caulfield12

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/roki-sasaki-chaos-has-already-begun-in-advance-of-international-signing-day/

https://sportsnaut.com/roki-sasaki-rumors-san-diego-padres-lawsuit/amp/ According to MLB insider Jon Heyman, the San Diego Padres are no longer frontrunners to land Sasaki due to turmoil surrounding a lawsuit filed by the widow of team owner Peter Seidler. In the lawsuit, Sheel Seidler claims her late husband’s brothers “misappropriated and misused the assets” that Peter Seidler “expressly bequeathed in trust” to her. She also alleged the brothers want to sell and possibly relocate the Padres. “I feel bad for the Padres, but that lawsuit is not helping their case. I mean, if you’re Sasaki, do you sign up with the Padres?” Heyman said. “I certainly thought the Padres had an excellent chance. He is a longtime admirer of Yu Darvish. But, at this point, if you’re him, do you go to a team right now that’s in turmoil?” Assuming Sasaki goes to the Dodgers (now): If I had to bet, you'd then see Cease (since Boras/FA doesn't mix well) and Arraez traded to get under the cap (they're roughly $20 million over), Michael King extended (avoiding FA) and then Profar brought back again since nobody seems willing to give him a big contract coming off one really great season at age 31/32. Any leftover money goes to starting pitching or the bullpen. The other possibility is trading closer Robert Suarez, who has an opt out for 2026 on an $8M salary, so he is probably gone after 2025 (and he was unreliable as hell the last 6-8 weeks of the season, despite his dominating "stuff.") The other concern to those reading "tea leaves" was that Yu Darvish was not part of the meeting with Sasaki, but Wolfe (the agent) had mentioned they didn't want players involved/recruiting AND they both already share the same agent, so clearly there's an indirect line of communication, regardless. I'm still dreaming of a Cease and Bogaerts trade to Boston for Lucas Giolito: lose $39M, pick up $19M, net $20M savings. Boston offered X nearly as much to stay 2 years ago, but for only 6, not 11 years. Boston fans are restless, and even Ken Rosenthal ripped them for not spending. Boston is still $30M under the cap after saying they would be willing to go over. Bringing back a fan favorite, getting an ace, and still staying under the cap, would be a coup, but they're still looking for a RHH third base glove so they can move Devers to first. Why not give them Bogarts for a prospect and 10 mill for 9 years. Saves 15 mill a year and we keep Cease? Bogaerts isn't going anywhere @ $25m per year for the next 9 years. And, I'd hate the Pads trading X and still carrying part of his salary on the books, especially when he might be playing elsewhere or worse, not playing at all (think Erik Hosmer). Better to just keep X and hope that he can have just an average year as far as production goes. That way the Pads actually get something out of him. Maybe, he has a really good 2025 and justifies a good portion of his salary. Or even better, builds his trade value for 2026. The way player's salaries are escalating his contract may not look so bad in a couple of years and by that time DeVries should be ready to make the jump to the majors. As for Cease, trade both him and Arraez, either together or separately, reduce the payroll, get a good return in young highly-ranked talent. Then, offer King a 2 or 3 year extension @ $10m / year to keep him with the team as the #2 SP behind Darvish. And with the remaining $$$, try to find pitching to fill out the rotation.

This is the week. Somewhere between the 15th and 23rd, a few experts are picking the 20th as Decision Day. Looks like the Dodgers are already positioning their 2025 International Class to free up money. If he does eventually sign with LAD, I think AJ Preller is going to have to give up on this season and deal Cease and Arraez to the highest bidders. It won't be an easy decision though, you're punting on another season of Machado/Tatis/Merrill together in their primes. And if they were to trade Cease, they'd pretty much have to go along and trade Michael King, too, due to limited control. It would be a great way to rebuild their farm and a terrible blow to fans who now expect to compete with LA every season.

Have they officially moved Zavala off of CF? The biggest concern for me when I watched video was an extreme bat wrap that elongated his swing, then you combine that with the leg kick, there's a lot of things going on there and lots of unnecessary movement. Ofc, as a corner outfielder, you're expected to be able to hit 25+ homers unless you're an anomaly at that spot like a Stephen Kwan with Cleveland. Always saw Zavala as a 15-20 homers, 30+ doubles guy, but we shall see this year I guess. Will also be interesting to see if he can retain his speed/remain a legitimate stolen base threat as he progresses through the minors and theoretically adds weight/strength. Birmingham's going to be just as challenging as A ball for a hitter because it plays as such a pitcher's park. And yes, I've been harping on C/CF/SS/2B for years and years...we have the catcher part of that, but we still don't have a long-term SS or CF, two of the three most important positions on the field. We BETTER have catcher covered at this point, that's a start, at least.

