caulfield12

It’s the fact Benetti was “one of us” as a unabashed Sox fan…and not an outsider or carpetbagger. Not many have the White Sox listed as their dream job these days.

The more you listen to Benetti recently, the more you realize he trapped himself in that kind of cornball role…feeling he had to substitute for poor Sox onfield product with filling up so much awkward time and space. Like promoting concession items…pushing/explaining analytics, Nationwide. Away from the Sox, and the obligation of carrying the broadcast 162 games per year, he found his true voice in the natural rhythms of basketball and football. He has a really synergistic partnership with Brock Huard and seems to thrive more on the event status of Top Ten football matchups and the environment around college football and basketball. Probably he simply feels liberated to get away from what appears to be a horrific 4-5 upcoming years and simply wanted to be in a place where he was wanted/valued than tolerated. JR always seemed the type much more comfortable with the old ballplayers like a Stone Harrelson Farmer Paciorek…JR probably had zero clue about 85-90% of his pop cultural references and found his kissing up to partners and constantly deferring to them a bit of a drag, too. Heck, unless you just kiss JR’s ass, you’re eventually going to be on his bad side and losing KW/Hahn might have exposed another annoyance when it seemed as if Boyer wanted to totally clean house and move forward with a new group of sycophants. Benetti realized he had a lot more leverage/bargaining power but overplayed his hand and then burned some bridges with Brooks and realized it was going to be impossible to swallow his pride and return. He’s now branded himself as kind of an underdog symbolic of Detroit itself…being born again in a way, revitalized, restored. That fits his natural personality a lot more than simply being a sideshow resented for his growing popularity by ownership. Also believe the responsibility of attracting a new generation of Sox fans lost since the end of the Ozzie Era kind of wore him out or down over the last two seasons when Sox onfield play totally disintegrated and managerial decisions became a source of weekly embarrassment.

Cubs #3 here with #2 Rangers and #6 Braves the two scariest teams in terms of overall talent already stockpiled. https://sports.yahoo.com/shohei-ohtani-suitor-rankings-which-team-can-make-best-case-for-most-exciting-mlb-free-agent-ever-225037191.html

30 years old is Gurriel Jr. Negative fear defensive numbers every single year until a 0.1 this year.

https://newarena.com/posts/predicting-where-the-top-25-mlb-free-agents-will-sign?utm_campaign=tb_df_freeagent_11223_mxc_dt&utm_source=tb_ae&utm_term=yahoo-home&utm_content=180203&tbclid=GiD7HNnBQ02E8wZSEgy0_29E9YT5ifvjvl3gzNmK5TC1QyD8tWEo19S6lNXdkId2&cost=TIb1NVKo9gKml3eQChgxFzhawko4dEWyBWmIE3sdqNQ= Lourdes Gurriel Jr. predicted from WS team to the White Sox...??? Using Jim Bowden’s prediction for his The Athletic article, he predicts that Gurriel will get a three-year, $36 million deal, which totals $12 million annually. For the sake of comparison, that’s the same annual salary that veteran sluggers such as Michael Brantley, Joey Gallo, and Justin Turner signed for last winter, but for longer term, which makes sense, given Gurriel Jr.’s age. Feels like it's going to be much closer to the $40-45 million range, though. Especially coming off an ASG appearance and with much improved fielding numbers to go with the offense.

If they're willing to spend $6-7 million...two years of control remaining.

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/shohei-ohtani-to-the-cubs-why-ben-verlander-believes-it-could-happen Not to mention another high-profile Japanese teammate already seemingly comfortable there...of course, conversely, Fukudome wasn't so warmly greeted due to his various issues adjusting to MLB ball.

Except Robert was going out there for weeks when he could barely swing the bat one-handed in late 2022... How much of it was being overprotective or too cautious with players (including the whole go at 75-85% of all out under TLR)...how much was it the actual characters and work ethics of those players? How much was it lack of motivation to play for anything for almost six full months...and nobody to really push them that entire time from a leadership/professionalism standpoint?

