caulfield12

He was also a multiple Gold Glove 3B...but Seager was the face of the franchise at that time and Machado was a rental.

Column: Sell? Move? Tank? Is this the end of the Padres’ Camelot era? Ninety days ago, the San Diego Padres closed within one game of eliminating the Dodgers in the National League Division Series. On their march to the World Series championship, the Dodgers had survived their toughest test at the hands of the Padres. The best rivalry in baseball would endure. On Monday, in a bombshell lawsuit, the widow of beloved Padres owner Peter Seidler suggested the Padres themselves might not endure, at least not in San Diego. Sheel Seidler, the widow, wants to take control of the team and said in a court filing that a reason Seidler’s brothers have prevented her from doing so “may well be … efforts to sell, and perhaps relocate, the team, over Sheel’s strident objections.” https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2025-01-06/padres-lawsuit-peter-seidler-widow-brothers-sued

https://www.mlb.com/news/each-team-s-top-international-prospect-2025?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage Quero voted the White Sox top international prospect. Look out in CLE, another Chourio coming up, and that Tigers' catching prospect is winning a lot of accolades as well.

Moncada obviously came up as a middle infielder...got moved to 2B largely because of the presence of Bogaerts/retirement of Pedroia and then got moved over to 3rd eventually by the White Sox when he struggled at second. I'm not sure about Moncada's range and injury susceptibility at SS...if he EVER could have protected his legs there, when he couldn't handle the wear and tear of 3B as it turned out. Part of it was fielding injuries, the other part related to baserunning, but time will tell if he can ever recover even 75-80% of where he was in 2019 (pre Covid). https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/player/196857/ Colson usually grades at a 55 arm, it's not 50 and lacking exactly...but it's usually not 60+ either, which would be zipping the ball over there at 90-95 mph pretty consistently.

Every single thread between now and at least 70 future wins by the Sox will be referendums on Chris Getz, for and against...

But it has never been explained...why those two specific teams...Hahn and Kim Ng never got along? Because KW spent a lot of time in Miami? And why was the simultaneous Anderson trade by Hahn denied/voided?

It's one of the main reasons why he's the GM today, the disharmony involving trading Anderson and Burger at the same time by two club executives...at some point, we might even learn who Getz sided with during this standoff. It could be that he argued against BOTH trades. I would be interested to know what he thought about that move, personally. That was really the beginning of his tenure as GM, it's just that nobody knew it quite yet at the time. ‘‘He’s not far off,’’ Sox general manager Chris Getz said. But there also are cautionary signs, which is why a stint at a pitcher/catcher camp in September at the Sox’ spring-training facility and a current assignment for Glendale in the AFL serve as an apprenticeship for an eventual major-league promotion. In the same game against Peoria, Eder lacked command, threw only 29 of 55 pitches for strikes and was pulled after issuing his fourth walk to start the third, even though he hadn’t allowed any hits. A lack of concentration enabled Jakob Marsee to steal third base with ease, five pitches after Marsee had stolen second despite Eder paying closer attention to him while on first. ‘‘I’m not concerned,’’ Getz, who took over as the Sox’ top baseball decision-maker one month after Eder was acquired, said of some of the flaws. In addition to participating in the pitcher/catcher camp, Eder was sent to the Sox’ non-ballyhooed pitch lab to have his delivery scrutinized and to identify mechanical flaws that could be corrected and allow him to throw his mid-90s fastball with more consistency. ‘‘I’ve been here for a couple of months now and got a good relationship with all the pitching coaches and coordinators,’’ the 6-4, 215-pound Eder said. ‘‘So it’s been productive.’’ The strikeout of Manzardo was reminiscent of what Eder did after being selected as a fourth-round pick of the Marlins in the pandemic-shortened 2000 draft out of Vanderbilt.

Where are they going to find a REAL SS? The Tampa Bay Rays officially came to terms on Tuesday with free agent shortstop Amed Rosario, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN. Per Passan on "X:" Infielder Amed Rosario and the Tampa Bay Rays are in agreement on a one-year, $1.5 million contract, sources tell ESPN. That was probably their last best chance at the "cheapies." Maybe Kevin Newman (looks like he's a non-roster invite in PITT), the Mets' post-season star Jose Iglesias, or former Rockies' SS Brendan Rodgers? Jon Berti? Plenty of players from the 2024 Chicago White Sox are still available in free agency. There were so many problems with the Southsiders last year that these players should get chances elsewhere. That includes Nicky Lopez, who hit .241 in 124 games playing second base and shortstop. This is another player who would be happy to sign a one-year contract with the Mariners. Even though it is so hard to hit in Seattle, Lopez would be a solid defender and has had success at T-Mobile Park. In 14 games, he has a .357 batting average with 20 hits in 56 at-bats. Getting someone who can hit in Seattle into the fold would be a great way to end the offseason. Uh-oh, can't wait to see CWS's take on this move for Seattle, haha. Suggestions for Ha Seong Kim (2/$36 million), Rizzo, Berti and Nicky Lopez to basically replace Rojas, haha. https://clutchpoints.com/mariners-top-4-bargain-bin-free-agent-targets

And Martin's the most likely member of that starting rotation to get traded (not to mention he's coming off TJS)...also, not exactly an optimistic projection for Thorpe. I think everyone would take a 2.0 fWAR from Luis Robert heading into the first week of July. Probably more optimistic than most.

The Chicago White Sox came to the winter meetings believing they would trade left-handed starter Garrett Crochet by the end of the week. Time is running out. The Sox have stuck by their high asking price ever since they put him on the market at the trade deadline. Said one high-ranking source of a team that was interested in Crochet, “We’re out. They wanted three of our top prospects. Three. We can’t do that.” Crochet has top of the rotation stuff. There is disagreement on his value because Crochet, 25, has just two years of control and threw a career high 146 innings after throwing an average of 36 innings over the previous six years, including college. He is something of a comp to Glasnow—a guy with ace stuff without the ace track record. The Los Angeles Dodgers gave Tampa Bay two major league ready prospects, Jonny DeLuca and Ryan Pepiot, to get Glasnow, who had one year of control before Los Angeles then signed him to an extension. sportsillustrated.com Well, it clearly wasn't BOS, because they maintained all three of their top prospects (Antony, Mayer, Campbell) in the Crochet trade.

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.