caulfield12

Thankfully, the Phillies and Rangers methods of competing (farm system/development AND generous FA spending in combination) are winning out in the end. Not that it will impact the way that the White Sox do business in the least.

Just like the last two years of the Machado deal JR refused to cave on...preserving future profitability at a time he wasn't statistically likely to even be alive.

Guess it's not much of a surprise with how many opportunities he had to hit against the Twins in his career. For the Astros, getting back to the World Series makes the Abreu contract almost worth it. Assuming they can get past their in-state rival. Houston now has a run of 2014 (almost knocked off KC) and then 2016 through 2023 in the playoffs despite all the leadership changes as well as the cheating scandal.

Not sure about that...but much better than TLR before he stopped with the hair dye and got away from the dugout.

Ummm...but they have a reverence for him due to 2014-15. He's right up there with Mike Sweeney and Gordon/Hosmer in the pantheon of popularity. That bond with the fans will always be there. A notch below Willie McGee in St. Louis.

Nola is driving up his asking price by tens of millions coming off a disappointing regular season. Harper (with intermittent Castellanos/Schwarber the last two years) is bringing up more "what if" questions for long-suffering White Sox and Cubs fans.

https://www.mlb.com/news/padres-end-of-season-prospect-roundup At the big league level, the Padres' 2023 season was a full-scale disappointment. At the Minor League level? It has to be considered a success. The Padres, again, were tasked with rebuilding their system in the wake of a number of blockbuster trades. Again, they appear to be making it happen. MLB Pipeline recently ranked the Padres' farm as the sport's No. 9 overall system. Not bad for a group that had significant departures in the deals that landed Juan Soto and Josh Hader last summer. Here’s a quick rundown of that system: 3 players who forced their way onto the radar this year ... C Ethan Salas It has to start with Salas. The 17-year-old catcher bucked every convention this year, becoming the youngest player at Double-A in at least nine years. The most impressive part: Salas held his own at nearly every stop. The Padres haven't been shy in their praise of Salas. Upon his signing, scouting director Chris Kemp called him the best prospect he'd ever scouted. Salas has already skyrocketed to the sport’s No. 5 overall prospect. He’s still probably a year or two away from making an impact in the Majors, but he’s the type of young player the Padres can plan to build around. OF Dillon Head Like they did with so many of their younger prospects this season, the Padres asked an awful lot of Head. Selected in the first round of the July Draft, the Padres promoted Head to Single-A Lake Elsinore. That’s quite a jump for an 18-year-old who was playing high school ball in the spring. Look for Head to assert himself in his first full season of pro ball in 2024 -- a speedster with an excellent glove and the potential to grow into some pop. 1 big question for next season … Will the Padres use this revamped farm system to build from within? The 2023 Major League roster was a mishmash of external acquisitions. Whether trades or free-agent signings, the Padres’ biggest contributors weren’t homegrown. Meanwhile, manager Bob Melvin regularly noted the importance of bringing players along through the system, while teaching and implementing an organizational playing style. The 2024 Padres seem poised to have a number of homegrown players battling for roster spots. In addition to Pauley, Jairo Iriarte, Adam Mazur, Ryan Bergert, Jakob Marsee and Nathan Martorella are all players who progressed to Double-A this season and could get camp invites. "We feel confident that, from a farm-system standpoint, we’ve got a group that is now getting to Double-A and the upper levels that is going to be able to help us and provide some more of that depth component," general manager A.J. Preller said last week when pressed on the team’s lack of roster depth in 2023. But the Padres have had Minor League depth before. They’ve often used that depth as capital to acquire big-name players in trades. Now, here we are entering a crucial season for the organization. The Padres again have depth in their farm system. They again have holes on their big league roster that could be addressed via trade. Stay tuned this winter.

Yes and no. Will always cheer for any team that hasn't won a WS yet...especially against the Cheatin' Astros and that annoying Mattress Mack guy.

Have to root for the Rangers even though I simply hate the artificial look of domed stadiums...they were so close in 2010/11 before the Nelson Cruz debacle/disaster.

