caulfield12

"Three teams are not included in the agreement. Those are the Minnesota Twins (whose deal with Diamond and Bally Sports North expired at the end of the 2023 season), Cleveland Guardians, and the reigning World Champion Texas Rangers. SBJ’s report notes that Diamond has committed to making offers for those three teams’ rights by the end of this week, likely at a lower rate." Immense impact at top of the AL Central...

Dumb.

Not according to JD Salinger.

And Burnes once again will be making a much higher salary than Cease....similar to Glasnow. The problem is that the Brewers seem to be more immediately desperate to move him than the Sox with Cease. Of course, LA might need Burned just to get through this season....they have 3-4 massive pitching additions for 2025 lined up and the prospect cost to LA will be decidedly lower. Also doesn't feel like now is good time for extension with Burnes eg. Glasnow having so many question marks moving forward.

It is in a way...they don't feel either Giolito or Cease are worth extending. So who exactly would be worth anything more than three year contracts on the pitching front then? It's like the argument the Pirates have for competing the next two years in the NL Central with Cease isn't far removed from the White Sox giving him a $150-175 million extension. The Twins and Guardians took their feet off the accelerator recently and basically begged the rest of the division to engage...but they're just withdrawing further into their shell and battening down the hatches for the upcoming storm. No instinct to fight or idea how to create a winning team from scratch. Except speed and defense is probably cheaper than paying for massive power #'s. Well that's fine if you have a strong rotation and lockdown pen. Which the Sox most assuredly don't. But, at this point, Jordan Leasure becoming the Gregory Santos of 2024 is the most that can reasonably be expected.

The White Sox were once the 8th most valuable franchise in baseball...now they're drifting into the mid teens and will likely end up close to #20-22 if this current malaise continues for the next 2-3 seasons. Facility issues on the horizon as well. Hard to see any place where there's a positive trend besides cutting payroll and selling off assets. That works far better for META to cut overhead than for the White Sox not to reinvest those savings in reinvigorating the entertainment product itself.

https://sports.yahoo.com/good-2024-qb-draft-class-204008963.html

https://africa.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39141080/mlb-free-agency-cody-bellinger-cubs-blue-jays-2023-24

Pirates' "big move" would be appear to be Martin Perez out of the bargain bin. Not to mention Rowdy Tellez, Billy McKinney, and Eduardo Olivares from the Royals... Dylan Cease fits in with that puzzle....NOT!

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

“Tennessee has recently emerged as a sought-after destination for real estate investment,” said Qiu. “Cities like Nashville and Memphis are experiencing rapid growth, driven by factors such as affordable housing, a favorable tax environment and a thriving music and entertainment industry. These factors position Tennessee as an attractive state for investors seeking to capitalize on its upward trajectory.” Aaron May, a Realtor with Coastal Luxury Real Estate Partners, agrees. “Tennessee has gained attention in recent years as a state with a favorable business environment and a low cost of living,” said May. “Nashville, in particular, has seen remarkable growth, fueled by its vibrant music and entertainment industry. With no state income tax and a steady influx of young professionals, the real estate market in Tennessee holds promise for the future.” https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/real-estate-agents-buy-property-145842517.html

Cease makes zero sense from a timeline perspective, even considering they'll be getting O'Neil Cruz back healthy again for SS. https://www.mlb.com/pirates/news/pirates-need-starting-pitching-for-2024-season They basically have to fill out an entire rotation after Keller. It would be shocking if they gave up T.Johnson after picking him so high in the 1st. Unless they simply didn't learn a thing at all from parting with the likes of Glasnow, Musgrove and Taillon. Certainly not a team that typically sheds young prospects for players with just two years of control remaining.

What next...Ncorgbl?

We're more likely to end up with the equivalent of Micah Johnson.

Considering the Brewers weren't confident enough to "invest" in him for just 1-2 years...4 years seems pretty preposterous. And the phobia teams like the White Sox already have with pitching injuries derailing contracts and/or costing more to insure, in general.

Wasn't Danks/McCarthy done near Christmas or New Year's? Was in the Czech Republic at the time... Snell is a tough one to call. SFG almost seems too obvious. There are a lot of contending teams who feel he would be the difference maker but would prefer only a three year Mac deal like JR for pitching....when it's going to take 4 years in reality, and maybe even 5.

That's exactly the year I was interviewing....fall of 1993 winter meetings. Remember being excited to meet Mike Veeck but he was quite irascible/grumpy. Portland and SLC were in transition periods at that time. Still think Nashville/Charlotte is one choice. Mexico City wouldn't be totally shocking....if you look at it from Manfred's international the sport perspective.

The point is that it's not like some death sentence. You can easily run smart organizations at $30 million or dumb ones at $180-190 million. The problem is most teams learn how to make adjustments over time.

This was back in the 90s. Still don't see SLC being a Top 2-3 choice with Denver in that region.

But two of those rosters are Cleveland and Baltimore...Tampa pretty recently as well.

At least they're trying to do SOMETHING... JR hasn't died that I have noticed...but the team is stuck semi-permanently in baseball purgatory. They at least acknowledge the existence of the Pacific Rim with a scouting presence as well...and are playing the Dodgers in Korea to open 2024. Looking at making HaSeong Kim one of their future centerpieces if they can pull it off financially...have invested a lot into Darvish as well, obviously. Had to replace Kerr/Pomeranz and continued to lower payroll while simultaneously dumping Carpenter.

When’s the last time as many as SIX teams were bidding $300+ million for the same foreign pitcher on the open market?

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/shohei-ohtanis-video-pitch-helps-190635452.html

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/braves-cut-matt-carpenter-days-183547965.html

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/if-bears-trade-justin-fields-what-are-his-best-landing-spots-231437672.html Buccaneers are another team coming up…but Mayfield might have earned job with playoff appearance.