caulfield12

Depends what else is out there on the trade market. FA's will be prohibitively expensive, and require 4-6+ year commitments. Cease is perfect for a middle or lower-tier budget organization with at least a Top 15 farm system...think of the Brewers here if they don't rebuild, or one with current cash-flow problems like the Padres or even the Twins (don't really advocate that one, but the White Sox weren't going to be competitive in 2024/2025 regardless). Heck, the Dodgers are another team that immediately comes to mind that has suffered numerous losses for a variety of reasons on the pitching front...(Lynn/Buehler/Urias/Kershaw/May)...and need someone exactly like Dylan that's durable and would figure in anywhere from #2-4 in the rotation. No indications of any issues whatsoever about him as a teammate or clubhouse chemistry (see Clevinger/Bauer) concern.

Neither of those guys move the meter...unless it's simply mediocrity and not total embarrassment. You need basically a 23-25 year old Wong...or at the very least Huira types who could put a 2.5-3 fWAR season potentially.

Makes perfect sense for their window in that division which might close in a hurry if roster is pushed above $120 million or so...and they have to start unloading Santander types. That's probably two years away or so...though. Always depends on health. Catchers don't have infinite shelf lives anymore.

Would you have wanted Cease starting a playoff game in 2023? Surely for regular season...but that 2020 Game 3 starter dilemma still exists to an extent. Cease Dunning Crochet etc. (Just saying this because Dane wasn't featured by Texas, either.) All depends on what the pitching coaches around baseball think about his arsenal and how it could be adjusted to get back closer to 2022...other than rediscovering 1.5 missing on the FB and the crispness of that pitch that everything else starts with...particularly the slider.

The Marvels Disney’s superhero sequel posted by far the worst opening in the 15-year history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with only $47.0M. That’s -15% below the prior worst: 2008’s The Incredible Hulk ($55.4M), only the MCU’s second installment, which came out before the franchise reached its future levels of cultural ubiquity. The Marvels also opens -34% below 2021’s Eternals ($71.2M), often cited (before this weekend, at least) as the MCU’s biggest underperformer in its “modern” era. Put another way, The Marvels could finish with a final domestic total less than the opening weekend for 2019’s predecessor Captain Marvel: $153.4M. Compared to Marvel’s rival DC Comics, The Marvel also opens below some other recent DC Extended Universe underperformers: -14% below June’s The Flash with $55.0M and -29% below 2022’s Black Adam with $67.0M. www.boxoffice.com

CLE and Houston continue to shock NFL. Baker Mayfield playing decently on a pretty bad Bucs team another big surprise...

Interesting coming off a huge win over Miss St....will go 7-5 or 8-4 if they could knock off LSU in season finale. Heisman: Penix Daniels Nix seem like as good a final 3 as any. Penix might have lost frontrunner spot these past two weeks. McCarthy definitely needs a huge Michigan win over OSU with bigger numbers after pedestrian game at PSU.

Biggest concern has to also be throwing so many pitches just to get out of 4th and 5th innings...that quality in 2022 felt completely missing last year. Then again...whole team collectively lost their WTW and you would think a change if scenery and coaching would/could work wonders.

Hence the reason he was getting punked by Gordon “Alpha Male” Beckham.

But that team was at least respectable/competitive until the end of the season with largely the same cast, minus Benintendi and Clevinger added, and Abreu/Hendriks subtracted.

Quite similar to the petty Giolito fiasco the previous offseason...which probably had something to do with the worst season of his later career after his initial (massive) struggles out of the gate with the Sox.

MVPs/MVP votes for two of them, in fact...

Bill Walton would draw rankings just out of curiosity... finally push out Stone... and drive JR absolutely bonkers.

Zach Remillard starting 2B if it's not Royals-related. The crazy thing there is JR signed off on Burger exiting... the quintessential TWTW guy if there ever was one. Moncada, pretty much the diametrically-opposed opposite. So JR's pocketbook >>> TWTW >>> entertainment >>> playoffs.

Malfeasance or Angelina Jolie? Benetti and Brock Huard becoming quite the broadcasting pair on FOX... this time Utah/Washington in a highly-entertaining offensive shootout.

The Marvels Disney / Marvel Studios November 10, 2023 (SEMI-WIDE) Opening Weekend Range: $35M-$49M From: Boxoffice.com Outright shocked the film is already out to a $21 million start through FRI.

Mike Huff and Pods seen like outside possibilities...except they're also more analysis or third in the booth than pure PBP guys. Does Garfien even seem like JR would tolerate him more than a McKnight-ish ever cheery homer/ass kisser?

Nobody’s going to still remember Mike Monaco in 25 years like Hawk, DJ/Farmer and Stone/Benetti.

Didn't already happen during the August/Sept pennant drive?

You're overlooking the fact that would require LaRussa signing off on Hawk returning...which is arguably one of the last things Tony and Mr. Revenues Brooks Boyer would ever want at this point.

So we've now underestimated Benetti, Semien (GG Winner 2021), Tatis, Jr. (GG Winner 2023)...am going to somewhat confidently predict Tim Anderson bumping off Andres Gimenez for 2024 at second base in the AL, or Nico Horner on the NL side...and with at least an accompanying 750 OPS. Eventually broadcasting and MLB HoF enshrinement for Benetti...with Luis Robert having only a remote chance of going in as a Sox. Abreu is the other quite remote possibility.

https://www.mlb.com/padres/news/fernando-tatis-jr-ha-seong-kim-win-nl-gold-glove-awards

Another wasted Friends & Family move to add Elijah. He might have been the only hitter in Sox recently history to be eclipsed by Korey Lee. Caruso and Esteban Beltre ran laps around Elijah, comparatively.

It's really JR and Boyer who are the main culprits. The only thing we lead the majors in is ticker sellers with high pressure almost extortionist tactics trying to guilt the 20% of ticket buyers who have always comprised 80% of attendance. If they spent that money on scouting and development instead, they would actually have fans begging to come to games. The product can and should sell itself. Iowa can fill up a whole football stadium to watch Caitlyn Clark play an exhibition women's basketball game...Nebraska even can fill Memorial Stadium for volleyball. Once again, f you have a great product and great players it sells itself. The opposite is what results from a putrid overpriced product that has forced one of the Top 3-5 younger/ish broadcasting talents in the entire country to leave the team he grew up adoring for the freaking Detroit Tigers. To add insult to injury...they're going to replace him with Beckham/McKnight/Huff or very best case scenario Mike Monaco...basically a hired gun who will jump at the first better paid opportunity that comes down the pike. Where's our next Hawk, Rooney and Dave Wills who live and die with the team? Instead, we end up with guys like Chris Rongey, who antagonized belittled and looked down judgmentally on passionate Sox fans like that call in show guy in the preseason who was arguably the only positive/uplifting highlight of 2023.

The Marvels feels like a total dud...there were less than five patrons at the theatre in China for a 7 pm Fri night showing just hours ago. Just not event openings any longer. Felt more like a spinoff tv show with zero emotional investment.