Chicago White Sox

I just don’t think 20 to 30 additional innings out of the bullpen with the Sox warrants giving up an extra year of team control. We already have a deep bullpen and there are six off-days in the first 40 games. I really don’t think having a limited Kopech in April & May materially changes our chances of winning a World Series.

I’ll keep saying it, but we can all be super excited about the potential of the team while also being frustrated with ownership. I think this team can legit win the World Series this year and can’t wait to watch things unfold, but ownership has not done us any favors for 2021 and the mix of Jerry’s need for TLR and his general financial risk aversion will likely lead to a shortened window. Just sucks to finally get to the point where we should have built up enough financially flexibility to stomp on the necks of our divisional rivals and instead went cheap this offseason.

I really do not like the idea of starting the year with Kopech in the bullpen. Get that extra year of team control back by starting him down in AAA and slowly ramping up. I’m definitely worried we’re going to do short-term focused things with Kopech & Crochet to appease La Russa that end up shortening the window.

What did he say?

Al’s Beef is really pushing the idea of Kopech beginning the season with the Sox in their bullpen. That seems like an incredibly stupid idea and I hope it’s baseless speculation.

Stop worrying so much, I’m sure no one else will get injured ?

Great assessment by Biggs https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bears/ct-chicago-bears-ryan-pace-carson-wentz-20210214-trl3prx4pventltuwjkh4elx2i-story.html?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true

I think Madrigal bats 9th no matter what, but I do think Eaton is the wild card. I could see La Russa batting him 2nd, but ultimately I’m expecting him to do the right thing to start the season and keep him towards the bottom of the order.

I don’t like the idea of guys pitching on six days rest that frequently on top of giving 30% of our first 40 starts to Rodon & Lopez. With only five playoff teams there needs to be a greater sense of urgency than that IMO.

Here’s what I think Tony will go with: Anderson, SS Moncada, 3B# Abreu, 1B Jimenez, LF Grandal, C# Robert, CF Vaughn, DH Eaton, RF* Madrigal, 2B

Alright guys, assuming everyone is healthy and Vaughn is somehow on the OD roster, predict what you think the lineup will be. Feel free to share what you’d if you feel it will be different, but ultimately this is about what La Russa will put in the scorecard.

You want to go with a six man rotation when we have six off-days in our first 40 games and the likelihood of a few rainouts? Finding reasons to give both Rodon & Lopez starts at the same time seems like a good way to dig ourselves a hole to start the season. I’d much rather skip the fifth starter spot altogether on off-days and just limit our top four starters to shorter starts over the first six weeks. That seems like the better plan of attack if you believe our bullpen is the real deal.

These are different issues though. The NBA will continue to have super-teams as long as they keep max contracts in place that vastly underpay the top stars in the league. They could fix that in a second, but that would hurt their TV ratings and ultimately the bottom line, so they‘ll continue to let half the league rot in NBA hell. The only challenge with the NFL is the QB position and the limit of premium players there. That issue affects all clubs equally though, which puts a greater focus on talent evaluation to be successful. Honestly, the NFL is pretty close to perfect from a parity standpoint. Just got to make sure when you have the chance to land a franchise QB you take Deshaun Watson over Mitch Trubisky

lol...there’s the correction coming from the front office and I’m personally glad to hear it! Buy the extra year of team control and save as many innings possible for the second half of the season.

Very different from what Merkin has been hinting at for some time. And doesn’t really make sense when they just brought back Rodon and claimed he was fighting for the 5th rotation spot.

Do you know how much more in revenue the Dodgers & Yankees make than the Pirates and Rays? It has little to do with these small market pocketing money and everything to do with the massive TV deals from being in large markets. I do agree that revenue sharing is broken to some extent since the small market teams can pocket that money theoretically, but that can be fixed by a salary floor. The only way to prevent the Dodgers from spending significantly more than their competition is to put a hard salary cap in place and not the ruse that is the luxury tax.

I’m not faulting the Dodgers for spending $250M in payroll, I’m faulting the league for not putting rules in place that force better parity. In other sports large market teams aren’t gifted a massive advantage over their small market peers, which is evident by teams such as the Jets & Knicks being absolute garbage for extended stretches of time as they can’t simply spend their way out of the cellar. There is no doubt in my mind that baseball is broken when the the Dodgers’ payroll can be 8x of that of the Pirates. Unfortunately, I don’t think it will ever change since MLB cares more about generating big playoff TV ratings (and the financial benefit that comes from that) than giving every team an equal shot each year.

No, there should be broader revenue sharing with the money going to small market clubs being forced to be actually spent on players via a salary floor. It’s bizarre so many fans here are cool with a team getting to spend $100M than 75% of the league simply because the market they’re in. I guess some people must hate the parity of the NFL without the NY teams being gifted a massive advantage.

It really needs both. This idea that teams should be allowed to spend tenfold more than their competition because of the market they are in is ridiculous while at the same time the Pirates trotting out like a $30M payroll is simply unacceptable. It probably won’t happen because MLB likes having its big market teams in the playoffs as much as possible, but floors & caps are exactly what’s needed.

Why do you expect Lynn to regress?

Look, I’m all for giving Cease a shot next year, but let’s not use his flukey ERA to suggest he pitched like a 4.00 ERA pitcher last year. He’s a complete wild card at the moment, but one with tantalizing upside if he can put it all together. He’s got to learn to command his stuff and figure out a way to reduce the cut on his fastball. If he can make strides in those areas, he should be more than fine as our #4 starter.

I only mention it given the possibility of an extension.

Does that mean no Vaughn opening day or that Collins won’t be getting a job out of the gate?

Grandal will for sure make the list.