caulfield12

https://sports.yahoo.com/video/mlb-26-under-rankings-big-000955609.html Teams 16-20 20. Minnesota Twins 19. KC Royals 18. Oakland/Sacramento A's 17. Chicago Cubs 16. St. Louis Cardinals Obviously, the biggest teams for the White Sox to be concerned with are going to be the Guardians and Tigers. https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/mlb-26-and-under-power-rankings-nos-20-16-bobby-witt-jr-lawrence-butler-pete-crow-armstrong-already-making-an-impact-170152887.html

Looking beyond the obvious contenders (Comcast--used to have exclusive Sunday AM broadcasts, Peacock/NBC, Paramount, FOX, Apple, Amazon), the broadcast “netlets” are both hungry for sports programming and legitimacy, and as such may be more willing to pay to get their foot in the “Big Four” door. Nexstar’s CW just attracted 1.8 million for last weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener, the first race of its new $115 million/year rights deal and the largest audience for the series in three years. Scripps had success with Friday night WNBA last year and is expected, along with CBS, to renew for upwards of $100 million/year. Ultimately, leagues tend to get the kind of money they are looking for, and one imagines Manfred would not be so bold if he did not have a suitable replacement for ESPN waiting in the wings. Yet given how baseball has handled its national rights negotiations so far, one cannot completely rule out the possibility that the league has simply botched the negotiations. https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2025/02/mlb-espn-split-blame-media-strategy-roku-apple-deals/

They've already paid this guy $15 million between 2023 and 2024...and he's recorded 2.2 and -0.1 fWAR's. 2.1 isn't a terrible payoff for a FA contract based on that amount, but the public relations and clubhouse chemistry hits alone aren't worth that level of performance. And then you want to reintroduce him to your clubhouse of lots of young players just breaking into the big leagues for the very first time??? WHY????? How does he represent White Sox culture that Venable and Getz are so desperately trying to inculcate??? 2020 0.7 $1.5 million CLE/SD (traded for Austin Hedges, Josh Naylor, Cal Quantrill and prospects Joey Cantillo, Gabriel Arias and Owen Miller, not one of Preller's best moves.) 2021 0.0 $5 million SD (injured, out for whole season) 2022 0.4 $7 million SD 2023 2.2 $8 million CHW 2024 -0.1 $4 million buyout, another $3 million contract ($7 million total) CHW Average=0.64 fWAR (3.2 fWAR total) over those last five years for $28.5 million ... the Padres couldn't move on fast enough, but the White Sox were so quick to INCREASE his salary after a 0.4 fWAR campaign in 2022. The guy has made $30,670,000 in his career already...do we need to contribute even more to his family? Finally, the entire baseball world must be laughing at the White Sox, yet again...why do we continually make ourselves a national laughingstock?

But a source with knowledge of ESPN’s approach to the negotiations disputed the idea that the split was mutual. The source told CNN that ESPN opted out of the contract and was surprised by Commissioner Rob Manfred’s note to MLB owners that the league and network had mutually agreed to end their relationship. The source noted that ESPN had an opt-out clause in the contract and decided to exercise it on Thursday. The move amounts to a big bet by MLB on its ability to attract new investment by a different company, whether that involves streaming or traditional cable companies. The market for media rights to live sports contests has become increasingly lucrative in recent years as sports remain some of the only consistent ratings draws for cable and broadcast networks. The league believes it is riding a wave of momentum and interest that should improve upon that ESPN deal. MLB drew its largest live attendance figures in seven years last season, drawing more than 71.3 million fans into ballparks during 2024. It also saw jumps in television viewership, including on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball,” which is typically the premier game of the week and has been a staple of the baseball weekly viewing schedule for years. https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/20/sport/espn-mlb-end-relationship-spt/index.html

Cue up the "no way he even makes the team as an NRI," brigade, he's just rotation insurance...nothing here to see.

Jose Quintana has supposedly been rejected by the Mets and now the Pirates (signed Andrew Heaney instead)...wouldn't THAT be a much better story, ending his career with the White Sox, one that began 13 LONG years ago?

February 20th, 2025 at 11:03pm CST • By Anthony Franco The White Sox are in agreement with Mike Clevinger on a minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The ACES client receives a non-roster invite to Spring Training. More to come. The day the White Sox died...11:03 p.m. on a Thursday night. Not a Hahn Wednesday.

SSHM and Balta threatened to quit the board over this lol before..although have since seen the former name in the SoxMachine threads on Fegan Margalus Nelson articles. Same poster that always provided graphs facts background like Jay Cuda I guess. You go through all the trouble of casting out the so called bad apples from the 2022-23 25 man roster and THEN you disrespect your clubhouse and female fanbase by deliberately counting more controversy? This is dumb in so many ways they're impossible to count. What the heck is Venable thinking about all this? Surely he was notified? Too early for April Fool's right?

Well, he does at least have a PLUS RFer's arm. Madrigal...I guess he had a hit tool, in theory, for average/contact. More like 75% of one tool, lol.

The same reason the Boston Red Sox might prefer Benintendi over Yoshida...they might think he would be "reinvigorated" to play for the team where he used to almost be accorded "hero status," for example, a new lease on life for Colas, no longer an "indentured servant," can just be himself, etc. In fact, Andrew Benintendi was the ONE completely unavailable player that Boston refused Hahn from acquiring in the Chris Sale trade. The other arguments about that trade typically have been about including Devers as the 3rd player instead of Basabe/Diaz. Or magically wishing they'd acquired Devers INSTEAD of Moncada, that's yet another recrimination. Maybe the Cubs see something in him the White Sox don't (as pretty much every MLB playoff team did last year with any Sox relievers that came onto the market)....who knows? Reconverting him to pitching? Anything's possible I guess.