There wasn't even any need to trade Burger, not that we'll ever know Getz's official position on this (between a dueling Hahn and KW). He would be much cheaper and likelier more effective at 1B than Andrew Vaughn for a rebuilding team. And you need SOMEONE who can actually drive the ball deep as a threat in the line-up behind Luis Robert (to prop him up for a trade).

Even the Pirates are more aggressive than the White Sox these days, lol...

The performance of our high bust potential/high ceiling Padres CFer in the minors wasn't exactly encouraging on that front, Mr. Zavala. Or our seemingly cursed LSU ss/2B who has gone from bad to worse, too. And Colas/Ramos have gone from Top 80-120 MiLB into the "suspect" category, at best. You basically had only the pitching and Baldwin going in the other direction....with positive trajectories. Maybe Wolkow.

Otherwise, you have a 10-12 person message board of those who have ever worked in or around professional sports or reporting on it. They're fortunate at this point to have fans who care enough about the direction of the franchise to spend their time discussing it.

Sign the best players has never been a JR strategy since twenty years ago...at least in free agency. Dunn Hendriks and arguably Robertson the only three close to elite for their positions.

Wasn't that the only possible reading? Everyone but Buehrle would be there throughout the weekend?

NFL playoffs have started out about as well as the college fb playoff did. Three complete duds. Wish they would go back to six teams per conference...but at least these last three seem like they could be more competitive.

Relief pitcher/cannon fodder

The Crochet last minute demands situation really seemed to overwhelm the front office at that time...and knock them back for a loop. Time will tell if holding out was worth it...but it's hard to imagine a better deal in the present prospect hugging climate.

Erik Johnson's health was also very shady at the time of that deal, though.

Yolbert never once had the bat to stick in the majors...neither did Cespedes.

Not if they at least had a 2024-25 Padres budget. Not extending Crochet if it was even a remote possibility will go down as a mistake...unless they actually hit on a prospect two for one deal with Teel/Montgomery or like the Q deal originally looked like. Rodon Sale Q Cease Giolito Lopez all got extensions from OTHER teams...and Kopech will be next. We are the feeder team for the rest of MLB until we actually sign a $100+ million contract. With the Sox luck...the 2027 team will finally be good but it will all be wiped out by a labor I'm passes over caps and floors or minimums. This will come closer to a head if Sasaki also signs with the Dodgers.

The starting rotation and bullpen was 70% of that win...and the ability to manufacture runs with Pods and Iguchi until Pods wore down over the last couple of months physically. Hermanson held down the fort until Jenks took over late. Even McCarthy made some key late starts.

A-Rod before the roids was the definition of a dynamic fast-twitch athlete,…just like Elly de la Cruz, Witt, Jr. or Tatis, Jr. Montgomery seems closer to Cal Ripken, minus the close to dominant arm. The funny thing looking back on the Sox history is that they readily identified three SS’s in Semien, Anderson and Tatis, but didn’t even know what they actually had on their hands in two of them. You could even go back further to Escobar and Ramirez, who a lot felt was a CFer or utility guy. And now they can’t develop up the middle players, especially 2B…to even put up 2 fWAR seasons on a consistent basis. Meanwhile, the Royals have Witt, the Guardians Ramirez and then Correa/Royce Lewis with the Twins.

The fact of the matter is he struggled to put up a 700 ops when 850-900 is pretty automatic playing 1/2 your games at Charlotte. And yes, while few prospects other than Robert and Moncada possessed plus tools defensively…80% of the Sox development problems are usually on the hitting side.

And Kopech…really, Banks was the only halfway decent move. Trading closer Santos hardly paid off for either team…and Leasure went from closer candidate to whatever he ended the season as.

What the Andy Heck is going on with this thread?

Well between Moncada FAs and Benintendi...they turned $80 million in supposed value into a net negative. That's not even accounting for Jimenez...almost $100 mIllion up in smoke. And watched Robert going from a Top 10-15 MLB trade asset to non tender if he repeats 2024 again. Then they gave Kopech away for almost nothing.

Without a plus plus arm...above average 3B is more likely. Pretty much nobody would consider moving him to CF like SD did with Jackson Merrill, for example.

Sure but we're back to that actual 2005 team. Reed Morse Olivo for Garcia and Loiaza for Contreras were just as relevant...as well as Cotts Politte coming out of nowhere to excel. The Ritchie for Wells Lowe Fogg trade was terrible.

Most of the 98-2000 prospects other than Garland and Buehrle Crede and Rowand never panned out...