caulfield12

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

Except Raffaela maybe can't hit and probably needs to replace Story at SS.

At his more recent peak...2022, Benintendi's at leaet a 3+ fWAR player. Yoshida is older and unlikely to ever break even 2 fWAR. He was finally healthy in the second half and clearly outproduced Yoshida despite playing on the worst team in baseball history while Yoshida had Rafael Devers to protect him in the lineup.

What's your plan for bringing in non Tier C free agents? At least targeting Japanese players by leveraging Yoshida and Iguchi is an idea. Hard to prove it could be executed successfully, though. Same with HaSeong Kim and signing the other Kim (2B) that ended up with the Dodgers for $12 million to play IF together...planting a flag with future Korean players to come over.

Am I really that far off that 75-80% of fans from Naperville Bolingbrook, etc., are more Cubs' fans? Rosemont? Schaumburg? Especially north of I-88... Where the Kane County Cougars used to play?

That broken hamate bone was with the Yankees in 2022...late in the season. It really affected him for 1 1/2 full seasons with the White Sox...? But then miraculously healed in the second half? Wouldn't they be able to dump his contract on someone if that was the conventional wisdom across baseball?

Maybe nothing becomes of him. But Tobias Meyers was in our system and now he's the number 3 starter for the Brewers...cost controlled at that. It seems like every year it's a Romy Gonzalez or Luis Gonzalez who contributed for another team....but never for the Sox. Or about eight relievers we traded away who all ended up pitching in the post season. Is it always just bad luck or random ocuurrence? That every single "future star" from the Hahn rebuild was struck down by injury, non-performance, off the field problems, etc. It feels like the only positive counter-examples are Luis Robert in 2023 and Cease in 2022...followed by disappointing seasons that eroded their trade value. Fedde was a coup...until Vargas, but it somehow led to Edman and Kopech starring for LA and winning a WS. The only thing to go right in the last 12 months has seemingly been Garrett Crochet...and that trade couldn't bring back a Campbell, Meyer or Anthony. Is there a curse...? I mean...we train at Glendale with the worst record in baseball history in the rear window...juxtaposed with might Ne one of the greatest collections of talent on one team and a WS winner in two of the past five years now. Even the Mets in 1962 were an expansion team and enjoyed incredibly strong fan support for their new franchise.

"Alex Speas, 26, made his major league debut with the Texas Rangers last season and pitched in three games. Speas didn’t pitch well in two innings, allowing three runs and five walks. He was claimed off of waivers by the White Sox in October and has spent this season in Charlotte with the Sox Triple-A affiliate Knights...Speas has a fastball that tops out in triple digits and averaged 98.9 mph in his short stint with Texas last season, but he primarily relies on a cut fastball that averages 91.9 mph. Speas had a whiff rate of 40.4% on his cutter in Triple-A in 2023." But we couldn't use this guy with the worst pen in baseball???...neither could the A's, but the Astros and Red Sox both saw something with him last year. And it's not like age 25/26 is old compared to some of the relievers we actually traded for this off season...

the next Disney/Rookie 2 inspiration...pitched in Charlotte and for Astros, claimed by multiple teams in 2024 https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-twins-alex-speas-tiktok-pitcher-carlos-correa-injury-spring-training-tv-schedule/601225207 "Speas retired after the 2021 season, disappointed he didn’t meet expectations after he was a second-round pick in 2016 for the Rangers. He coached Little League baseball in his hometown for a season, after he lasted three months working in a sales job. The kids he coached, knowing his background, begged to watch him pitch. When he finally relented, his first pitch was 97 mph without any warmup throws, which turned into a TikTok video that garnered more than 170,000 views." https://nolanwritin.com/posts/a-former-youth-baseball-coach-helps-texas-rangers-to-a-sweep-of-the-rays-01h5r14966ep Crazy transactions list https://www.mlb.com/player/alex-speas-666208

The Commissioner putting the Dodgers and Mets vs. 28 other teams/owners seems...unwise.

The Commissioner putting the Dodgers and Mets vs. 28 other teams/owners seems...unwise.

Yoshida +1.6 fWAR vs Benintendi -0.6 fWAR the last two years combined... Yoshida +2.8 (1.4 + 1.4) bWAR vs. Benintendi (0.2 + -0.8) -0.6 bWAR

Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register talked to Kopech Monday, and when brining up the possibility of opening the season on the injured list, the right-hander said, “More than likely. I don’t really know. Things could happen quickly and I could be ready for our home opener. I’m not really sure, though, so it’s hard for me to say that definitively and be sure about it.” Kopech likely to start season on DL https://www.truebluela.com/2025/2/19/24366076/dodgers-payroll-2025-competitive-balance-tax Dodgers will be over $500 million payroll including CBT payment/fine to the league...or roughly 10x White Sox eventually payroll after Robert subtracted.

https://www.truebluela.com/2025/2/19/24368696/yoshinobu-yamamoto-dodgers-start-spring-training-opener Opening Day in Glendale Yamamoto vs. Poteet (Dodgers vs. Cubs) 2 pm Central Time only game in MLB today cheapest price to get in on secondary market $37.00 Eddie Rosario and Giovanny Gallegos two more notable names to follow with LAD this spring...

