caulfield12

No hitter against Seattle forthcoming...

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/guardians-trade-rumors-emmanuel-clase.html If you look at where Clase and Duran (Twins) were 12 months ago...it's just incredible that the Guardians are already trying to dump him, but everything is starting to be about finances with that team after the RSN failure.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/11/erick-fedde-drawing-interest-from-mlb-clubs.html Merrill Kelly got a two-year, $5.5MM deal from Arizona going into 2019. A year later, Josh Lindblom got $9.125MM plus incentives over three years from the Brewers. Chris Flexen got $4.75MM over two years from the Mariners prior to 2021, plus a vesting option for 2023. Fedde may be able to top those figures through a combination of his superb season, his former prospect pedigree and inflation, but the guarantee still figures to be lighter than the top available arms.

Deacon Hill probably wants to enter the portal but nobody biting. Have never seen a QB with less instinctive touch when he throws the ball.

Until he gets hurt in typical Sox "everything that can go wrong will go wrong" 2023 fashion...another disadvantage is that he can't fatten up his stats too much beating up on the AL Central dregs (Royals and Tigers) as in past years with the unbalanced schedule.

No Scholtens? And the comeback of the inimitable Davis Martin? How soon they all forget.

Nick Martinez really resuscitated his value pitching in Asia...recently parlayed it into the biggest contract of his career.

At least they're not dumb enough to announce a Grifol extension so he's not a "lame duck" going into this what looks to be a truly horrific season...can't imagine the Cease rumors are helping ticket brokers trying to cajole former season ticket holders back into the fold during these prime Christmas sales weeks.

You can honestly say the A's with the LV destination eventually in mind would have better odds than the Sox. Mariners have also said they will not consider Ohtani. So White Sox either 29th or 30th, although Mariners would still be favored head to head...but what about the Pirates, Guardians, Rays or Royals?

Or he pushed himself to return too early...? Feeling the weight of expectations from the 2019 MVP.

Without McCord?

That would have been a Hahn/KW special...2005 was built partially on a collection of those types all outperforming collectively. Certainly not needed now. Teams like Detroit, sure. If they can get a couple of starters closer to a full rotation.

Or Jim Parque...

https://theathletic.com/5106896/2023/12/03/jackson-chourio-extension-record/?source=freedailyemail&campaign=601983

But not barely to AA…and the potential value of the deal is pretty massive. Robert maxed out at $88 million and already had extensive international experience on the Cuban team.

The last pretty decent catcher we developed, Omar Narvaez.

New stadium project in the pipeline…unlimited financial flexibility since Witt Jr. likely isn't desperate to sign a club-friendly extension due to relatively secure family wealth/MLB pension benefits.

https://sports.yahoo.com/florida-state-was-wronged-by-cfp-but-its-not-just-the-committees-fault-185227924.html

"The Mariners essentially saved $29 million in guaranteed money by giving up Kelenic, who was in his final year of pre-arbitration with four years of arbitration (2025-2028) ahead. Sunday’s trade comes less than two weeks after the Mariners sent Eugenio Suarez to Arizona in another cost-cutting move that took the popular third baseman’s $11 million salary off the books." https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/mariners-trade-jarred-kelenic-marco-gonzales-evan-white-to-braves/ Kowar is yet another failed Royals' first rounder and Phillips, 20, has never thrown a professional pitch. He was the Braves’ second-round pick in the 2022 draft out of Boerne High School in Texas. Phillips is recovering from Tommy John surgery he had in April 2022. Another key point, Teoscar Hernandez stood to make $20.325 million in arbitration, so they just cast him adrift as well. It’s unclear how much cash the Mariners sent Atlanta, but by freeing up close to $11 million by trading Eugenio Suárez to Arizona and not extending the $20.325 million qualifying offer to Teoscar Hernández, the Mariners have dipped down to around $116 million for 2024, per Cots Baseball Contracts, down from around $140 million last season. In a tenuous offseason where fan frustration has reached a fever pitch, Dipoto was again asked about payroll -- specifically if the Mariners are in a position where they must trim. “Our payroll is very likely to be higher than it was a year ago,” Dipoto said. “So to that end, no. But we needed to create flexibility if we wanted to do things that could make us meaningfully better.” mlb.com

Pretty sure they traded $1 million to help the Dodgers sign that pretty highly-touted Korean pitcher...leaving them with roughly $400K remaining.

Chourio is part of a group of prospects on the precipice of the majors that the Brewers will count on to keep on winning. Infielder Tyler Black, catcher Jeferson Quero and starters Robert Gasser and Jacob Misiorowski all could see the big leagues this season, building on a young core already in the majors that includes outfielders Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Joey Wiemer and infielder Brice Turang. Extension talks began in earnest when the Brewers broached Chourio late in the minor leagues’ regular season. Substantial progress was made early on, which proved to be a big aid when talks picked back up with intensity over the past week. Chourio doesn’t turn 20 until March, has yet to make his MLB debut and has only six games above Class AA; yet, due to his immense potential, he has signed an eight-year extension worth $82 million with two $25 million team options. That is the most money ever given to a player before he appeared in the majors The contract buys out Chourio’s six years of team control as well as what would have been his first two years of free agency. There are also two club options tacked on the back end that were crucial from the Brewers’ side of the negotiation table, meaning Chourio could be in a Brewers uniform through 2033. If Chourio hits all incentives and escalators, the contract could be worth as much as $142.5 million across 10 years. MLB Network's Jon Heyman was the first to report the contract details. The Brewers are expected to announce the deal at baseball's winter meetings, which started Sunday. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/brewers-and-mega-prospect-jackson-chourio-agree-to-8-year-82-million-contract-extension/ar-AA1kVW7L

Make-or-break move for the more-than-likely rebuilding Brewers (also based on what the Cubs/Cardinals are doing this offseason). Lots of parallels with the Moncada/Eloy/Robert contracts, granted this kid with MUCH LESS big league experience. Trust your scouts and minor league development people...likely end up with a huge win on 65-75% of these deals when you buy out a player's prime production years. Hard to believe the Brewers if you went back to the 80's and early 90's would eventually be in a better position in Milwaukee than the Chicago White Sox. That's more guaranteed money and almost double the Benintendi deal if everything goes right for Chourio's career.

If all goes well, hopefully he creates more value than a pretty expensive year of Jesus Colome in the future.

Except Truist basically moved the stadium from downtown to the quintessential suburban (meaning 90%+ white) location. The set-up for the Cowboys/Rangers is more reminiscent of a hybrid of Atlanta with their Truist location and KC with its classic two stadiums in the suburbs with easy internet access and nothing distinguishing around it in terms of "anchor tenants." Keeping the White Sox in place...is probably going to have the most parallels to the 3 proposed downtown/North Kansas City locations for the Royals.

Still, CM and Schultz are the only Top 100 guys in the system...we saw just how far off Colas was, even though he was barely in the Top 100 on most lists at the end of last year. The key with Ramos and any other 3B will be hitting at least .750ish as a rookie...and then there are still ultimately a ton of questions about his defensive shortcomings and if he could potentially play 2nd. Still has a lot to prove, IMO.