I don't know if I'm buying it so much as I never bothered to cancel it and it automatically renews every year....the video is very inconsistent in my new apartment here in China, but I still enjoy listening to all the games (listened to the Dodgers' feed this morning to go to sleep between 4-6 a.m., lol) and sometimes listening to DJ/Len when the spirit strikes me. They have GameDay Audio, but I look at it as my little small tiny insignificant contribution to MLB from afar.

Scared of who they pick from the lower minors who's not on the 40 man roster at present time. Wilfred Veras, not sure they'd have any interest. Is he even an outfielder, or more a corner IF guy at present? Maybe Eder, Carela, Nastrini?...Mason Adams might be too highly thought of by some in the organization.

Maybe trade Colas to them...or Fletcher. Although theoretically Colas MIGHT be able to play 1st...can't imagine him suddenly putting up the 850ish plus OPS numbers required for the position. Ofc, Vaughn's been lucky to post 700ish and he got rewarded for that season with almost a $6 million contract. At any rate, Colas Julks DeLoach and Fletcher all seem ticketed for Charlotte at this point.

Except to Getz's ego. Because McCarthy's 3+ fWAR performance last year has been beaten over his head. Mena's, not quite so much...but still has potential, like Yhoiker Fajardo will carry with him to Boston.

With SD...it's clearly a team overextended financially due to an abundance of $100+ million contracts attempting to fill in roster spots 16-25 with the cheapest players possible to make the number crunchers satisfied.

More importantly, Manfred cut to the core of the ESPN business model, saying that MLB does “not believe Pay TV, ESPN’s primary distribution platform, is the future of video distribution or the best platform for our content.” He cited subscriber figures for ESPN that are lower than any previously reported — 53.6 million homes as of December — and said MLB did not think it beneficial “to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform.” Manfred’s broadside against cable is far from breaking new ground — it is likely that officials at all of the major leagues and conferences have said something similar privately — but it is worth noting that MLB still has significant ties to cable by way of its deal with Warner Bros. Discovery. https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2025/02/mlb-espn-deal-terminated-after-this-season-rob-manfred/

Fine, Profar, Solano, David (not Wandy) Peralta, Estrada and Martin Perez were all signed very cheaply last year or were claimed on waivers for SD and were quite effective. Matsui was more expensive, but part of that was about pursuing Sasaki as a FA. They made one mistake on a Korean reliever. This year, they've signed another combination of players (including Pivetta's 2025 salary) that will cost them well under $10 million combined. Heyward, Connor Joe, their KBO LHP, Pivetta (obviously there's cost/risk on the backside), Gavin Sheets, Yuli Gurriel. We'll see if Preller can pull a rabbit out of a hat two consecutive years. Probably will end up with JD Martinez if the price comes down low enough, Mark Canha, someone like that...Rizzo, etc. (2023, it didn't work nearly as well with guys like Matt Carpenter and Nelson Cruz, who was cooked by then.)

And how often have they successfully done that? With multiple players from one cycle that weren't already on their own team to start with? It can't be something that happens by freak occurence every five to ten years. And what did they get back when they lost Rodon? A future favor from Boras lol?

Boston? NPB?

Nicky Lopez Reese McGuire...David Bote some notable names for Cubs and now Dodgers. ABS automatic balls and strikes challenge system experiment starts ... two not three challenges per team per spring game. Only pitcher catches better can invoke. Keep your challenges as long as you keep winning then. Lopez and Brujan k'd by Yamamoto...who starts 20+ days from now in Tokyo Series.

Maybe distracted by Lisa Dergan?

After Robert is traded...Benintendi's salary dump will be the next target. Does anyone really think that JR will wait this time around until 2027 to try to clear it off the books? A follow up to second half 2024 of similar numbers makes it quite possible to move at least 70-75% of that deal.

"GLENDALE, Ariz. — For the first time in a Dodgers uniform, 23-year-old right-hander Roki Sasaki threw to hitters Wednesday in front of a gigantic crowd of spectators, the likes of which rarely gather for such a routine component of baseball’s spring practice sessions. A year ago, it was Shohei Ohtani’s first live batting practice that had Camelback Ranch buzzing, as eager fans filling the backfields got their first glimpses of the superstar in action wearing Dodger blue. Should Ohtani face hitters as a pitcher this spring as part of his progression back from elbow surgery, that might usurp Sasaki’s inaugural live batting practice as the highlight of Los Angeles’ spring training. But as of now, Sasaki’s first chance to face hitters represents the high-water mark for intrigue in Dodgers camp." https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/roki-sasakis-first-live-batting-practice-draws-a-crowd-at-dodgers-camp-everybodys-excited-to-watch-it-012937776.html Cubs: Most of Chicago's main position-player group are not in the starting lineup for the opener at Camelback Ranch. Starting first baseman Michael Busch -- acquired from the Dodgers prior to last season -- is the only regular who made the trip, though three of Chicago's seven Top 100 prospects -- Moises Ballesteros (No. 69), James Triantos (No. 73) and Kevin Alcántara (No. 90) -- are in the lineup. Dodgers: Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernández and Max Muncy are the only three Dodgers regulars in the lineup for the team's first Cactus League game, with offseason acquisition Hyeseong Kim and No. 30 overall prospect Dalton Rushing also in the starting nine. mlb.com

Total change of scenery trade for both...unless you're buying that AB wants to be the de facto "veteran leader" of the Sox fighting off the boo birds when the Sox actually won games down the stretch drive at home to put off the all time loss record