caulfield12

Elko almost had another one...getting ether ball up into the air.

Grifol continuing to leave pitchers out there for 25-30-35 pitches their first appearance. Would think he might want to actually win a game...even if it's just spring training. Create a positive mindset, etc.

So much for the renewed focus on defense. Really three errors this inning...one on Shewmake a physical and one mental. Sosa continuing to be in the middle of everything...

Savings! Lee and Elko the heroes of the day. Not sure Payton will pass the defense test but made a game effort there.

Not for a team in a major market that was close to even with the Cubs until the late 90s.

Well, the people who care will have some say in the White Sox getting a new stadium. Imagine JR announcing a $150 million extension for Dylan Cease, $250 million for Robert and $600 million committed towards the new stadium. The mood around the fanbase and about the stadium project would change dramatically, OVERNIGHT. For example, like one of the Dodgers’ principal owners (Todd Boehly) with Chelsea FC. Reinsdorf would not even dream of signing more than 3-5 similar players because he’s more afraid of what can go wrong rather than dreaming of what could actually go right. He is at the age where wealth preservation and risk mitigation supersede all other considerations. Imagine even those lowly Rays being willing to reinvest $650 million of their own money back into new stadium efforts. JR won’t publicly put in even a penny so far. Since then under Boehly, Chelsea have handed out seven-year contracts seemingly for fun and paid more than €1 billion in transfer fees for 28 new players -- a previously unthinkable sum of money for a previously unthinkable number of acquisitions in an 18th-month span. https://www.espn.com.au/football/insider/insider/story/_/id/39578180/grading-all-28-chelsea-player-signings-todd-boehly-analysis-data-billion#:~:text=Since then under Boehly%2C Chelsea,in an 18th-month span.

Right, the Rays are one of the poorest teams but smartest with how to maximize resources allocated. $650 million and $650 million public and Rays’ split. That’s noteworthy since it is currently the biggest government subsidy for any baseball team…in a market where they’ve struggled but consistently produced winners. Some combination of Lowe, Rosario, Paredes, Taylor Walls and Curtis Mead…will somehow end up replacing a supposed generational SS in Wander Franco. Eventually Junior Caminero (acquired from fellow low budget Cleveland) might even make everyone forget about Franco, his countryman, even. The beat goes on. If the White Sox had Robert or Montgomery removed from their organization (with no return/compensation)…they would be TOTALLY dead in the water, if they aren't already.

The best one is that three million in attendance will somehow magically make Ohtani and Yamamoto deals a realistic possibility…well, that’s just dumb because the Bulls are historically Top 3 in attendance and have signed how many true superstars since the Dynasty was disbanded? Zach LaVine’s the only guy (internally) signed to a massive deal and that’s already turned into an albatross contract. They let Butler go instead of paying him. Rose and Ball eliminated themselves with injuries. D-Wade is the closest but that was already too late in his career…like numerous HoF guys the White Sox have brought in during their final 2-3 seasons.

On Friday, Mitch Keller and the Pirates agreed to a five-year deal that will ensure he will have that opportunity to bring playoff baseball back to Pittsburgh for years to come. The deal will pay $77 million, making it the largest contract for a pitcher in franchise history. It’s the third time in less than 24 months that the team inked one of its foundational players to an extension, totaling over a quarter of a billion dollars guaranteed to Ke’Bryan Hayes, Bryan Reynolds and Keller. pirates.com Reynolds is 8 years, $106,750,00…and Hayes 8/$70 million. And if O’Neil Cruz has the season predicted of him AND stays healthy at SS, he will be the next to be extended into the 2030’s.

So in the end we’re left with very hard to quantify ideas like “value to the city of Chicago…regional pride…being a two team market” along with NY, Balt/Washington, LA and SF/Oakland. Balta’s arguments are more about utilizing the property itself…how that would benefit the City of Chicago and South Loop area more than the negative externality of a deserted or torn down stadium at 35th and Shields/Bridgeport and how those areas taken up by parking lots could be repurposed. Chicago Fire to GRF has to be part of that. We’ve seen articles about the massive costs involved with tearing down facilities being greater than the original construction, for example. Lawrence Holmes keeps arguing about new traffic problems as well as lack of adequate parking/tailgating at the proposed location and damage to the Bridgeport area itself…which has 50% already been accomplished by Reinsdorf and Family diminishing the fanbase.

