caulfield12

Now ALL the interest in baseball shifts to Yamamoto and Bellinger....along with Korean OF Jung-ho Lee and Shota Imanaga, both in the vicinity of $75 million. Also looks like brisk market for Blake Snell is coming back down to earth (peripherals) as Yamamoto ascends.

https://africa.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39078719/shohei-ohtani-contract-los-angeles-dodgers-passan Jeff Passan's massive headline story

ESPN writers all over Cease if LA doesn't sign Yamamoto Gonzalez: They should trade for Dylan Cease, who comes with two years of control and has the type of stuff that can pave the way for the Dodgers to get him back to his Cy Young-contending play of 2022. Then they should sign someone like Lucas Giolito or Marcus Stroman. After that, acquire another corner outfielder to plug into an outfield mix that could use a little more certainty. The real prize, though, would be to just go out and sign Yamamoto. They'd love nothing more -- but it would mean spending $1 billion on two players in one offseason. Unlikely, of course. But if anyone can do that, it's them. McDaniel: The high-end starting pitchers still available via trade (Corbin Burnes, Tyler Glasnow, Dylan Cease) or free agency (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell) have to go to the top of the list. There's plenty of young talent in L.A.'s system to make a trade happen, but adding Yamamoto would be the boldest move possible at this point and doesn't seem far-fetched at all. Schoenfield: Hey, this is a team without an ace right now -- when in the recent past they've had guys like Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urias and Max Scherzer to front the rotation. What's another $30 million a year or more for Yamamoto? This is where we remind you: Despite all their massive success over the past decade, the Dodgers haven't won a World Series in a 162-game season in 35 years (no, the COVID title isn't quite the same thing). Yamamoto or bust! Rogers: Their next three moves should all be for starting pitching or else Ohtani's signing will be a waste. Adding Yoshinobu Yamamoto or trading for Dylan Cease seem reasonable enough. But they can work their way down the ladder as Jordan Montgomery, Shota Imanaga and Mike Clevinger all fit as well. L.A. needs top and middle of the rotation guys. Inventory is important here. Olney: They need cheap starting pitching desperately, and Cease fits that description perfectly -- he's eligible for salary arbitration this year and next year, at relatively reasonable prices, and he would give the Dodgers the kind of innings volume they really need.

Well, you guys just hit the major talking points for the first Presidential debate next summer/fall ... VS. The economy is far from bad.

Baseball clearly poor with of the 22 biggest contracts on sports... Think this won't impact the NFL, soccer, NBA, etc.? Heck...the entire entertainment world. Probably has AI rights in perpetuity lol.

Had Madrigal Grenier Rutschman Larnach and Guardians' LF who shall not be named. And then the pitcher with underage sexual assault/family issues who the Royals were going to take under their wings at one point.

Jung Hoo Lee would fit perfectly...except with JR's checkbook. Can't run Sheets out there, period. Should have been released.

Should take Madrigal with him...

Endy Chavez, Dyson and Hamilton being brought in to battle for RF. Might as well move fences back to old stadium dimensions. Approach would have worked in the Dead Ball Era.

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Data-Baseball-Miracles-20-Year/dp/1250063507 2013 Pirates to be exact. Or one decade. About right up there with Titanic II.

Or Princess Diana/Mother Teresa...

Team comprised of all Braves castoffs and salary dumps seems to be the plan now. Eddie Rosario for RF/LF?

Baseball clearly poor with of the 22 biggest contracts on sports... Think this won't impact the NFL, soccer, NBA, etc.? Heck...the entire entertainment world. Probably has AI rights in perpetuity lol. JR: "We never had a seat at the table and we're quite proud of that fact."

https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2023-12-09/shohei-ohtani-joins-dodgers-mlb A Huge Win for All of Baseball?

Sox will surely get him at age 38. Yamamoto suddenly becomes a must sign for someone missing out and goes up to the $250-275 million range. Ohtani inflation...a rising tide floats all boats.

https://sports.yahoo.com/how-does-shohei-ohtanis-reported-700-million-contract-stack-up-to-richest-deals-in-nfl-nba-nhl-mlb-202218657.html

Who was that outsider super coach with the big online following and more youth/college experience who didn't even last a year with Sox again?

"I pledge to always do what's best for the team and always continue to give it my all to be the best version of myself. Until the last day of my playing career, I want to continue to strive forward not only for the Dodgers but for the baseball world," Ohtani wrote. "The contract is the largest in baseball history by more than $250 million, topping the 12-year, $426.5 million deal that now-former teammate Mike Trout signed in 2019. The $70 million average annual salary also easily eclipses the previous record of $43.3 million for Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer and is more than the 2023 Opening Day payrolls of the Baltimore Orioles ($60.9 million) and the Oakland Athletics ($56.9 million). The deal does not include any opt-outs, a source told ESPN. Another source said "the majority" of Ohtani's salary will be deferred in order to mitigate what the Dodgers are charged toward their competitive balance tax payroll on a yearly basis, giving them more freedom to add to their payroll over the life of Ohtani's contract. The deferrals, according to the source, were Ohtani's idea." ESPN.com

Pirates Royals A's Tigers (Brewers might totally rebuild but look at Chourio deal) Dumb/non-strategic spending...Sox Rockies Reds have dramatically changed their fortunes in the last year. Same with AZ. Orioles obviously. Marlins made the postseason despite being a "troubled" franchise. Would vague 6-8 teams now instead of 12...unless you want to count Guardians or Twins. The problem has always been holding onto players after Years 6-7. Otoh...Elly De La Cruz, Corbin Carroll, O'Neil Cruz...some of the more exciting youngsters the last two years and none from large market teams.

You would think the MLBPA would have closely studied the economic impact on those 29-36 year old veterans and how much less they're making than 15 or so years ago with the focus on youngsters in Years 1-4. And how the average MLB career is at least 2-3 years shorter than the steroids era.

Mets and Padres falling back. Red Sox seem to be stuck in neutral. Giants in on nearly every FA but have still never signed a huge name all this time. Cubs are in transition. Angels are closer to rebuilding. Other than LAD...not seeing where all the big time spending will actually come from. Toronto now? STL sort of? Braves are clearly best positioned as a franchise to counter LA at this point but have never been a massive spending team since the Ted Turner days. And roughly half of MLB reckoning with not insignificant RSN losses.

Rocky and Apollo

Not sure him becoming some version of Pujols with the Angels would hurt the Cubs as much...maybe on the backside? Thankfully his name has never seemed to be connected to performance enhancing drugs...he's just a total freak of nature like Victor Wembayana.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_sports_contracts Fine. Baseball still has 15 of the 22 highest contracts in history by Wikipedia list. And I'm assuming Alvarez would have to fight all 11 of those fights to collect the full amount...that's never guaranteed in a sport like boxing. And there's no guarantee DAZN will be fully viable to pay it all out, either. "In a record-shattering deal finalized early Wednesday morning, Alvarez signed a five-year, 11-fight deal worth a minimum of $365 million with DAZN, which only launched in the United States in September."

So do ping pong and badminton lol. Any sport from China or India will have 1/4th or 1/8th of world popularity. How many Americans can name a ingle cricket player or have actually watched a match?