caulfield12

The payroll high point was actually #7 in the majors during the last 12-18 months. Now they're around #12 according to Cot's Baseball Contracts.

please look at his OPS the last three seasons... he makes Benintendi seem like Mike Trout Lite in comparison

Spent principally on Keuchel, Grandal, Lynn/extension, Hendriks, Abreu extension...finally Benintendi. Nothing resembling a star there. Hendriks you could argue Top 3 or elite closer and Grandal Top 5-7/fringe All Star (but just hitting 30s steady decline period) catcher.

Chet Lemon really jumps out there...

Hendriks getting battered around won't exactly improve his trade value...

The worst part is they fought from 2016-2021 to get to that playoff series with the Astros...the following year, jumped from 1.6 million to 2+ million in anticipation of having a World Series contender, and are now about to give it all back and then some over the course of this current/ongoing three year period (will compare to 2019 and not the Covid year, obviously). 2019 23 Chicago White Sox 76 1,629,636 21,442 0.0 81 24,384 0.0 157 22,960 0.0 24 Oakland 81 1,662,211 20,521 0.0 81 27,615 0.0 162 24,068 0.0 25 Detroit 80 1,501,430 18,767 0.0 79 24,826 0.0 159 21,778 0.0 26 Kansas City 80 1,479,659 18,495 0.0 80 25,072 0.0 160 21,783 0.0 27 Pittsburgh 81 1,491,429 18,412 0.0 81 32,070 0.0 162 25,241 0.0 28 Baltimore 80 1,307,807 16,347 0.0 78 25,484 0.0 158 20,858 0.0 29 Tampa Bay 80 1,178,735 14,734 0.0 79 26,067 0.0 159 20,365 0.0 30 Miami 81 811,302 10,016 0.0 80 27,812 0.0 161 18,858 0.0 2018 20 Minnesota 80 1,959,197 24,489 63.6 81 27,017 64.4 161 25,761 64.0 21 Cleveland 80 1,926,701 24,083 55.4 81 26,088 64.2 161 25,092 59.7 22 Detroit 80 1,856,970 23,212 56.3 80 26,157 62.4 160 24,685 59.3 23 Kansas City 81 1,665,107 20,556 54.2 80 24,262 57.7 161 22,398 56.1 24 Cincinnati 81 1,629,356 20,115 47.5 81 29,918 70.3 162 25,017 59.0 25 Chicago White Sox 80 1,608,817 20,110 50.1 80 26,240 62.8 160 23,175 56.6 26 Baltimore 78 1,564,192 20,053 44.1 81 27,204 64.2 159 23,696 54.0 27 Oakland 81 1,573,616 19,427 55.4 80 28,748 65.5 161 24,058 61.0 28 Pittsburgh 78 1,465,316 18,786 49.0 81 31,288 72.7 159 25,155 61.7 29 Tampa Bay 81 1,154,973 14,258 41.8 80 26,381 60.8 161 20,282 52.4 30 Miami 81 811,104 10,013 26.7 79 28,917 67.2 160 19,347 48.1 2017 21 Minnesota 80 2,051,279 25,640 64.9 80 27,797 65.5 160 26,719 65.2 22 Cleveland 81 2,048,138 25,285 58.2 80 27,729 66.3 161 26,499 62.2 23 Baltimore 81 2,028,424 25,042 55.1 81 29,457 69.7 162 27,250 62.1 24 Philadelphia 79 1,905,354 24,118 55.3 81 30,940 72.3 160 27,571 63.8 25 Pittsburgh 81 1,919,447 23,696 62.5 81 32,633 75.3 162 28,164 69.4 26 Cincinnati 81 1,836,917 22,677 53.6 81 32,094 74.8 162 27,386 64.3 27 Chicago White Sox 79 1,629,470 20,626 50.8 81 28,443 66.4 160 24,583 58.9 28 Miami 81 1,651,997 20,395 54.2 80 29,160 67.4 161 24,750 61.2 29 Oakland 80 1,475,721 18,446 52.6 80 29,466 67.1 160 23,956 60.7 30 Tampa Bay 80 1,253,619 15,670 45.6 81 29,898 68.8 161 22,828 58.6

Would you take Lowe over Franco/Robert, all other things being equal (caveat emptor)?

Check out his Ks per PA lol.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=100&type=8&season=2023&month=0&season1=2023&ind=0&team=&rost=&age=14,26&filter=&players=&startdate=&enddate=&page=1_30 and Franco, who would you take over those 3 players to build around, if you could choose JUST ONE? (Also, don't look to find Andrew Vaughn at this moment in time, haha.) Jose Rodriguez (struggling still), Vladdy Jr., Bichette, Y.Alvarez, Corbin Carroll, Rutschman, Kelenic, Outman, Tatis, Jr., Witt, Jr., Hoerner...some of the more familiar names.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/37709488/a-broadcaster-glen-kuiper-fired-using-racial-slur-air Broadcaster Glen Kuiper fired by the A's after second racial slur incident...

19-31 Nationals' start the year they won the WS will get a LOT of play the next 2-3 days in the media. 2005 Astros' tepid start as well.

Chicago's very own NIcky Lopez, back from his appendectomy, triple/walk/run so far against DET.

Right. Forgot the Blackhawk War...should have remembered being from the Quad Cities, right on the border with the Land of Lincoln.

That's all fine and good, but Scholtens is going to get destroyed at some point by the better offenses. And while that works well for the Rays or Dodgers with their pitching depth, almost none of the relievers on our current major league team are the types to go 2-3+ innings. You could try it with Lambert, MIddleton or Santos, but the results would be mixed at best. AA/AAA are virtually barren wastelands.

Is there any way to do that with the players originally signed/drafted by the Sox? Essentially, Escobar, Bassitt, Semien, Tatis, Jr., Anderson, Devenski, Sale, Abreu, etc. Q would have to be counted with the Mets or Yankees there.

Not off by too far. Apparently the plan was always to limit Lambert from exposing Scholtens to the Top 3-4-5 hitters by having him pitch just one inning. That strategic gambit actually worked out quite well.

Balta will come after you, watch out...are we now down to just the Chiefs, Braves and Seminoles? Utah changed from Runnin' Utes, right?

Think it was still a bit early to put Crochet into that situation. Coming off TJS, it takes at least a half year if not a full year to get your control back...and that wasn't exactly his strength before he got hurt.

Cuyahoga...Cleveland just destroys the White Sox in advance scouting...basically, ANY type of scouting. They probably know more about the White Sox tendencies than Daryl Boston being around the team everyday.

We're going to get an extended lecture that Robert is technically the biggest contract...sort of.

Robert top speed last year on that catch, straining. Two additional high gears in 2023. Coasting.

Sox never seem to play all that well in CLE...

701 for Benintendi... high water mark.

Greg cares about those traditional counting stars at least.

Which will provide yet another Rick Hahn reason to never go for it... Other than Machado massovely underperforming and being out now... the real problem is similar to the White Sox where they're just not getting enough from the bottom of the order and the worst RISP in over 100 years in MLB, under .200 in fact. Nola, Grisham, Cruz, Kim, Carpenter, Azocar, Engel, Dixon have all sucked. Losing Campusano as back up catcher also has had a big impact. The starting pitching doesn't have a dominant guy like Musgrove and Snell second half in 2022. Tatis is doing okay and surprisingly good in RF, but striking out way too much... which comes from nearly 600 days with no big league at-bats after multiple offseason surgeries on wrist and shoulder. There's one relatively easy escape valve... which is putting Soto back on the market again, and maybe Hader if they're out of the WC. That said, Preller and Melvin both being gone seems inevitable if they miss the postseason.