Public funds used for a stadium or arena can generate new revenues for a city only if one of the following situations occurs: 1) the funds generate new spending by people from outside the area who otherwise would not have come to town; 2) the funds cause area residents to spend money locally that would not have been spent there otherwise (opportunity cost) or 3) the funds keep turning over locally, thereby "creating" new spending. Very little evidence exists to suggest that sporting events are better at attracting tourism dollars to a city than other activities. More often than not, tourists who attend a baseball or hockey game, for example, are in town on business or are visiting family and would have spent the money on another activity if the sports outlet were not otherwise made available. https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/april-2001/should-cities-pay-for-sports-facilities#:~:text=Public funds used for a,that would not have been Scholarly econometric studies on the impact of professional sports stadiums are almost unanimous in their conclusion that they do not promote employment or per capita income growth (see here and here). Econofact

In our forthcoming Brookings book, Sports, Jobs, and Taxes, we and 15 collaborators examine the local economic development argument from all angles: case studies of the effect of specific facilities, as well as comparisons among cities and even neighborhoods that have and have not sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into sports development. In every case, the conclusions are the same. A new sports facility has an extremely small (perhaps even negative) effect on overall economic activity and employment. No recent facility appears to have earned anything approaching a reasonable return on investment. No recent facility has been self-financing in terms of its impact on net tax revenues. Regardless of whether the unit of analysis is a local neighborhood, a city, or an entire metropolitan area, the economic benefits of sports facilities are de minimus. As noted, a stadium can spur economic growth if sports is a significant export industry—that is, if it attracts outsiders to buy the local product and if it results in the sale of certain rights (broadcasting, product licensing) to national firms. But, in reality, sports has little effect on regional net exports. Sports facilities attract neither tourists nor new industry. Probably the most successful export facility is Oriole Park, where about a third of the crowd at every game comes from outside the Baltimore area. (Baltimore’s baseball exports are enhanced because it is 40 miles from the nation’s capital, which has no major league baseball team.) Even so, the net gain to Baltimore’s economy in terms of new jobs and incremental tax revenues is only about $3 million a year—not much of a return on a $200 million investment. This was from a Brookings Institute study from the late 90’s…after the first wave of new stadiums around the country. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/sports-jobs-taxes-are-new-stadiums-worth-the-cost/#:~:text=In every case%2C the conclusions,a reasonable return on investment.

If anything, the struggles with Gonzalez at around his spot in the draft (same for 2024) would or should have told them the Royals' approach (minus Witt Jr.) was the only way to get back closer to .500. But they instead chose to completely tear things down with no benefit except clawing back past (theoretical) financial losses. which are certainly not going to improve much unless they go all the way down to $85-105 million for a payroll floor.

But he had a mid 1's ERA last year for one of the the inarguably three best teams in baseball in the Braves.

Keith Law's opinion? Poor due diligence by Mariners or chicanery by Sox? Let's not forget at the time David Wells was a huge (literally and figuratively) get at a massive salary for the Sox and expected to lead a returning 2000 playoff team to greater heights. But turned into another Lynn or Keuchel with us...of course he got hurt eventually when not fighting teammates and they recovered a good amount of insurance subsidies on that specific contract.

Where are the Birds' supporters to argue what a great loss this guy was? Heard DJ and Len spinning on Maldonado for 5+ minutes how great he was with a pitching staff and that he could hit 240-250 but was somehow more dangerous picking his spots for 15 homers and under the Mendoza Line. How subtle and effortless every single motion like pitch blocking, or throwing to second with a runner on third, or tagging batters before they could run to first was without once referencing Grandal Seby Lee.

A governor (Dem) with national ambitions (if forced to choose) would side with the Bears over the White Sox simply from a popularity/pragmatic standpoint of alienating the least amount of voters. A traditional Republican would or should choose neither. But defining Republican values on both a state local and Federal level is absolutely anyone's guess at this point. (Of course a certain former leader's modus operandi was that any government benefit or tax handout that benefitted him in any way was fair game and 100% written and codified there by legislators in order to be fully exploited by the billionaire class.) But I believe in the end, with Sox vs. Bears, we're well beyond the traditional perspectives of politics on this one. And the Bears did get the last handout...if we are looking at this objectively.

One thing that’s certainly true is that if you actually have your own skin in the game, there’s going to be or should be far fewer cost overruns and much stricter oversight over budgets…

Son of former busted Sox pick Kyle?

How many times will they repeat DeJong went to Illinois State?

KC CLE Philly MIn Who plans these April road trips?

Who were the ones who screamed and yelled last year? Or cared enough to ? TA? Grandal? Lynn? Kelly? Giolito? Definitely not Vaughn Moncada or Robert. Will be interesting to see how Grifol and Getz respond. Or annoying...

Blazing speed intimidates Wicks.

Ole Miss....huge dude. Almost thirty homers in the minors last year. Tenth round pick in 2022.

The next Palka. Well...sorta.