Rangers offense is so explosive and yet also prone to long, long cold spells. Carter looks like another Seager in the making...what an impact he has made.

Do you really think the owner's going to change his tune and spend big in FA or trade from his MiLB system this offseason? Doesn't seem all that likely. Rays also facing a lot of uncertainty without Franco and Toronto's always somehow not greater than the sum of all their considerable parts. Main positive is no more Yankees/Red Sox worship in Bristol.

Looks like the Orioles are dead in the water and the Dodgers have Lance Lynn starting. Thankfully the Braves showed up in the late innings or it would have been the most boring postseason start in years and years...

Every team other than the White Sox should be trending upwards in the AL Central as well...well, other than maybe the Royals, but it's difficult to imagine them being much worse. Royce Lewis, if he can actually stay healthy, looks like he will be able to keep the Twins afloat by himself, the equivalent of Jose Ramirez for the Guardians.

My theory of why TV sports have become less popular Posted on October 29, 2020 9:09 AM by Andrew https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2020/10/29/my-theory-of-why-tv-sports-have-become-less-popular/

Those that don't or can't fit in with Tomlin...usually they're pretty strong judges of character over there.

Nice job Hurricanes. Lol. OU has no ranked B12 games on?the schedule left...would likely need to beat Texas twice before they both join the SEC to get into playoffs. Huge turnaround from 6-7 year...defense almost totally flip flopped from last year.

The amazing thing is that the Phillies' manager was one of the least heralded guys out there...at least when that trigger was pulled. Look where they are now. Ofc, we get the opposite out of Grifol, but not much comparison in talent between the two teams anymore (2022-23, compared to 2020-21 Sox and Phils).

Can the White Sox be warned for not ILing enough players lol? https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-playoffs-2023-in-baseballs-october-blame-game-direct-your-ire-toward-a-person-not-the-analytics-bogeyman-012330199.html Don't blame sabes/analytics...blame the front offices and coaching staffs instead

Can the White Sox be warned for not ILing enough players lol? https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-playoffs-2023-in-baseballs-october-blame-game-direct-your-ire-toward-a-person-not-the-analytics-bogeyman-012330199.html Don't blame sabes/analytics...blame the front offices and coaching staffs instead

Bellinger to the Sox seems more unlikely than Harper. Soler has the Royals connection. Ofc, he's probably due for a down season if he signs here.

Would rather employ Gore and Dyson as designated PRers, lol. Lo Cain out of retirement as player manager. He manages to move slower than Moncada and hurt as often.

Trading Cease for Tier B/C lottery tickets ostensibly to get rid of an undesirable Sox contract...the first time we see the opposite of that (pure best avail talent acquisition) perhaps we can start to be a bit more optimistic. And they need a better backup plan than Shaw/Banks for closer...should approach ST as if Santos will be out the entire season just in case.

You have the worst bench in the majors and Merrifield/Frazier types always seem to go the wrong way for the Sox. I just don't think there's any way in hell the Sox add back on that much payroll absolutely knowing they will be seeing another 25-30% drop off in season tickets and will suffer more pretty much guaranteed losses (especially with Grifol back too). Especially a "headline" move of Eddie Rodriguez that wouldn't move the most die hard of Sox fans to buy back into at least a partial ticket package. Of course, they might end up trading or dumping Anderson...but still stuck with Moncada Jimenez Benintendi AND the team will be even more miserable based on playing the current youth in the minor league cupboard. But we will be lucky to get half that new spending IMO and would definitely take the "under" bet.

All I know is that it's a very slippery slope between a Clevinger and Bauer. Would like to see the internal polling of women who attend Sox games (at least ten times per season) and how many attended fewer games than past seasons or watched fewer games on TV specifically due to that signing? If you were one Bauer signing away from 88-92 wins versus 82-86, for example...it wouldn't be worth it obviously.

Still not buying the Twins, but who knows with the way Royce Lewis has been playing plus the added motivation for Correa against his former team.