caulfield12

It wasn't about building a winning, sustainable team with excellent chemistry...that much is for sure.

Dodgers are following the rules and creating their own along?the way until someone stops them. Fisk was great...but that was forty years ago and he still identified more with Boston than the Sox despite more games w/ Chicago because of the way he was treated by Harrelson and JR.

You mean like Dick Allen here? That was only 22 years of support though...doesn't qualify as a true fan. And sex slaves to JR? Well, that conjures up such a lovely vision. Sounds more like a PizzaGate conspiracy theory. Aiyo.

But the A's...well they're technically sold out for the season in Sacramnto, are in the Top 10-12 teams for new spending this offseason and are showing up on a growing number of playoff prediction lists.

List all the premium free agents he has signed... The answer is just one, Albert Belle. Which was a big F U to other owners he thought were out of control like Steinbrenner and a shot across the MLBPA's bow moreso than anything. Although Fisk, Dunn and Hendriks would be possible responses as well.

And then we're all supposed to cheer watching Buehrle Sale Quintana Giolito Cease Kopech Lopez Rodon and now Crochet/Robert leave for the next hot set of prospects...??? Meanwhile, the Rays still can't make things work with $700 million of public financing ... but Jerry Reinsdorf so far has committed all of $0 dollars of his own money...why does he even deserve it after the last decade????

You should be asking for more support for position players while you're at it. Other teams got Machado Wheeler and Harper. We got Grandal, who was pushed out of LA because Kershaw refused to pitch to him and a series of key defensive nlunders in the postseason got him demoted...Keuchel instead of Wheeler and all the premiere pitchers in that FA class, Lance Lynn and Kimbrel (complete disaster as a set up guy)...we didn't QO Rodon for reasons, but instead QO'ed Kimbrel which led to?a Misfit with Pol lock which led to an even bigger disaster giving Benintendi two more years than any other team in baseball was willing to coming off his one good year (thanks Yankees lineup) in the previous four. Then Kelly and Graveman...who all thought so highly of Hendriks that they didn't show up to his cancer recovery press conference with Liam's always encouraging wife. We should be undyingly grateful for these half measures and promises of parades and unprecedented financial flexibility that quickly dried up in 2022/23?????? WHY????? And then threatening for the second time to move the team to Nashville? Running the second lowest payroll in MLB in the third biggest market? Now being one of only two teams to never okay a $100+ million contract...and we will soon be the only one when Brent Rooker signs an extension with the A's...

Support the players who give their all...but not necessarily ownership or the front office until they demonstrate real tangible signs of forward progress.

1Q84 I read all of his books one summer vacation from teaching.... works Norwegian Wood (1987) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994–95) Kafka on the Shore (2002) 1Q84 (2010) Men Without Women (2014)

LA is once again becoming the center of the sports universe. Rams and Chargers both in the playoffs as well.

Manny Machado admitted Saturday he is "disappointed" the San Diego Padres haven't made any significant moves after losing players like Ha-Seong Kim and Tanner Scott to free agency this offseason. "Are we disappointed we haven't made any moves? Yeah," Machado said. www.si.com/mlb/manny-machado-candidly-addresses-padres-lack-of-moves&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwj8vdPKo6WLAxV_IEQIHRgINikQFnoECAkQAg&usg=AOvVaw0dLDWGHtBMO4Y7Fe2Z5kXS

"Thorpe uses his changeup 35% of the time, the most of any pitch in his arsenal. It comes in at an average of 82 mph, which offers a drastic change of speed from his 91 mph fastball. His changeup has accounted for 28% of his strikeouts whole producing a nearly 40% whiff rate. Opponents are also hitting just .154 off of it. “He learned his changeup plays three times in a row to certain guys,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol told reporters on Monday. “Normally that doesn’t happen because you don’t throw the same pitch three times in a row.” Seeing is believing right now with his current health status... https://www.sportsmockery.com/chicago-white-sox/drew-thorpes-changeup-quickly-turning-heads-across-the-mlb/

https://global.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/43659948/luka-doncic-anthony-davis-trade-grades-winners-losers-next Mavs get F Lakers A in Doncic/A.Davis swap

If you support the team too well...you get the Cubs' current situation. Maybe competing for the playoffs but fearful of any long-term contracts. We will see quickly enough whether they will invest in Tucker or not long-term.

https://www.mlb.com/news/ranking-the-best-position-groups-for-2025 Three strongest positions in MLB are SS RP (Guardians with top 2 in Clase and Smith) and RF. Maybe both Montgomery's are the two future solutions there...but these three areas are not coincidentally the Sox org's three weakest current areas.

I think almost anyone would be elated to get 12+ fWAR out of Thorpe for his Sox career.

Gio change Buehrle change Cease slider Contreras fork ball Sasaki splitter...you need to have a pitch THAT good if you throw 90/92. Liriano death slider at 90-92 in 2006 before he blew out his elbow.

Still in the same basic payroll position at Cot's as calendar turns to February legacy.baseballprospectus.com 30) MARLINS $66.7 million 29) White Sox $72.4 million 28) Sacramento A's $76.5 million 27) Tampa Bay Rays $81.7 million

They have to fill those positions via trade or free agency...see (2013-2016, or 2022-24 and ongoing). We still don't have plus defenders in SS and CF after Robert...Fletcher's speed/range limits him to RF but bat doesn't play on a corner. Zavala has a ton of value if he could just be a 725-750 non negative fielding CFer, that's a 2.5-3.0ish fWAR guy. Thorpe simply can't get behind in counts and throw FBs...it all depends on command/control with his secondary offerings. And then it's actually harder to pitch speeds down to the 78-82 mph range for the ideal 10+phone differential from FB to change/curve. Throwing a low to mid 80s slider or cutter off that FB will get him killed unless he's super precise with location.

Not sure LA even needs to worry about missing his bat one month, but simulated games under strict supervision is likely the choice here.

The other rumor was that he doesn'the or hasn't interviewed well enough when he gets these opportunities.

Is the new "market niche" strategy to wait as long as possible into the offseason and get bargain prices on Type B/C veteran free agents? But free agency has a number of interesting veterans still available who could be fairly affordable or in some cases may even consider signing non-roster deals. Anthony Rizzo, J.D. Martinez, Jason Heyward, Mark Canha, and Alex Verdugo are among the many free agents who could be at least speculative fits for San Diego’s current needs and are unlikely to break the bank. As for the rotation, starting pitchers can often garner high annual salaries even late in free agency. That could make adding to the rotation difficult to accomplish without a trade that frees up payroll, though it’s possible that a swing man such as Jakob Junis or Jose Urena could linger on the market and sign at a discount as Michael Lorenzen did last winter. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/a-j-preller-padres-plan-to-add-a-bat-or-two-an-arm-or-two.html

By Sonja Chen @sonjamchen 8:25 PM EST mlb.com LOS ANGELES -- A timeline for Shohei Ohtani's long-awaited return to the mound is beginning to take shape. Ohtani is likely to resume pitching in Major League games sometime in May, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Saturday at DodgerFest. “It might be earlier,” Roberts added, “but I think that the first thing I said earlier this offseason was it wasn’t going to be in the Japan Series. … Once he gets to Spring Training and we see where the throwing program is, I think we’ll just go from there.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/baseball/who-is-munetaka-murakami-when-will-he-be-joining-the-mlb-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-next-aaron-judge/ar-AA1xkFcY Seemingly no connection. Pretty common Japanese name...like Park Lee Kim in Korea. My favorite author shares the same last name, in fact.

https://www.mlb.com/news/pete-alonso-rumors Alonso with Reds joining hunt?