maybe there's an early injury and another team gets desperate...but a negative fWAR doesn't have a ton of value regardless of relative youth.

Looks like the Dodgers have all their regulars in other than Teoscar and Conforto. Will be interesting to watch Smith vs. Ohtani/Betts/Freeman. One terrible outing and one standout performance so far for him. Tyler Glasnow on the bump for LA. LAD leave for Tokyo series next Tuesday...Sox have Glendale all to themselves until the following Thurs. Two NPB exhibition games over Sat/Sun then the first two games of regular season Tues/Wed (early morning starts in US). Imanaga Yamamoto Sasaki all scheduled to start.

Batters CWS B HR RBI SB AVG OPS Meidroth2B R 0 1 0 .143 .582 Robert Jr.CF R 2 4 0 .353 1.186 TauchmanRF L 2 3 0 .150 .640 VaughnDH R 0 1 0 .286 .643 Vargas, M1B R 0 0 0 .214 .527 Rojas, JSS L 0 0 0 .188 .591 Sosa, L3B R 0 5 0 .400 1.004 Lee, KC R 0 2 1 .333 .777 Taylor, MLF R 0 0 1 .000 .111

Micah Johnson and now Colson connections to Indiana...

https://www.mlb.com/news/gerrit-cole-undergoing-tests-on-throwing-elbow Not good...

Twins must have gotten upset they were lumped in by Jay Cuda with the listless Sox offense...8 runs yesterday and 8 runs already in the third today. Speaking of offense... Trevor Story .474/1.447 19 ab's, 2 HR 5 RBIs Wow.

1. Tigers 2. TB Rays 3. Boston 4. LA Dodgers 5. Mariners 6. White Sox 7. Brewers 8. Cubs 9. Guardians 10. Twins 4/10 AL Central teams... https://www.mlb.com/news/farm-system-rankings-2025-preseason?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

Including Larson and Bush, that's four. Then Thorpe's situation is still a bit cloudy as well.

Is anyone 100% convinced he's going to get through the season without any issues...? Based on past/recent history with Sox pitching injuries?

He's their big off season addition and Moreno fancies himself competing with the Dodgers. Sort of fits that narrative...at least more so than Anderson.

There goes some more of that AA/AAA depth. that's four with Bush and Thorpe Wants trade turning into a complete disaster of selling high on a closer

Why Mason Adams?

Does Meidroth really possess the arm and range for big league SS?

And Cease...a real-life escape artist on the mound.

Can you get that gig like that without even a disappointing Beckham-esque or Getz-like career?

Which was probably already agreed upon...RoFR at some predetermined point in the future, and definitely upon death.

They're worth whatever Ishbia is willing to pay for them? it's not the shares themselves...it's a separate issue of control person. That's not related to a certain block of shares per se. Even then we're still talking $100 millionish in cap gains...that's a rounding error for the Suns/Ishbias. It's all about Jerry's ego/legacy at this point. But basically the same reason the Pohlads want out in Minnesota. No longer as much fun for them...having had the family (multiple generations) involved for 40-50 years now.

$80 million isn't a big deal at all to the Ishbias...they would pay that premium today for Jerry to surrender control. In fact, Jerry has probably lost roughly the equivalent amount already with the team's valuation falling from the $2.1-2.2 billion range since peak from 2005-2012 and then in 2019-2022 again. The hit to local broadcasting revenue was another $75-100 million per year if you count advertising revenue and ownership of their own network with the Bulls/Blackhawks Having to now trade Luis Robert Jr. now is yet another symptom of the financial malaise...

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/mlb/news/jake-burger-hits-first-home-run-with-rangers-days-after-daughters-open-heart-surgery/articleshow/118635176.cms Always with the baseball scoops…lol.

The A's and Rays are cautionary tales of what happens when big, complicated challenges are met with half-measures and inaction -- and reminders to teams with unsettled stadium issues in places like Chicago and Kansas City, Missouri, that the longer they take to reach resolution, the messier these situations get. With every city council meeting that ends with no deal, every local voting result that kicks the can down the road to the next election, every ballpark rendering torn up before a shovel ever enters the dirt, the likelihood of best-laid plans being replaced by worst-case scenarios multiplies. For the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals -- two teams angling for public money to help finance new stadiums -- there are countless lessons to learn about the fragility of deals and their capacity to go sideways. Already there has been resistance to the White Sox's request of $1 billion to help build a new stadium in the South Loop, and voters in Kansas City last year rejected a sales-tax extension that would have helped fund a downtown ballpark. Public cynicism over using tax dollars to fund billionaire owners' real estate plays has made turning visions of a new stadium into reality that much more difficult and the ramifications of letting a potentially volatile situation decay that much greater. https://global.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44096180/mlb-2025-spring-training-oakland-athletics-tampa-bay-rays-minor-league-ballparks-sacramento For all the good in the game during Manfred's time as commissioner ---- the sight of two big league teams existing in small stadiums is rich with subtext. And with a labor negotiation expected to threaten games in 2027, a widespread dissatisfaction among fans about MLB's competitive balance and a local-television landscape in need of an overhaul, the challenges in Manfred's final four years as commissioner go well beyond the perception that comes with shrunken stadiums.

News coming out that Vladimir Guerrero had an ask for $600 freaking million from Toronto...that's crazy for a bat-first player at a corner who just might be in the greatest physical shape 8-10 years down the line. https://global.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44143628/vladimir-guerrero-jr-says-final-offer-600-million-blue-jays-extension-talk Also, Lawrence Butler signed a $65.5 million, 7 year extension with the A's. That's almost $130 million just between Rooker ($60 million) and Butler this offseason, not to mention the Luis Severino deal for $67 million.

That's how you assess pitching, is it not? TOR/ACE, 2/3 and 4/5 types. Obviously you need a mixture of both, but since Wheeler and prior to that Tanaka, we haven't tried to BUY an ace in free agency. Usually our aces are leaving the Sox organization, rather than coming in from another organization. Cannon at his best is going to be a 4/5 guy. I'm not sure who you believe has more potential in the minor leagues to be better than Martin and/or Burke in the big league rotation, other than the Big 3 names we always refer to. Thorpe is a huge wild card, but I'm closer to the Balta position on him than the front-line starter due to his exceptional change and "good enough" fastball case. Obviously there's no longer Ky Bush (this season at least), Eder has a reliever profile and has already been sent down, Berroa might be hurt, Mason Adams, Carela, Nastrini, Batista...I would take Smith's arm (Rule 5 pick from the Brewers) and still-existing potential over all those guys in AA/AAA.