caulfield12

Both Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May will return from Tommy John surgery. Between Ohtani, Yamamoto, Glasnow, Miller, Sheehan, Stone, Gonsolin and May, the Dodgers look to have upwards of eight legitimate rotation arms for the 2025 season, depending upon how everything shakes out here in the next 15 or so months. Not to mention Clayton Kershaw eventually...

Okay, then did not renew his contract and replaced him with someone else...the spin would have been he was better off in Chicago forming a "power center" along with Barfield, in the same way that Haber and Hahn were always tied together...

Not Wolkow?

Going the route of crediting his teammates here... https://www.si.com/nfl/seahawks/news/geno-smith-reveals-seattle-seahawks-success-game-winning-drives

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39364835/legislators-ensure-potential-kansas-city-stadium-funding-vote Ironic that former Royals' 2B and All-Star Frank White had his veto overrode as Jackson County Exec. Looks like the potential costs are ranging from $2 billion to $6.4 billion.

At least Phil Nevin is happy...or potentially unhappy with all the overwhelming infield talent just waiting to be unleashed on the major leagues blocking his kid.

Chapman, 35, is the hardest-throwing pitcher in baseball since velocity-tracking was introduced to the game and pitched vital innings for the Texas Rangers en route to their first World Series championship this year. With a fastball averaging more than 99 mph, he struck out 103 in 58.1 innings, walking 36 and allowing four home runs with a 3.09 ERA. The Pirates, who project to be one of the youngest teams in the majors next season, also added veteran lefties Martin Perez and Marco Gonzales earlier this winter. Texas hoped Chapman would help stabilize a thin bullpen, and while he never pitched well enough to lock down the closer job, he pitched in nine postseason games and allowed two runs in eight innings, striking out six and walking five.

Brian Callahan from Cincy to TN Titans as new head coach

"In addition to Larkin taking over at the top, Chris Slivka is replacing Matt Grabowski as the top assistant. Slivka joined the D-backs in 2016 out of college, working his way up the department as a pro scout (2019-2021) then a personnel analyst (2022-2023). The rest of the front office staff from the 2023 season was retained." Not exactly a promotion...more like he got fired and now landed on his feet again. https://www.si.com/mlb/diamondbacks/news/diamondbacks-announce-2024-player-development-staff

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39365362/sources-pirates-aroldis-chapman-agree-1-year-105m-deal

It's all so ironic looking back at 1919 and the Black Sox and Pete Rose and how the division between gambling and baseball was almost sacrosanct and here we are now just looking it as an additional revenue stream to be incorporated...

Paul Chryst I think...

Certainly the closest equivalent in the league to Iowa City. Boyfriend is Connor McCaffrey...that's probably a consideration, staying as close as possible to the Midwest branding. Hawkeyes actually could be the Hoosiers/Hackman/picket fence movie come alive if not for Hannah Stuelke lol. Home of basketball to most and NCAA as well. Greg Doyel of the Indy Star already wrote that article about the pluses of her landing there. https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/columns/2024/01/22/caitlin-clark-never-should-have-been-put-in-harms-way-at-ohio-state-iowa-basketball/72310100007/

Did we need an additional Steve Cohen gambles thread...? He speaks through actions that always follow the most profitable path and velocity of money.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/22/mets-steve-cohen-casino-00136687 "NEW YORK — A hedge fund billionaire and a gaming giant hoping to land a coveted license to run a casino in New York City have to clear a major hurdle in Albany this year — or risk tougher odds in the crowded competition. And a few weeks into a new legislative session in Albany, politicians who will help decide the fate of the proposals are already expressing doubts. The race for three New York City-area casino licenses has drawn 11 proposals from gambling companies and real estate developers, who are sparing little expense for a slice of the lucrative untapped market. They will soon begin a lengthy state process that requires winning over local politicians and state gaming regulators. But two of the proposals — one from billionaire New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, and another from the gaming firm Bally’s — need an added layer of approval from the City Council and state Legislature, due to an obscure process governing the land where both bidders are looking to build. Cohen recently unveiled plans for an $8 billion casino complex on the parking lot adjacent to Citi Field in Queens, while Bally’s is looking to build a casino at the Bronx golf course it took over from the Trump Organization in September."

Well...now we have Kadyn Proctor finally/again, so Cade McNamara only needs some receivers to throw to. Hasn't everyone been insistent on getting the next great LT? If there's one thing Iowa is good at...it's producing solid pros along both sides of the line (and TE) of course.

One...her makeup looks very awkward. She's getting more and more comfortable though. The interesting thing out of all this is so much has already been written about her collision and scoring 45 and almost nothing about OSU's huge comeback victory. Like an afterthought, almost. (Not unlike the Angel Reese and Clark Show 10 months ago that played out like a Shakespearean drama.) If you have watched AIR, you notice the aura and mystique of MJ plays a more important role than the person himself. It's more what he represented to so many.

