caulfield12

https://www.royalsreview.com/2024/2/14/23985092/what-i-like-love-and-dont-like-about-the-proposed-downtown-ballpark Looks at all the angles positive and negative of Royals downtown stadium proposal. "The Royals have also made some serious concessions, such as pledging to cover cost overruns and insurance costs, although their current agreement is non-binding. As far as what they are asking taxpayers, it certainly isn’t as onerous as some other lavish public subsidies for stadiums, simply an extension of what taxpayers are already paying. The team seems committed to a community benefits agreement with plenty of touted benefits, although the follow-through is the important thing to watch there." ..... "There are still unanswered questions remaining. The entire funding picture for the project remains a bit vague, with the team asking Jackson County taxpayers to extend the 3/8 cent sales tax another 40 years to raise about $350 million, the team pledging to pay the $1 billion costs of the ballpark district, and the remaining $650 million for ballpark funding unaccounted for." I find a general sales tax on all voters to fund the stadium rather distasteful, as sales taxes are quite regressive and it seems unfair to use public funds to subsidize billion-dollar sports franchises. If public funds are necessary, a ticket tax seems much fairer, requiring fans of the team to pay costs rather than residents who will never attend a game, Even tax increment financing - where taxes raised from the economic activity of the project are used to fund the project itself - seems preferable to asking a poor individual in eastern Jackson County who doesn’t care for sports to pay a tax to fund John Sherman’s stadium."

Swagger Factor 0 with Tim Anderson gone and already halfway forgotten...the days of DQ sponsorships and video game covers and Jackie Robinson and FoD walkoffs, seem so far removed that it almost never even happened.

Delete...

With the parachute...for the Snake River jump.

So he's saying the 2018-19 classes with Moncada Giolito (might have lost eligibility) Lopez Dunning Cease Jimenez Kopech would be ranked behind the current group with most of the focus on Montgomery Schultz?

The City of Chicago should simply say we'll build your stadium the next time you guys win a playoff series. Odds are it would take a decade or more for that to even happen....plus another 3-5 years to get the stadium built.

It's almost like with Abreu and now Grandal gone...suddenly they still have to worry about someone keeping Robert Moncada Eloy in check to an extent. Certainly not coming from Grifol and Montoyo.

And we already know that Maldonado has suddenly become the annointed one, like a manager in waiting/training, so Grifol's not going to stand in his way, either. He certainly wasn't going to step aside and tutor Lee.

That’s why KW/JR always employed the offense >>> defense strategy in the 2000’s. Aim for second or third place and at least entertain the fans. Cleaner losses are still going to be losses, and then we will have to listen to Grifol-isms to top it off. Nothing more demoralizing than a sub par offensive team that lacks the ability to come back in games…paired with a bullpen that consistently blows tight and late leads. Feel much more confident somehow about the bullpen than the offense, though. Still would have preferred fewer veterans and going out on a limb for veteran rehabbers like Hendriks or Woodruff on two year incentive-laden deals.

McGuire....come on down (again).

Nebraska's Upset of No. 2 Iowa Delivers Massive Ratings for Fox, Women's College Basketball. Fox scored a new record-high during Sunday's broadcast of the Nebraska-Iowa women's basketball game. The network saw 1.772 million viewers tune into the rivalry showdown, most for a women's basketball game in network history.

Melky Cabrera Special...

Carlos Rodon and Trea Turner together didn’t exactly turn NC State into a dynasty. Quality depth is so important.

You left out the Royals, who had a two year run before they had to start tearing everything apart. That was certainly not sustainable success because they had to move on from everyone but Gordon (who famously almost went to the Sox for $72 million, which would have been a disaster) and Sal Perez. Hosmer and Moustakas got too expensive, Cain same thing (old and expensive), Shields/Cueto/Zobrist moved on, Yordano Ventura died and then the bullpen quickly got too old and expensive as well (Davis, Holland, Herrera). But here’s why their run ended, at least 50% of it…Michael Paul Montgomery (born July 1, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the first round of the 2008 MLB draft, and made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with the Seattle Mariners in 2015. The Mariners traded him to the Chicago Cubs in 2016. Montgomery recorded the final out in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, earning the save and sealing the Cubs' first World Series title since 1908. 2010 Christian Colon '15 Shortstop California State University, Fullerton (Fullerton, California) 4 [54] 2011 Bubba Starling Outfielder Gardner Edgerton High School (Gardner, Kansas) 5 [55] 2012 Kyle Zimmer Right-handed pitcher University of San Francisco (San Francisco, California) 5 [56] 2013 Hunter Dozier Shortstop Stephen F. Austin State University (Nacogdoches, Texas) 8 [57] 2013 Sean Manaea Left-handed pitcher Indiana State University (Terre Haute, Indiana) 34§[o] [57] 2014 Brandon Finnegan Left-handed pitcher Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, TX) 17 [58] 2014 Foster Griffin Left-handed pitcher The First Academy (Orlando, Florida) 28§ [58] 2014 Chase Vallot catcher St. Thomas More High School (Lafayette, Louisiana) 40§ [58] 2015 Ashe Russell Right-handed pitcher Cathedral High School (Indianapolis, Indiana) 21 [59] 2015 Nolan Watson Right-handed pitcher Lawrence North High School (Indianapolis, Indiana) 33§ [59] 2016 no first-round pick[o] N/A

2024’s 1-7-8-9 definitely the equivalent of Royce Clayton and Mark Johnson… That’s a lot of pressure on Fletcher, but, then again, nobody really is going to care all that much about this season’s Sox results other than the net from the Cease trade and any other deadline deals.