Both are 30 something left-fielders that should probably be DH's. Benintendi one year younger. Both owed about the same amount of $$$ and years on their remaining contracts, $49.3 million for Andrew and $54 million for Yoshida. I'm guessing Boston would prefer to have Andrew at this point (past history alone, more motivation to compete for playoffs, back home in AL East) and they have been pretty disappointed with Yoshida overall so far, especially from a defensive standpoint. Would you trade them if the Red Sox included $2.5 million (or a prospect/sweetener) to balance out the contracts? My only reasoning (change of scenery trade here) is that Benintendi would clearly be happier (at least from an outsider's viewpoint) to move on from Chicago and his Hahn contract...back to Boston, where he's still fondly remembered (and leaving behind a 120+ loss team and being the veteran face of that disappointment). For Getz, it would be another way he could move on officially from the Hahn Era and forge his own line-up. And, it MIGHT be a way for the Sox to get a foot/toe-hold into the burgeoning Japanese market for players... And, it would be more exciting for Sox fans to watch almost anyone in the world besides Andrew Benintendi (granted, he had a very strong second half last year, and might even be their best hitter when/if Luis Robert, Jr. is traded). Then I would also bring in Tadahito Iguchi to the White Sox coaching staff. and bring in/recruit via FA the following players: Tomoya Mori C/OF (turning 30 this season, reportedly the best catcher in Japan, also an outfielder and can theoretically DH and play 1B, often compared to JP Realmuto...yes, we already have Quero and Teel, although depth is always a POSITIVE and could be traded for another position player the Sox value more) when he's old enough, LHP Yuma Miyagi (will be 23, turning 24 at the end of this season, ALL THE LEFTIES, the next Imanaga???) potentially 1B Yuma Tongu, who's 28 (turning 29 at end of season) and plays basically every infield position but SS, and can also catch as well ANYONE else that Iguchi can successfully recruit (and convince JR to shell out the money for) that fits the Sox roster. With the Cuban Connection Niche long gone (and with Marco Paddy finally out the door)...and the White Sox seemingly unwilling to extend any young player (especially pitchers) into the first or second season of free agency. what other options do the Sox have other than starting to look more internationally???

It's a mess, and it's why I didn't think Bregman was a good fit for the Red Sox. Here's a potential 2025 plan: Alex Bregman at 3B Trevor Story at SS Kristian Campbell at 2B Triston Casas at 1B Rafael Devers at DH Masataka Yoshida traded or in a part-time role I think there's a fair chance Bregman misses 20 or so games due to injury. Third base would well-covered in that case with Devers, perhaps Campbell in a pinch, and maybe Marcelo Mayer when he's ready. Story is 32 and hasn't topped 94 games in a season since 2021, so the Red Sox may need to cover 40+ games at shortstop. He could be backed up by Mayer, Campbell, or even Bregman. www.mlbtraderumors.com

Depends if the competitive (or comparative) advantage you have over the majority of teams in your sport is perceived as "fair" or not? (Obviously the Dodgers, for example, are paying all the competitive balance taxes they're required to according to the rules governing the sport agreed upon during the last labor negotiations...which are then redistributed to the so-called revenue sharing teams from mid and small markets.) This isn't Wal-Mart or Costco vs. mom and pop grocery stores, it's an institution protected by the antitrust exemption granted and enforced by the US Congress.

Yeah... it wasn't so bad, another summer I cornered the market on Benito Santiago rookie cards and dumped them after his long hitting streak. Experiences/memories >>> money

By my count, 7 of the most currently popular teams in baseball (or at least playoff-caliber) are near the bottom 10 of games with the least available Statcast games...wonder why that is?

Because I tend to look at everything through (first) a stock market/investing lens, and secondarily, societal/sports/White Sox, etc. I've already learned a HARD lesson here investing in Alibaba (sold 200 Berkshire Hathaway B shares, brilliant) and bought (BABA) when it was down from $340 into the $230's/$240's, Baidu, JD, Ten Cent, etc. Sold it this past summer at around $105-110, so that was not one of my best investing moments. Obviously both China and the US are investing billions into this emerging industry, you have Apple (dramatically struggling now over here now, just like Tesla), Meta/FB, Google/Alphabet, Huawei, all the big players involved in both countries....OpenAI potentially for sale (to Musk for around $100 billion?), the overhanging TikTok resolution that's supposed to come in the next 45-50 days or so. To be honest, I decided it was much better to shield myself from individual stock volatility and dumb "gut decisions" and just keep most money across an array of mutual funds...basically sold all the individual stocks. My dad used to be a big believer in gold as a hedge, but I personally prefer autograph collecting (mostly presidents/celebrities) and have another $50-75,000 worth of baseball cards from the 1950's through the early 90's...and then started getting interested again recently, tried to corner the market on O'Neil Cruz rookie cards, lol. I bought a bunch of Ohtani, Sasaki and Murakama cards directly from Japan, as well. Worst/dumbest baseball card mistake was selling a mint 1968 Nolan Ryan rookie card in the early 90's so I could spend the summer traveling and playing baseball instead of working, lol. The pride of my collection is 2 PSA certified Roberto Clemente autographs and most of his cards from the 50's and 60's, including his rookie card in VG condition. Sold my 1949 Brooklyn Dodgers' autographed ball as well because nowhere to store my stuff in US anymore.

If you buy some of the claims of DeepSeek (they are alleged) to have run their models off of OpenAI/ChatGPT....then the energy usage, water/electricity consumption and need for high end chips (Nvidia) just fell by a factor of 75-90%. That will make the analytical models developed by the Cardinals/Astros over a decade ago look like child's play. Is commercial real estate even viable anymore, long-term? I guess you're referring more to the "ballpark cities" trend of construction around newly-constructed sports stadiums, with the inclusion of retail, condos, restaurants, entertainment zones, bars/clubs/pubs and casinos.

Even John Danks' career falling apart has been used by the organization as justification for no long-term deals....long-term being considered 3 years for Sox pitchers. That was a decade ago.

Except suburbia is 75-80% Cubs' fans to the north and west...

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-26-and-under-power-rankings-nos-25-21-giants-angels-rangers-hoping-their-young-cores-step-forward-in-2025-163136655.html Numbers 25-21...no more AL Central teams yet.