Balta1701

The real question is whether this was reported to any other spot that should have been found in an investigation. In Bauer’s case for example, he had a restraining order filed against him by a woman in Cleveland IIRC (maybe Cinci) and the Dodgers didn’t find out about that until the Washington Post published about it. That was a case where the team could have found out if they’d tried hard enough and didn’t. So, were there other documents filed here? A doctor or hospital admission report? Was this reported to police? Were any legal steps taken? Those are things the White Sox could have potentially found if they happened.

Got it, only in the second article, not the first. Thanks.

I don't know how this is true, but Clevinger's name does not appear in the article I'm seeing, only Tatis.

Until given reason to think otherwise, I really do believe the White Sox didn't know until perhaps yesterday when she shared the images on Instagram, or maybe whenever they were called for comment by the Athletic reporter, which was probably yesterday too, she probably decided to share those knowing that the reporter was making calls for comments. If you want to believe that the White Sox could have found this if they did a sufficient enough background check, and that there were warning signs in this guy's background that justified doing a more extensive check into his history, and that the White Sox didn't do enough - that could well be possible.

We are apparently going to be getting new voices for Rick and Morty.

Here's the text. If MLB said anything like that they would clearly violate this text. MLB would absolutely face a players association grievance if other teams came out and said they were aware of this investigation regarding a free agent. Emphasis by me.

If AJ Preller knew about this, the domestic violence policy forbids him from sharing that information with anyone else in baseball other than the commissioner's office in order to initiate the investigation. He would know not to sign Clevinger, that is an advantage he would have, but he would have violated that rule if he shared any knowledge he had. This one is not on Preller, he couldn't have said anything if he wanted based on the confidentiality rule text.

San Diego was not allowed to share any knowledge of this with any other team or with the press, that's quite explicit in the policy.

According to the report this was known to MLB last summer. When the Padres knew - all we know officially is they knew before today. If MLB was informed directly, they wouldn't legally have been able to inform the Padres or any other team, so the Padres saying they were aware of this implies that the Padres were likely informed directly by the victim. If the Padres were the team informed, they would have known from the initial report and they would have had to get the league involved. That is the only scenario where the Padres being aware of the investigation wouldn't break the rule as written.

The only guy for the White Sox I could legitimately see having a shot at that would be Grandal, if he had a 2021-like year again. Spent time on the IL and was terrible otherwise.

The statement from the Padres says that they were aware of the investigation. It is unclear when they found out, it is possible that the team was informed by the victim at the same time that the victim informed MLB, or that the victim informed the team first and the team shared it with MLB.

I think it's entirely possible you can judge the White Sox for that and for not doing enough of a background check given that this seems to be a risky person, but I think it is important to note that MLB was specifically blocked from sharing their information with the White Sox until the league was ready to announce discipline.

Worth noting, found the rules. MLB is required under a confidentiality clause to not inform the teams until they are actually ready to take actions. They can inform the players club when they are: 1 Announcing discipline or filing of a grievance 2. Establishing a treatment plan 3. Required to notify by a court order MLB itself, if I'm reading this right, could not inform the White Sox of an open investigation unless they were ready to announce discipline. It could be possible for the White Sox to have found out something else if they ran a sufficient background check, but MLB couldn't have commented to them. Section VI: http://content.mlb.com/documents/2/9/2/296982292/Major_League_Player_Joint_DV_SA_CA_Policy_English_2018.pdf

Ah I got it. If they release him today, they have bought out his entire contract. I believe these would be treated as independent actions, you would not get money back.

At this point, domestic violence is a collectively bargained issue. Suspensions and fines cannot be dealt with individually outside of the domestic violence policy, it's strictly forbidden. The team can withhold salary if he's suspended or away pending an investigation. They cannot cancel his contract for domestic violence. http://content.mlb.com/documents/2/9/2/296982292/Major_League_Player_Joint_DV_SA_CA_Policy_English_2018.pdf

What are you asking here? It’s a guaranteed contract and to my knowledge the only thing that is relevant is the CBA agreed upon suspension rules. Getting rid of him today costs $12 million.

Oh. Crap. There are some unverified photos on Twitter now that I won’t link to but you will find if you try searching for more details, be warned.

Yup, and that’s the last thing that ever happened to Esteban Loaiza. Nothing happened after he retired.

It also remains plausible to likely that the $3 million for Mondesi or $4.5 million for Taylor we just saw are more money than the White Sox can currently afford.

They had the second highest swing rate in baseball last year next to Detroit and the second highest swing rate on pitches out of the strike zone, again to Detroit. Regardless of everything else here, “free swingers” is an apt description.

Overall, they could have been smarter the entire time. If I can see points where they are making a mess, they should be able to see it too. 1. 2019 on they started spending like drunken sailors, more than $50 million added on guys like Alonso, Herrera, Colome. This was just plain stupid, they wasted money and players they would need. 2. failure to think long term in those years - failing to invest in scouting and preparation for when it was needed, infamously failing to make use of the international market to the point that they used money from it to bribe the Rangers to take on Nate Jones’s deal. 3. Failing to recognize their own limits the last several years. Drafting a guy and shoving him into the bullpen because we gotta compete right now. Wasting a year of control on Kopech in the bullpen. Trading away a guy for Lynn. Extending Lynn. Signing Grandal. This is the “death by a thousand cuts” item. Even if things make sense in a vacuum, if you don’t do the math in advance, maybe committing 10% of your payroll to Lynn, 10% of your payroll to Grandal, 8% to a closer is a riskier strategy than we acknowledged when each one was considered in a vacuum. The only thought was always “what is best this year”, never how to maintain a roster long term. 4. Spending fully up to their limit before 2022 and committing money for multiple years. Both you and I were genuinely surprised that they went to the payroll we saw, we expected lower numbers because there was obvious risk of overcommitting. They assumed 2022 would be such a success due to their genius that they wouldn’t have to worry about any downside risk on anything they did. 5. Adding salary to their roster at the 2022 trade deadline rather than clearing it. Their team was uncompetitive but they refused to admit it. I could recognize the possibility of a salary cut as of July last year and how useful it would have been to clear payroll, but they did not. Again, this was a setting where they sacrificed the future for the present, they said that they were in such a great spot that they could afford to hurt 2023 to continue on the path for 2022. 6. Acting like a capped out NFL team this offseason. If they had only $17 million to spend, the answer wasn’t to spend $27 million but defer 1/3 of the cost to later years. They continually barreled ahead on the same path and then were stunned when it turned out the highway ended. They could have diverted over and over again, but every time they made the choice to sacrifice future years for right then and to keep doing things their way. Now the bill is due.

I still dispute that he treats this like a business. As a business it does a terrible job! The so called competitive white Sox have a stadium 1/3 empty in what is supposed to be a competitive year. They don’t invest in things that could have very large returns because of their owners biases - like the international signing market or in advance scouting or in Bryce Harper. They’re a business that hates their customers and believes they’re right and everyone else is wrong. They’d rather lose money than do things someone else’s way. Id have fewer complaints if they actually ran like a business. At least that behavior I can understand. It isn’t always successful, sometimes things I don’t like will happen, but at least I would understand chasing a maximum overall profit.

$4.5 million for Taylor this year.

What’s the difference to him?