Wow...really in cost-cutting mode. They're likely going to have to decide soon whether to put Bieber on the market, which would mean yet another option out there to Dylan Cease. There will be a lot of interest in Quantrill as well if he is proven to be healthy. In a bid to forestall another season of uncertainty on the local media front, the league on Wednesday asked a Houston bankruptcy court to deny Diamond Sports Group’s recent request for more time in which to hash out its overdue Chapter 11 restructuring plan. In a pair of motions filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, MLB and five of its clubs (the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers and Texas Rangers) objected to Diamond’s Sept. 29 request to push the deadline back another 60 days. https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2023/mlb-demands-status-update-diamond-sports-rsns-1234741883/#!

Have you looked at his remaining contract and GP the last 2-3 seasons? $35,450,000 next six seasons...covers ages 33-38.

They might end of doing a total teardown at this point. Soto Machado Bogaerts Tatis Jr. Musgrove Darvish Cronenworth Kim...

Feels almost like similar circumstances going from 1993 through strike to 1995 and where the Sox went from the TA FoD walkoff and where they currently stand as of today. Doubt Salvy Perez would even leave his winter home for that one unless it was a KC-hosted fan even because he's still so beloved there despite the fading utility of his contract as a declining player in late stage career.

Thai massage…the painful stretching one and not Watson version manicure pedicure facial massage with kiwi mask for 50-60 mins watching CNBC and counting market returns to portfolio

POM? Not sure the latter even exists in Lawrence… Greg better stick to Subway meal deals. Outside of Krugman and Friedman, he might be more obsessed with the prices of everything than anyone west of the University of Chicago.

Ron?

Seems to be forecasting an upcoming trade...

Lee has certainly managed to underwhelm even the most tepid of expectations...

When to trade Altuve Bregman Alvarez Tucker? They have to extend at least one of the latter two or totally rebuild around the remains of their starting rotation.

Who was the poster that adopted Lucas Giolito as his cause celebre and also fought with everyone about the Bears? Jack Parkman? He self-banned himself numerous times...

Still stung by Danks and that was only $65 million and five years…and nearly a decade ago. He won’t get anything near what he wants, which is to be treated closer to the 2022 version that 2023. That’s at least a $150+ million extension, if not $175. And all for a pitcher that is clearly being questioned whether he’s actually an ace or not still going forward.

He was basically winning that game with what amounts to his fourth best option starting the year suddenly elevated to WR1. No way you can argue that weapons around him made him even better with Nico Collins out and so many reserves filling holes on offense. It was the exact opposite....in fact one key player lifted the entire team to playoff competitiveness. Granted...that division is far far from the best.

Josh Allen coming out of Wyoming of all places...he had so many obvious physical skills that just jumped off the charts when the combine came. That said, is it possible he already peaked? With Allen, always a question in the back of your mind about competition level coming out. Trevor Lawrence, for example, had a lot of those similar physical skills as Allen, and then the proven leadership pedigree and even he is fluctuating sort of up and down with what was expected out of the Jags this year. Then there's the Jared Goff types who don't take off until paired with the right coaching and system in place that maximizes their talents...instead of forcing players to be something they're not in an inflexible way.

Both him and Grifol saying they dislike their team comes off as disingenuous at best...how would it possibly benefit the franchise for both leaders to echo those ridiculous sentiments that will just lead to more apathy and dissenters in the clubhouse? Luis Robert has to be saying what the F after the season he just enjoyed...

Receiver Heismans are so rare..guys like Howard or Tim Brown who had larger than life college careers. Plus special teams, kick and PR. Even rarer.

Should never forget how many teams missed out on anywhere from $25-75 million in media rights payments due to BALLY bankruptcy... Any of those teams looking to compete for the playoffs but out of the Top Tier FA's (including Japanese posting) would logically be interested in Cease...and fans are waiting to see what those teams will looking like heading into Feb/March before making purchasing decisions on MLB.TV packages (see Brewers, for example). It's the principal reason the Twins are cutting payroll despite their first playoff success in ages...when they could REALLY step on the throats of all the AL Central teams and deny hope to their fanbases, CLE and DET in particular. The Twins have to replace Sonny Gray, Top 3 Cy Young (basically Dylan Cease 2022), for example...and can't afford another $100+ million contract.