caulfield12

Kenley Jansen Hader and Kimbrel are the only relievers that are possibilities…maybe Edwin Diaz in 3-5 more years.

The Bears chose Waldron over Kliff Kingsbury, whose job at USC as a senior offensive analyst was to get Williams ready for the NFL, and Zac Robinson, who has built the Atlanta Falcons' offense into a top-five passing unit and the league's 12th-ranked rushing attack. Kingsbury became the Washington Commanders' offensive coordinator and is helping guide rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, drafted one spot after Williams and the current favorite to become Offensive Rookie of the Year. The Bears also passed over three other candidates who went on to snag offensive coordinator jobs this past cycle: Liam Coen with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whose offense is ranked eighth, Klint Kubiak with the New Orleans Saints, who have the 16th-ranked offense, and Greg Roman, offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers (22nd). Espn.com

Riley Greene…but we don’t even have anything close to 2024 Salvy Perez and Pasquantino production-wise. Plug Teoscar Hernandez into the equation and still not close to a 100 loss team. You’re assuming ROY candidacies from Smith and Schultz, Cy Young from Crochet…but Eder and Thorpe??? I think Burke, Cannon and Martin would be much higher in the pecking order. Eder will be in a pen role undoubtedly and we don’t know much of anything about Thorpe’s health.

“We’ve had very thoughtful discussions,” Reinsdorf said. “I’m always positive about everything. I’m even positive about the White Sox winning the division.” Said before the worst season in modern recorded baseball history…

Then you better be on par with Milwaukee TB and Cleveland on the development side. Dodgers, obviously.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancy-armour/2024/11/11/bears-caleb-williams-botching-qb-development/76206105007/

Fwiw, Jobe could STILL be a monster.

Looks up the Top 50-100 prospect lists from 2022-23/24.

JR doesn't lift a finger to do something that's not in his own best interest...not even White Sox Charities.

How much of the Bulls does Jerry Reinsdorf own? He still owns an estimated 19% stake. He and investors bought a controlling stake in the NBA's Chicago Bulls for $9.2 million in 1985, one year after the team drafted Michael Jordan. Six championships and 33 years later, the Bulls are worth $3 billion net of debt (as of 2018); Reinsdorf still owns an estimated 40%. JR's Total Net Worth is reportedly $3 billion, so the total estate tax on that would be 40%...$1.2 billion chopped off. No way in hell JR is going to lose that much if he can help it. https://www.forbes.com/teams/chicago-bulls/ $5 billion current valuation, so JR's stake in the Bulls is at least $2 billion...not sure how the United Center is figured into that.

flowerman_22 • 27d ago • I’m stupid so I could be 100% wrong. Wouldn’t this be the worst financial move in the world (yes I know he’s worth billions). Scenario 1: he sells the team, gets a big capital gains tax on the sale. Pays long-term capital gains taxes. Later on dies, his family needs to pay estate taxes on his fortune, essentially getting double taxed. Scenario 2: he keeps the team. Later on dies. Family needs to pay estate taxes on the value of the team. Family sells team to pay the taxes. However, by selling the team after he dies they get a step-up basis on the value of the team and avoid capital gains taxes. reddit Let's say $500 million plus capital gains tax (his 25% share of the $2 billion payout expected)...this would basically be reset to $2 billion upon death for his kids as the beginning price versus the $19 million from 1981 or whatever it originally was. His kids actually might end up with NEGATIVE tax liability as it's EASY to see the value for the White Sox declining in the next 5-10 years from $2.1-2.2 billion to to a figure closer to $1.8-1.9 billion (diminishing media and attendance revenues, parking, etc.) No matter what accounts he has, the long term capital gains tax would amount to either $75 million or $100 million...about one Benitendi or Grandal contract, lol. We keep talking about capital gains taxes, but not the estate/wealth tax on the total value of portfolio, including the White Sox/Bulls/UC, etc. So there's a double tax issue to consider as well.

But Kyler Murray the last month or so suddenly looks like one of the most dangerous QB's in the entire league, with Daniels starting to struggle a bit, too. Let's not forget he was recovering from ACL surgery the first half of the 2023 season...last year isn't a very good indicator of his still considerable upside (despite his height/size). https://www.espn.com/nfl/qbr #2 in current QB ratings With Murray under center, the Cardinals had the 9th ranked offense in the NFL (362.8 ypg) and averaged 22.4 points per game. Israel Woolfork is in his second season with the Cardinals after being hired to coach quarterbacks on 3/1/23. He previously served as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Browns and Miami University, only 34 years old. So the moral of the story seemingly is don't give up on mobile former Oklahoma QB's too soon, like the Cleveland Browns did with Mayfield and many wanted to do with Murray as well.

Plus, Odunze also a rookie with perhaps unrealistic expectations...not unlike Harrison with the Cardinals, very up and down season, like a lot of the Bears' players outside of Swift for the last 6 weeks or so.

