caulfield12

At least Ohtani might be the greatest player in history...unlike that prick Derek Jeter.

Shouldn't it instead be 6:41 for the 2024 win total?

It's called the law of diminishing marginal utility. Cuba is nearly tapped out...the market opportunities are in Asia, DR, Venezuela.

What do you expect of sports writers? To cheer for the Dodgers getting bigger and better by the day? Maybe F1 is the closest parallel...fans seem to love the same 2-3 drivers winning every race.

"But from an entertainment perspective, it’s underwhelming, dispiriting. The rich are getting even richer, the strong even stronger. The Dodgers, a team with an armada of superstars, add yet another, this time at a bargain-bin price. Chavez Ravine, it seems, is hogging all the hardball joy." https://sports.yahoo.com/dodgers-flex-evil-empire-might-in-signing-roki-sasaki-and-give-rest-of-mlb-reason-to-grumble--especially-jays-padres-022729768.html

So the Dodgers aren't the Evil Empire villains now, lol? When I lived in KC for a decade (98-2007), fan protests were always directed at the Yankees. No more.

Bellinger turned into Colin Rea and there's just no way they keep Tucker in-house. The Cubs spend just enough to create the appearance of competitiveness...but two years ago was their best shot. Top 5 farm system the last couple of years but nothing close to a Jon Lester anchor this time around. Just one shot with Tucker in 2025. Only chance is their rookie 3B becomes a total stud. Go BrewCrew/Chourio.

GR already loses with their downward pointing arrow. TD Ameritrade isn't great...but they win the corporate battle by a land slide. Best yuppie gentrification award by a country mile.

A dumb trade by Cashman of Contreras and cash subsidy for Loiaza is what essentially gifted the White Sox the WS. Because he had stage fright vs. the Red Sox/ESPN.

We have Alejandro Cruz now...that will show 'em.

"Japan with a GDP of $5T ranked the 3rd largest economy in the world, while Cuba ranked 64th with $100B. By GDP 5-years average growth and GDP per capita, Japan and Cuba ranked 152nd vs 130th and 28th vs 82nd, respectively. Apples and oranges. How could they possibly monetize Cuba? And now Trump/GOP politics make it all the more unlikely.... Cuba couldn't even afford Ohtani's 50/50 ball...they actually spend their money on subsidizing healthcare. You forgot Minoso, El Duque, Rodon (family branches), Contreras, Grandal, Moncada...

In reality it's AA but they clearly wanted to keep Project Birmingham group together as they progressed together to Charlotte....Montgomery Quero Keel Meidroth Ramos will all be there, maybe Baldwin.

The White Sox built a brand for seventy-five years in Cuba and what exactly is that worth now to the franchise?

Ohtani is a $50 million dollar per season player and he's reflected by the payroll at $2 million. This team is heading for essentially a $400 million payroll. Then Ohtani's generated an extra $100 million alone in Dodger revenues, or twice the yearly White Sox payroll... It's not just SD. It's Pittsburgh Colorado Miami Toronto TB White Sox Oakland Cincy St.Louis Angels that are pretty much hopeless now. Twins' owners are basically giving up, too.

Question Time: Is It Worst (Worse) To Try And Fail (Over And Over) Than Not To Try??? There is a (bad) romantic comedy movie, ‘27 Dresses,’ in which Katherine Heigl shows her romantic interest that she has 27 ugly bridesmaid dresses and has never been the bride. Somewhere in an office at Roger Centre, there is a closet with the same number of dresses, for the Blue Jays front office. https://www.bluebirdbanter.com/2025/1/19/24347249/question-time-is-it-worst-to-try-and-fail-over-and-over-than-not-to-try Where have we seen THIS before? TLR and Yermin from the Renteria years... The beginning of the end was the whole “they’re having too much fun in the dugout, let’s fix that”. It backfired spectacularly and nothing good has happened since. I don't think I've ever seen karma strike back so simultaneously swift and vicious. It boggles the mind. There’s not a workplace in the world where anyone would buy into “stop enjoying yourselves and you’ll have success” Especially a workplace where the primary duties are to play a freakin' kid's game!!!

Is this a joke??? The one guy who dominated Shohei Ohtani now joins him to pitch against San Diego’s lineup. This will be fun to watch. ..... Still as we sit here on this Sunday morning the Padres haven’t signed or traded for a Major League player. One win away from beating the World Series champions and this is how they have they reacted. Fan favorite Blake Snell signs with the Dodgers. Sasaki. Scott. Who’s next? Jurickson Profar? (I’m kidding. It’s not happening. Their outfield is full but we’re down bad right now) The Dodgers will be $130+ million over the Competitive Balance Tax threshold. So much for balance.(And with Ohtani reflected, they'd be nearing a $375-400 million payroll.) Props to them for spending the money they have but at the same time, shouldn’t MLB step in and put a cap when a team is going aggressively over the threshold. There are General Managers in the league that want to spend but literally don’t have this money to do so. They’re supposed to look at the Dodgers and think all this is fine and dandy? Another sad day in the offseason for Padres fans. https://www.gaslampball.com/2025/1/19/24347247/is-this-a-joke

"Almost" being the key word...depends on FA at some point.

He was hurt but he's not a SS anymore and he was a 775-850 ops guy previously in Boston...not one 100+ points lower. Hahn was right on 15-20% of his contracts lol.

If you combined the ENTIRE AL Central into one team the only starters (vs. the Dodgers' starters) out of the lineup/rotation would be Witt Jr. Ramirez maybe Correa maybe Salvy Perez and then Skubal. Greene or Kwan in LF, perhaps. I would still pick LAD vs combined "Central 5" vs.1 over 162 games.

You tell yourself that. Bogaerts was actually the biggest mistake so far. At least their fans could DREAM for 5-6 years now...they knocked off LA in the post season and had them on the ropes this season. Hosmer is long gone. A much more expensive version of vets/leadership/winning experience that Getz attempted last year.

Will Riley is a lot of fun to watch...a little Keegan Murray to his game.

The point is getting across? Well, the LA Times sportswriters are twisting themselves into pretzels attempting to defend their brand and how it positively drives attendance/revenue across MLB. They identity a "Boston Strong" as their 2025 underdog identity with the wildfires.

We’re about as “lean and mean” as Sizzlelean…at any rate, we did have Nicky Lopez and now George Wolkow from the “local” Chicagoland market.

Of course we don’t even get the Dodgers at home this year…JR must be fuming over that missed revenue bump. Sox are sacrificial fodder/lesser Washington Generals for LAD fireworks nights July 2/3/4. (Although might not want to deliberately put flammables into the SoCal air…?)

I blame this on Chris Getz. And Brooks Boyer. And WestEddy. In no particular order… Maybe they should try starting LATER to keep the Sox scores out of the news, lol…