caulfield12

SheetsDH 3 2 3 4 1 0 .500 1.390

IF ONLY the White Sox could actually spend that $173.8 million on improving their team and/or infrastructure...but we're stuck waiting on Ishbia. And maybe that money has to be invested into a new stadium project instead.

Plus Boston already has the relatively big Devers extension on the books, as well as Story and Bregman...and they still have to deal with Campbell, Anthony, Mayer, Casas (lower priority), Rafaela, Duran, Abreu, etc. A lot of young players coming up in waves, comprising their new core. I'm betting they place their biggest bets on Campbell and Anthony...not sure how much they will slow play it with the other five position players. Think they will wait and see if they get repeats from Duran and Abreu.

It has been pretty remarkable how Kopech, Burger, Giolito, Crochet and Rodon all came out the other side of major injuries (or multiple injuries) and all pretty much have landed on their feet so far in terms of stabilizing their careers. Lucas seemingly was very fortunate to get that two year Boston offer... Reynaldo's on the shelf yet again for the Braves.

And there's the $170-300 million question for all of baseball, JR, John Henry, etc. Reinsdorf has been betting ever since the John Danks contract that no pitcher's worth more than a 3 year guaranteed contract.

So was Frank Thomas...but he had a knack for contact and could foul off pitch after pitch until he got one he wanted to drive. Or he'd flare single after single into RF if that was all the opposing pitcher would give him.

And he was pretty clearly the best pitcher in baseball at the time of that contract, granted, once again...the injury concerns already creeping in. Skubal at $200 million as the reigning Cy Young and an equally hard-throwing lefty unicorn is pretty close.

Well, except for the fact that Glasnow had 530 previous big league innings...and 7-8 years of an established track record, with 120 and 88 innings being his previous career highs before 134 last season.

It's a fair deal based on the possibility he blows out his elbow again with the elevated velocity he throws at...

Too rich for JR's blood... Kristian Campbell is likely the next contract domino to fall...Roman Anthony would be right there with him. Red Sox paying a lot of money to ex-White Sox, if you include Lucas Giolito. Do Getz, Katz, Bannister get a commission??

They haven't announced Owen White as the fifth starter at Charlotte, but that's the logical move. So far, it has been Chris Rodriguez, Nastrini, Iriarte and Dunn will start tmrw.

Well, obviously they value him more than giving Elko the at-bats or putting Ramos/Sosa/Vargas at 1B, if that's the standard, but it's not much of one. Producing an OPS higher than 750 or 775, however, would be a GOOD START. We can't even manage that at any position, YET. Teel or Quero are likely to be the first...or Meidroth, if you're a big believer in his OBP game.

WestEddy touting some kind of great victory is a bit premature. Let's have the first 4-6 weeks play out, lol... Something tells me White Sox fans are going to need something like still competitive in the AL Central around Memorial Day before demonstrating much excitement. Although when beating a 3-22 start is your standard, it does SEEM/FEEL at least dramatically better or different.

White Sox attendance "only" down 11.7% with a YoY comparison with 2024, first four home games. You did have arguably better opponents last year, especially the Braves and started out with more of a rivalry series with DET. Was thinking numbers would be down 15-20% this year, but Will Venable and the possible ownership change/s have injected needed life into the franchise. That and maybe not starting off 3-22 or whatever it was would definitely help. The more days they're not in last place. Which is at least two more days if the Twins were to win the next two and Sox to lose them, they'd both be 2-4, haha.

De La Cruz, ESS 5 4 4 7 0 0 .438 1.346 LuxLF 3 0 1 1 1 0 .231 .641 Braves 0-5, Dodgers 6-0

Was looking at the list of FA outfielders still available for the Braves to replace Profar and it's BLEAK. You've got the White Sox wanting to offload Robert and Benintendi, the Mets want to do the same with Starling Marte...all three have relatively big contracts. Don't think the likes of Michael A. Taylor, Slater, or Jankowski would be enticing, lol. Maybe a HEALTHY Tauchman? The Braves had recently signed Alex Verdugo for a bargain basement price, he, Bryan de la Cruz and Kelenic will be their first choices to plug the gap while waiting on Acuna Jr., to return. REMAINING UNSIGNED: Adam Duvall (former Brave), David Peralta (pretty useful last year in SD, familiar with NL), Robbie Grossman and Aaron Hicks are pretty much all that's left now.

The Braves announced that right-hander Reynaldo López was placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to March 29, due to right shoulder inflammation. Fellow righty Bryce Elder has been recalled as the corresponding move. Per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Elder will take Wednesday’s start in place of López. There hasn’t yet been any word from the team on exactly how serious they expect this to be, but it’s concerning on a few fronts. First of all, López also spent time on the IL last year due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. Atlanta signed López ahead of 2024 and moved him back to the rotation after many years working in relief. On a rate basis, the results couldn’t have gone much better, as he had a 1.99 earned run average on the year. But he went on the IL a couple of times, once due to a forearm issue and then a second time due to shoulder inflammation. His tally of 135 2/3 innings was his largest in years but still shy of a full starter’s workload. Now after just one start in the 2025 season, he’s back on the IL with more shoulder trouble. Braves are in big trouble on yet another front as well... mlbtraderumors.com

https://www.mlb.com/news/aaron-leanhardt-discusses-invention-of-torpedo-bats

The problem is William Bergolla's the biggest "hit" so far of ALL his trades...we still don't have any high impact position players. The closest was a trade that Getz isn't even responsible for, Giolito for Quero. Obviously the jury's still out on Teel and Braden Montgomery. As well as on Vargas.

Well, when you look at the roster and trades...you look at net in and net out. Burger/Eder trade...net loss. Vaughn draft...net loss based on production per $$$, vorp. The fact of the matter is that they KEPT Vaughn and didn't keep Burger...and now the entertainment value/product has been diminished in Chicago. SouthSide fans have always loved their home run hitters, even in down days. Burger has the much better backstory of triumph over adversity/persistence/perseverance/resilience. Just reading through the things he's gone through with his kid this last year, you can't help but root for the guy. Whereas does ANYONE go to the ballpark just to watch Andrew Vaughn? How many buy his jerseys, for example? Do they even offer Vaughn jerseys for sale at the home park souvenir store? A handful of remaining fans and jerseys...?

Burger's a much more impactful hitter than Vaughn and cheaper. He has him in bat speed and EV. Yet we still hold on to Vaughn because of draft position leadership marketing. Whatever. Maybe marketing hair loss products? Apparently one of the AL favorites thinks Burger will do the trick for their current roster.

Monstrously...we shall see. Hopefully we can off load Benintendi to the Braves. Which also won't help the offense.

Padres were lucky they didn't sign him. Sucks for Braves ofc. Going to put a bit of a shadow over Tatis again...with one of his key teammates clearly do ping with the massive power increase. Hopefully he learned his lesson the hard way. Maybe Sox can deal one of their many outfielders lol. Benintendi? Puts more pressure on Kelenic and Acuna Jr. as well as Ozuna.

Something deeper going on there like the aversion of Jimenez and Abreu to the DH position.