Would sure be nice if our GM had previous experience with both Luhnow and Stearns, etc.

https://sports.yahoo.com/winter-weekend-provides-more-proof-153546258.html Here’s what happened in Boston to Red Sox leaders lol

Can just imagine Texsox Ptac or even Rabbit responding to this one... "In the final weeks of 2022, Thomas Jefferson parent Shawna Yashar made an odd discovery. Her son had earned a National Merit Scholar award commending him for his high performance on the PSAT he took in the fall of 2021. Under normal circumstances, this honor would have been cause for celebration — it’s a potent garland on a college application. But neither Shawna nor her son had any idea that he had earned the award when they were submitting those applications. In fact, none of the TJ recipients of the National Merit Scholars award knew because school officials intentionally decided to keep this information to themselves for fear that it might hurt the feelings of students who did not receive an award." https://thehill.com/opinion/education/3821078-national-merit-award-scandal-is-the-latest-chapter-in-tjs-war-on-achievement/

It should be noted that Thomas Jefferson is the #1 public STEM high school in the US and is notoriously competitive with Asian students/parents these days. Elias graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia,[1] where he was born.[2] He attended Yale University, graduating in 2006.[3] He played college baseball for the Yale Bulldogs as a pitcher.[4] After his sophomore season, Elias required surgery to repair a torn labrum.[5] After graduating from Yale, Elias became a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2007.[3] When the Houston Astros hired Jeff Luhnow from the Cardinals as their general manager in 2011, Elias went to Houston with him as special assistant to the GM before being hired as Scouting Director in August of 2012.[6] In 2016, after David Stearns was hired by the Milwaukee Brewers as their general manager, the Astros promoted Elias to fill Stearns' role as assistant general manager. He was given oversight of player development and minor league operations.[7 wikipedia

He doesn't feel pressure to make a trade. Just because he has probably the deepest farm system in baseball doesn't mean he has to deal from it. “We are as well-equipped as any team to rattle off prospect packages for any player,” said Elias. “That doesn’t mean that we want to do that just because we have the No. 1 farm system, and we could theoretically outbid any team. At some point it becomes a trade that you don’t want to do. It equips us to get involved in every conversation. But there is more to making trades than just being the high bidder. The trade has to make sense. A lot of our prospects are so close to the majors if they are not there yet. These are guys that are going to help the 2024 O’s too. We have to keep all that in mind.” I asked Elias if the Orioles are prepared to lose some of their best prospects? “We are definitely prepared to. We’ve had a lot of conversations dating back to the trade deadline where we’ve made some of our more famous prospects available. Just because we have this wonderful farm system and we theoretically would have the ability to match or top people’s trade offers, we have to worry about the balance of the trade itself. “Lot of our players are prospects. These are guys that have tools and are performing. Performing in Triple-A and are consensus top 50 prospects in baseball. We have teams asking about them left and right. You don’t just throw those guys into trades and write it off. Those are players that are going to be helping soon and for a long time. We’ve got to balance that. It’s fun for us to be in a position where we can get into every trade conversation. “But this perception that we have too many prospects and we need to get rid of some of them, that doesn’t register with me. We want to have a very talented organization. We need to make good trades, we don’t need to jettison players. But we’re very open to and very realistic about making our prospects available because there are impact players out there. You have to give something to get something.” https://www.masnsports.com/blog/o-s-mike-elias-on-weighing-trade-possibilities-and-mlb-network-s-dan-o-dowd-on-the-orioles

No way we're that close to KC...and what the heck are they projecting both Bieber and McKenzie at? Depressing all-around.

If they would have made the playoffs, wouldn't the perception now be at least 50-75% more positive? I do honestly think if they overpay Bellinger, Hoskins or Matt Chapman...at least 2/3rd's or 75% of Sox talk will also be arguing the Cubs were DUMB to offer those deals and they were better off waiting out their Top 5 farm system and MAYBE trading someone like Morel to fill a roster spot or two more needed places. It's seemingly a lot of the same arguments going on between Orioles' fans and their GM/ownership group about not dipping more seriously into FA...the result is the majority of fans are clutching on to their prospects like precious pearls. Understandable enough after watching the Sox/Padres/Blue Jays fail in their dynasty kickstarting attempts. The principal difference there is the various negative (depending on one's own beliefs about capitalism, predatory or the quintessential representation of the American dream) perceptions about the Ricketts' family, their political beliefs and the creeping gentrification of Wrigleyville through TIF, all to the benefit of their own coffers more than concern about Cubs' fans and building a genuine World Series-contender as quickly as possible. Of course, most White Sox fans would rate Craig Counsell in and Pedro Grifol in as Sox manager as "winning the offseason completely" compared to all the moves that Getz has made until January 22nd, 2024.