caulfield12

I would take Henderson on breakaway speed...but tOSU seemed to favor Judkins more in "must have/do or die" situations. Johnson just has that elite combination of size speed and YAC. He still succeeded despite being 75% of defensive focus.

If they sold high, it's a three player deal with one of the Red Sox Top 3 guys...the injury concerns have to be considered with Montgomery to some extent. That said...he doesn't seem to be the type of player who has to rely on outfielder speed like a Jared Mitchell. (and yes completely different injuries) It was a fair trade but not a steal either unless you are getting a potential future star...but much better than Cease (unless Zavala and Thorpe somehow both stick).

AP reports Dodgers received $1,456,600 from Philadelphia in the Campbell trade. https://apnews.com/article/roki-sasaki-dodgers-contract-31412fce9c7f50593e037022a7776a0d "The Dodgers started with a pool of $5,146,200 but increased it to $8,102,800 with a pair of trades last week, acquiring $1.5 million from Cincinnati and $1,456,600 from Philadelphia."

https://www.mlb.com/news/roki-sasaki-on-signing-with-dodgers https://www.mlb.com/news/roki-sasaki-meets-lebron-james-lakers

Kaleb Johnson is going to be a solid NFL running back...haven't seen him slotted in many mock first rounds, just Jeanty at this point. And he's all over the place, from near 10-12 to the very bottom of the round.

Adding to the #1 bullpen in baseball in 2024. Quite a concept!

https://dodgersnation.com/making-sense-of-the-michael-busch-trade-why-didnt-the-dodgers-get-more/2024/01/14/ Suddenly looking much better for the Dodgers one year later...Busch was not exactly going to supplant Freeman.

Probably coming in the next 4-6 weeks…

Kid has to meet all his incentives. A* in every class or diminished skills contract clause kicks in. Or we can just call it the Machado unreachable final year trickery.

https://www.truebluela.com/2025/1/22/24349268/roki-sasaki-dodgers-baseball-america-top-100-prospects Sasaki instantly ascends to Baseball America's #1 prospect status. Jinx???

One can just imagine the White Sox offer in a similar situation....

"The Dodgers will still hold fan fest this offseason, but due to ongoing renovations inside Dodger Stadium, the 2025 DodgerFest will be held in the parking lot on Saturday, February 1. DodgerFest this year will take place in Lots B, D, and P in the Dodger Stadium parking lot, with $20 tickets to the public going on sale on Thursday, January 23. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on February 1, with the parking lot gates opening at 10 a.m. The Dodgers say a portion of the proceeds from tickets will go to relief efforts for the recent Los Angeles fires." https://www.truebluela.com/2025/1/21/24348941/dodgers-fan-fest-dodger-stadium-february-1

Bob Nightengale/USA Today the only one reporting Yates' LAD deal as done, pending a physical. No terms announced as of yet. "Not every team has the financial bandwidth to afford the type of offseason the Dodgers have had, but it when looking at teams like the Minnesota Twins, Miami Marlins, and San Diego Padres— they’ve spent a combined $0 in free agency this offseason— organizations that are looking to upgrade their teams clearly aren’t the ones that are leaving a blemish on the sport." https://www.truebluela.com/2025/1/22/24349242/dodgers-michael-kopech-jack-flaherty-ichiro-suzuki

Maybe the Pirates will throw some more intl bonus pool money the Dodgers' way if they haven't already maxxed out.

"Sabathia has a career WAR of 61.8, and think about some of the starters who are in the same neighborhood: Zack Greinke (72.8), Luis Tiant (65.6), Tommy John (62.1), David Cone (61.6), Andy Pettitte (60.7) and Mark Buehrle (60.0). There should be a whole lot of starting pitchers making speeches on the Cooperstown stage in the years ahead..." source: espn.com Next year, Carlos Beltran, former Sox CFer Andruw Jones, maybe Chase Utley.

One of the best outfield throwing arms since Clemente/Walker/Evans. We only saw 2-3 years of his prime in the US. His job was to get on base and score...steal bases. That's exactly what he did. He was never asked to hit 3rd/4th and drive in runs in the US. Japanese culture dictates you do what will help your team win, period, individual stats be damned. You have to weigh his impact against guys like Carew Boggs Gwynn Henderson and Rose. Magglio was a great hitter there for 3-5 years but at best he was an average fielder and that skill eroded quickly enough in his 30s. Magglio obviously couldn't bunt sacrifice advance runners by always executing the correct play fundamentally. There are legendary stories about Ichiro's real power despite that frame and how he easily could have won a home run derby had the Mariners asked for him do so. He also carried the hopes and dreams for Japanese position players over generations, like Jackie Robinson or Clemente in their times, and weathered the jealousy by keeping his emotions from obviously showing..all were role or utility guys until Ichiro came to the US...he and Hideki Matsui's success paved the way for Ohtani's eventually emergence.

Add Kirby Yates, Kershaw and Kiki Rodriguez. That will bring it to at least $400 million...first payroll that large in history, beating the Cohen/Mets' payroll in 2023.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2025-01-21/dodgers-kirby-yates-free-agent-bullpen-reinforcement No deal finalized...will require an extensive physical after TJS in recent past.

Whereas the Royals passing on Grifol lowered his salary...

That's why Toronto wasn't that far off, because of direct flights and global Arctic circle route saving a ton of time. (As long as they stay out of Russian air space.) Too bad Vancouver doesn't have their own team....too close to Seattle.

Go Hawks! Can at least claim him for Hawkeye coaching tree...not sure he's automatic to replace Ferentz because Illinois has the clear resource/recruiting advantage. But coaching 3 different B10 schools would be close to a record...

deBoer has a ton of pressure on him this year with a new QB. We shall see. Texas with Manning will get all the hype, but everything still goes through Bama and UGA recruiting-wise. And maybe A&M due to resources? At any rate, Downs stays at Bama and Jeremiah Smith goes to Miami FSU or Florida...Ohio State doesn't win it all. Also you have the concentration of wealth/alumni networks at all the Big Ten schools compared to the Deep South...which is still Atlanta Charlotte Nashville bounded by Texas to the west. Now that NIL is legalized...teams like Penn State will become increasingly dangerous. Level playing field now...talent might be primarily in the South, but big money on the two Coasts Midwest/Chicago/Rust Belt still. Civil War all over again...essentially.

I think the Sox themselves do a good enough job on their own as an organization depressing us...realistically, the team is not going anywhere without their own home grown, cost-controlled superstar. All the hand-wringing in the world isn't going to change a thing, nor will it be enough to change the narrative five years from now without a new stadium bought and paid for.

Poor Connor McKnight...at any rate, don't bring back Chris "Ranger" Rongey from St Louis, he has a morning show there with a female co-host now, maybe KMOX.

I blame this whole phenomenon on Hideo Nomo and Chan-Ho Park signing with the Dodgers back in the day. The Red Sox and Yankees and even Cards had their moments with Asian players, but it's now a near monopoly on the very best players. Or just blame it on exhaustive scouting coverage/networks.