Record ticket prices for Michigan vs Iowa Thursday night. According to @TickPick, this is the *2nd most expensive women’s basketball game of all-time (college or WNBA). The average purchase price is $521. The cheapest ticket sold for this game before the news of Caitlin Clark nearing the record was $110; the current “get-in” price is $454. Remaining courtside seats at @StubHub are $9,844. *note: TickPick updated its information to 2nd, not first. TickPick originally had it listed as most expensive, but has updated to second. The first is now Iowa and Clark’s regular season finale against Ohio State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Current average ticket price: $517. The record holder before that was the 2022 WNBA All-Star game, with $150 face value tickets but not sure how many actually paid that vs. comped/corporate/charitable write offs.

Didn't realize Fletcher had nearly an 840 Milb ops with over 200 RBI's and 40ish homers. That and he went to the same school as Benintendi...Arkansas. Only two years from overlapping even though it seems Benintendi has been around forever and a day...so they/Getz (or another former Royals' staffer) definitely would have touched base with him on the acquisition regarding his character, work habits, etc. Obviously Barfield and his asst as well were quote familiar with him.

Still think the Giants are well short off the Dodgers, but just have to wait and see. This is the first time SF has spent significant money on external free agents in many many years. Always finishing second or third on their preferred targets.

Lineup: Gunnar Henderson, SS Adley Rutschman, C Anthony Santander, RF Ryan Mountcastle, 1B Ryan O'Hearn, DH Austin Hays, LF Cedric Mullins, CF Jackson Holliday, 2B Jordan Westburg, 3B If Holliday (MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect) makes the team -- a “very strong possibility,” per GM Mike Elias -- then the 20-year-old could see a good bit of time at second. If he doesn’t, Westburg could play more second and versatile infielder Ramón Urías would get more starts. Btw, Ortiz (2B) and DJ Hall (5th spot) both starting for MIL. Basallo, Mayo, Cowser, Kjerstad…that’s still quite the depth chart. Along with Bradfield, everything well timed for the next wave to eventually replace those five vets in the lineup.

WHITE SOX Lineup: Andrew Benintendi, LF Yoán Moncada, 3B Luis Robert Jr., CF Eloy Jiménez, DH Andrew Vaughn, 1B Dominic Fletcher, RF Paul DeJong, SS Nicky Lopez, 2B Martín Maldonado, C This group should be much better defensively, but the question remains as to how much they can produce together with the bats. Robert Jr. is one of the best all-around players in the game, and Moncada, Jiménez and Vaughn have the talent for strong years. Rotation: Dylan Cease, RHP Michael Kopech, RHP Erick Fedde, RHP Michael Soroka, RHP Chris Flexen, RHP There’s plenty of starting depth within the White Sox system, as young hurlers such as Nick Nastrini and Jake Eder aren’t far from Major League action. Garrett Crochet will be viewed as a starter for ‘24, but with 73 innings total on his resume, the left-hander might have to go to Triple-A Charlotte to build up for that new role. It’s also a big season for Kopech as part of the rotation. https://www.mlb.com/news/projected-lineups-rotations-for-every-2024-mlb-team

We still don’t know exactly why JR chose to go with KW on the Burger trade…or what we were going to receive in Hahn’s reported Tim Anderson deal. Maybe Reinsdorf still thought he was salvageable from a marketing/PR standpoint at that exact moment in time. That’s going to remain a mystery for years to come unless Eder somehow blows up and becomes a stud.

But is he part of their next playoff team? Does he have any remaining trade value? Compare to the number of at-bats Joe Borchard received with the White Sox as a Top 5-10 overall prospect in the game...

Or the importance of having a dynamic rusher up the middle like Jones?

Something different to discuss...especially guys like Witt and Elly De la Cruz, obviously Steamer seriously undersells any rookies before they have established a baseline. https://www.mlb.com/news/fantasy-baseball-player-rankings-2024-drafts 30. Robert 108. Cease 151. Eloy 161. Burger 223. Vaughn 224. Giolito 246. J.Abreu 260. Whit Merrifield

Pure speed wise...Williams has Mahomes beat. Judgement and decision-making that made that game one of his first interceptions surrendered in ages...that's the kind of thing that only comes from repeated experiences on the biggest stages, enabling his weakest team to win away from Arrowhead 3 consecutive as slight underdogs. Williams tends to force things...and running so much in the NFL gets you injured eventually. There were 3-4 risks that Mahomes took running with the ball that he hardly ever does in the regular season...well, minus the time he got his helmet cracked open.