Cam Ward is going to be 23 next summer before his rookie season in the NFL. There are really ZERO standout franchise QB's this time around, compared to the unquestioned top 3 in 2024. Sanders, Milroe, Ewers, Nussmeier, Beck, Gabriel, all with major flaws in their games.

The only "big name" signing would have to be someone like Sasaki where there's almost no downside risk on a first big league deal...since the original amount would clearly be in the single digits for millions of dollars committed. Which is why the odds are approximately 1/1000 of it actually happening. (JR would still probably blanch at the posting fee "tax" paid...no matter how insignificant compared to Matsumoto's $50+ million posting fee with ORIX.)

Two Hall of Famers and one who will at least get Veterans Committee consideration but come up short.

Odds are looking like closer to 75-80% that Montgomery is destined for 3B eventually...plus the physical demands of the SS position are such that a player who battled injuries all last season might be better off in a less taxing position, where he can rely more on reflexes/instincts. The biggest plus for him is going to be offensively, so it's advisable not to put him in a situation where defensive struggles/questions start to impact the other side of his game.

Baldwin is going to have to put together an amazing spring training, because the time out with injury/inactivity in Aug/Sept. and the sheer amount of responsibilities for a major league SS are going to make Charlotte a much likelier destination for more seasoning.

Hello Amaya starting SS.

Price?

https://www.mlb.com/news/chris-getz-will-venable-partnership-white-sox Merkin laying it on thick about Getz/Venable partnership...Dayton Moore quotes. Lol at Crochet getting Cy Young votes with the White Sox next year.

Wouldn't we be relegated to drafting 10th in that too every other year?

https://www.mlb.com/news/top-mlb-international-prospects-for-2025 #4 is another Salas brother, #5 a name that should be familiar with Sox "internationally-oriented" fans Sasaki’s arsenal is the type that makes evaluators salivate. His fastball sits 97-100 mph and touches 102 with remarkably little effort. His 89-91 mph splitter is a soul-destroying pitch batters can’t hit even when they know it’s coming. He flashes an above-average slider with late, vertical snap and has a curveball that he can land for strikes. He maintains his velocity deep into his starts, has an athletic, durable, 6-foot-2 frame and fills the strike zone with plus command and control. The Dodgers’ interest in Sasaki has been no secret, and has been a long time coming. Under the posting system between Nippon Professional Baseball and MLB, Japanese teams receive a free from the signing MLB team based on the contract signed, on a graduated scale starting at 20 percent, down to 15 percent for any amount exceeding $50 million. For Yamamoto, whose $325 million contract signed last December was the highest ever for any pitcher, the Dodgers paid Orix a posting fee of $50.625 million. But because Sasaki isn’t yet 25 years old and lacks the requisite professional experience, he is subject to MLB’s international bonus pool, which severely limits his earning power. In the 2024 international signing period, which runs through December 15, total bonus pools ranged from $5.1-7.1 million, and most of that is already spent. The Dodgers reportedly have somewhere between $2-2.5 million to spend in this period, which is the most in MLB. It made for an awkward, and also amusing moment prior to Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium, when Ronald Blum of Associated Press during a press conference asked Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman of the team’s interest in Sasaki. “Are you serious right now? That’s really the question?” Friedman snapped. “This is the World Series, Ron. This is outrageous. You want to talk about our hitting philosophy and the player development. Seriously, this is not important for right now. That’s outrageous. It’s crazy.” https://www.truebluela.com/2024/11/9/24292018/roki-sasaki-posted-chiba-lotte-japan-mlb-dodgers

Monday was the first day of the 2024 international signing period across Major League Baseball, the annual addition of teenagers — many with advance deals in place from unfathomably young ages — that might one day help in the majors. On the first day of the period, the Dodgers announced the signing of 19 players, headlined by 17-year-old shortstop Emil Morales from the Dominican Republic. Morales was rated the No. 2 international prospect in this class across baseball by Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs, who wrote Morales has “a shot to do a little bit of everything and develop into [a] five-tool player” and “he could perhaps be a very good defender at a second-tier position (third base).” The 6’3 shortstop was ranked No. 10 by Baseball America, with Ben Badler writing, “It’s a sound swing for his age with power that has trended up as he has added strength to his lower half and should spike more in the coming years. Morales is an offensive-oriented shortstop who is built more like a third baseman, with many scouts believing he will slide over to third base in the near future.” MLB Pipeline has Morales as the 14th-best international prospect. Basically, it's just ONE player who would get the majority of attention... https://www.truebluela.com/2024/1/16/24039199/dodgers-international-signing-period-2024-emil-morales-rafy-peguero

And I tried to add the Iguchi tie-in as his Marines manager for multiple years to at least create a plausible path...where he would be hired to coach infielders for the White Sox AND help recruit his player to the Sox (because Machado Friends & Family worked so well, right?) I mean, it's not like we have ever replaced Durham/2005-06 Iguchi...at second base, nearly two decades later. Moncada in 2016-17 was the closest.