caulfield12

Rocky and Apollo

Not sure him becoming some version of Pujols with the Angels would hurt the Cubs as much...maybe on the backside? Thankfully his name has never seemed to be connected to performance enhancing drugs...he's just a total freak of nature like Victor Wembayana.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_sports_contracts Fine. Baseball still has 15 of the 22 highest contracts in history by Wikipedia list. And I'm assuming Alvarez would have to fight all 11 of those fights to collect the full amount...that's never guaranteed in a sport like boxing. And there's no guarantee DAZN will be fully viable to pay it all out, either. "In a record-shattering deal finalized early Wednesday morning, Alvarez signed a five-year, 11-fight deal worth a minimum of $365 million with DAZN, which only launched in the United States in September."

So do ping pong and badminton lol. Any sport from China or India will have 1/4th or 1/8th of world popularity. How many Americans can name a ingle cricket player or have actually watched a match?

Wouldn't Alvarez be based on a single year though? Is that adding sponsorships? Shohei Ohtani is keeping his talents in Southern California — but he will be wearing Dodger Blue now. Ohtani ended the most high-profile free agency in North American sports since NBA star LeBron James' famous decision in 2010 on Saturday by announcing he will sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. According to MLB.com, Ohtani's agent, Nez Balelo, said the Japanese star will sign a deal worth $700 million, the largest in the history of North American sports. Ohtani, who spent his first six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, announced his decision in an Instagram post. "To all the fans and everyone involved in the baseball world, I apologize for taking so long to come to a decision," Ohtani wrote. "I have decided to choose the Dodgers as my next team." https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2023/12/10/baseball/mlb/shohei-ohtani-free-agency/

Here are the top ten largest sports contracts of all time: Lionel Messi: $673,919,105 for a four-year soccer contract with FC Barcelona Patrick Mahomes: $503,000,000 for a 12-year football contract with the Kansas City Chiefs Mike Trout: $426,500,000 for a 12-year baseball contract with the Los Angeles Angels Mookie Betts: $365,000,000 for a 12-year baseball contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers Fernando Tatís Jr.: $340,000,000 for a 14-year baseball contract with the San Diego Padres Bryce Harper: $330,000,000 for a 13-year baseball contract with the Philadelphia Phillies Giancarlo Stanton: $325,000,000 for a 13-year baseball contract with the Miami Marlins Gerrit Cole: $324,000,000 for a nine-year baseball contract with the New York Yankees Manny Machado: $300,000,000 for a ten-year baseball contract with the San Diego Padres Alex Rodriguez: $275,000,000 for a ten-year baseball contract with the New York Yankees.

You've obviously never watched a live game in Japan Korea Taiwan Mexico or Latin America in general...

Probably the Korean pitcher the White Sox helped with intl.bonus pool money lol. Dodgers might as well sign the Korean outfielder too and control all of Asia...sets up a huge battle for him with SD and SF. Mariners fans have to be getting antsy now too. Dylan Cease Trade Show starts in earnest now...obviously.

Where was Bauer lol? At least Dave Roberts can breathe a sigh of relief again. Toronto got de-pantsed like Sox with Machado/Wheeler/Harper. Thought they were relevant.

https://www.latimes.com/sports Look at that LA Times image...sharp. MLB Intl marketing just blew up 3-5X.

Almost every pitching expert has come to conclusion he has roughly 3-4 more years of shelf life on the pitching side of things.

Was execting $500-550 million after the pitching injury...this number is just shocking. It's almost like LIV trying to buy out the PGA...except it's one franchise. The Yankees/Red Sox don't even seem relevant in the face of this kind of move. (Yet everyone recalls the initial reaction in STL to Pujols leaving. Things don't always go as planned.)

Just think of all the players around the world in Latin America and even places like India China etc., who will now take up the sport... It's actually a huge boon for baseball because it will force out the owners who are unwilling to spend in order to compete. Kansas City, for example, spent 10-15 years protesting the Evil Empire Yankees....and finally did some things about it with two World Series titles in a row. Dodgers still have lots of ifs in the starting rotation with Kershaw Urias Buehler Gonsolin May criminal charges/injuries/recoveries.

Pretty sure that will end up doubling all new AL Central offseason spending by all FIVE teams combined... Also, understandable why Boras and Harper were already talking extension/re-negotiations lol.

Unless they become a super team like the Patriots or the mid to late 90s Yankees...the combination of those two brands (LAD/Ohtani) still lifts the sport because he's almost impossible to ignore like he was with the Angels not making the postseason.

Red Sox Cubs Giants now under huge pressure. Basically the entire NL West. Watch it end up like Pujols to LAA.

Might have sold around 100 Benintendi jerseys all of last year. Ohtani would sell that amount per Chicago block.

Can't even imagine anyone buying a Sox jersey other Luis Robert, Jr., right now. Who would it possibly be? You can't risk Eloy...likely trade bait. Same with Cease or Kopech. So Montgomery would be the only other logical choice. (And another reason dumping Burger hurts right now.)

Not only that...but Montgomery increasingly being considered a future 3B instead of SS also hurts. Or even a corner outfielder. Then you're also looking at Ramos at second (if Montgomery shifts) and Gonzalez with nowhere left to go. Just trying hard to imagine someone with limited athleticism we repeatedly keep reading about being more than a utility type. Baffling baffling pick...

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2023-12-08/shohei-ohtani-free-agency-japanese-reporters-move

https://torontosun.com/sports/baseball/inside-the-blue-jays-elaborate-pitch-to-woo-shohei-ohtani-to-toronto https://torontosun.com/sports/baseball/mlb/ohtani-fever-grips-social-media-as-blue-jays-rumours-run-rampant

https://www.yahoo.com/news/former-dolphin-ryan-fitzpatrick-tua-174918502.html Football is obviously a quite different and distinctive sport…but will we ever see quotes like this about a Grifol-led staff? Yogi Berra quote about baseball being 90% mental and the other half physical comes to mind. Or the psychological struggles of players like Konerko, Kopech, Carlos Quentin, Gordon Beckham and Jared Kelenic (Harold shoutout).

Where was Eder?

Maye vs Williams https://sports.yahoo.com/caleb-williams-or-drake-maye-heres-how-talent-evaluators-frame-the-2024-nfl-drafts-big-question-163711492.html Now a 4 to 7 split with evaluators

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/shohei-ohtani-free-agency-chaos-reigns-friday-with-flight-trackers-conflicting-reports-232934777.html Might want to take down the new enhanced thread title, lol 1:53 p.m.: A veteran Dodgers reporter says it's the Blue Jays This is when Ohtani-to-Toronto (Sho-eh? Sho-Jay?) passed the point of no return. Random fan speculation is one thing, but J.P. Hoornstra is a veteran reporter who has reported on the Dodgers for more than a decade and a half with the Southern California News Group. Now writing with Dodgers Nation, Hoornstra reported that Ohtani had chosen the Blue Jays, citing "multiple sources." https://www.instagram.com/p/C0nILOROcX7/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=bcc3a09a-5f8b-429e-8a1e-3465832a20c1 Shark Tanker actually the one on that plane to Toronto from CA