caulfield12

Not sure Balta has the energy to fight against more CLE castoffs. Enyel de los Santos was good about 3-4 years ago. Same will probably be true for Karinchak.

Gave a massive cushion to protect against big plays over the top.

Hunt has done surprisingly well for how many hits he has taken since 2017... Right JJSS.

2-3 lol. The academics are on the run for now, Anti-DEI Anti-Woke Zuck "Tim Apple" Bezos Elon are all in.

https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/player/209909/ Amaya 417 major league ops 741 minors

They clearly wanted to take away Kelce...but that opened up Worthy and Valdez-Scantling for some big plays. Mahomes is still adjusting to Hollywood Brown...two more weeks now to get their timing down. And crazy how much the Eagles' terrible 2023 defense improved simply with the addition of two rookie DBs, but Cooper DeJean really fits the blue collar/lunch pail Philly image to a tee. They should have used "Jimbo" Cook more...but they really seem to believe in Ty Johnson, claiming he's the best third down back in the NFL. Still think the Bills' offense was much more dangerous in 2023 with a happy Diggs...but Cook really boosted the rushing attack. Not sure why they went away from that...part of it was a function of training in the 4th.

https://forum.orioleshangout.com/topic/56232-orioles-sign-dylan-carlson/#comments Jacob Amaya is available again with the Carlson move lol. Orioles' fans currently believe Elias is going to trade Heston Kjerstad for starting pitching help.

https://www.mlb.com/news/dylan-carlson-orioles-agree-to-one-year-contract

Not for that salary. He's the Lopez of this season...albeit cheaper. Or you're starting Baldwin, Meidroth or Sosa out of the gate at SS?

Venable and Grady "Inspirational Added Value"...

Probably because it's the traditional way of sorting out rookie status, back to the days of the old Sporting News asterisk resignation. BA has been around since Miles Wolff was publisher in the 1980s...actually 1981. I think the service time parameters were added much later...just feels a lot more "technical."

deVrieze and K.Campbell are the real high flyers now in the middle infield...helium, whatever Vitale calls it now.

Yes it has him currently listed at 111 service days at thebaseballcube.com for 2024. But BA and Pipeline used opposing criteria (one innings/ABs, the other rostered days)...so just wondering what Law's prospect eligibility was set at or by? That's where it gets confusing, as BA had him among the 200+ players not on the list receiving votes for Top 100. Maybe even the voters were at a loss as well.

Other than Benintendi, the last big FA adds were Hendriks Kimbrel Graveman and Joe Kelly. Mr. Meat and Potatoes was the last significant investment into the rotation...limited to three years and no longer. With even Tier B starting pitching off the list and the majority of young core players locked into extensions...it was the only "affordable" place to add unless they extended Vaughn Madrigal Cease Kopech...maybe Lopez.

Seems that Mr.Thorpe has fallen off the map as well...eligibility her based on rookie status (50 ip) or service time permutations?

https://www.mlb.com/news/adam-jones-special-advisor-to-general-manager At least Adam Jones won't be treated as skeptically as a venture capitalist or hedge fund/private equity guy.

On the goal line they went between left guard and tackle twice and got stopped as well...previously, running away from Chris Jones. One of the great mysteries of the game was going away from Cook after the third quarter TD drive and relying way too much on Johnson. Cook has had a nose for the end zone and tough yards all season.

Poor ex Royal...the only way to top that would be the Asian "contracts guy" reminiscing about his involvement in the Witt, Jr., extension. Where was Josh Barfield? Seems he is the one after Getz that gets put out there front and center to handle this stuff. Watson comes across more like another Haber or Jonah Hill in Moneyball. Sox fans are tired of eggheads. Just produce results. That's it.

Clevinger could also never stay consistently healthy enough to be trade worthy...if someone would actually assume that PR risk. SD was elated to get out from under that trade/contract. "Great" is pushing it...better than expected. And we paid him twice or three times as much as we are willing to pay FA starters as of today. The larger point is SD hardly gives away starters that amount to much, ultimately. Quantrill might be the very best in the last decade. Relievers are a totally different story, though.

But Baines 1 for Alvarez/Sosa/Fletcher would have been an amazing trade had they been able to pry away Juan Gonzalez instead. Ofc, his career would eventually flame out in spectacular fashion too as he turned down that massive offer from the Tigers and went the way of Ruben Sierra. At that point, Baines was fading even further, reminiscent of the treatment of Frank Thomas at the end of his Sox career. Harold kept his disappointment internalized, however.

If/when we see them...if it's more of the Josh Rojas Show the first half, there's going to be a number of disappointed fans who wanted to see youngsters get the majority of playing time tuning out until Teel Quero Montgomery are up. And then they have yet to close the books on Fletcher/DeLoach/Julks...who most fans have kinda already given up on. Which then leaves the pending Luis Robert Trade as the primary means of generating interest the first half. That's depressing enough, yet the last remaining hope before the 2026 draft to really infection some more life into the franchise.

Leasure was the biggest hyped up hope last year...that didn't last. Nastrini as well. Berroa had the raw stuff...but seems just as enigmatic as G.Santos. And then Iriarte was yet another hyped Padres pitcher who hasn't proven much yet...and Thorpe has lost a lot of his original luster, too.

The age-old Sox debate...which is worse, complaining or complaining about the complaining? Of course, if they didn't have one of the three worst records in baseball from 2013-2024...over a full decade now...there wouldn't be nearly AS MUCH to complain about. Like Cub fans...more obsessed with debating if the owner only cares about lining his pockets with profits and not actually winning. Oops. That sounds oddly familiar. Well, we don't even have the joy of "there's always next year" and annual spring predictions of first place from sports writers. It might be another two seasons before we can realistically aspire to even fourth place in the he division...which just might still be considered a success to JR.

Or 2-3 years just to be more rosily optimistic but not completely out of the really of possibility. 2027 is realistic depending on the progress of a Top 3 farm system. Belief in supplementing it with FA spending is the most elusive part, though.

https://www.mlb.com/news/ichiro-suzuki-first-asian-born-mlb-player-in-hall-of-fame What Ichiro's HOF induction means for future (and past) Asian ballplayers