UMFan83

Damien Williams put on the COVID list. Herbert is now the top RB on the depth chart with Nall as backup

Darn, hopefully they dont hire someone who is actually good. It's been an enjoyable 10 years of the Cardinals manager holding them back to varying degrees

Hey guys look over here, we're announcing a number retirement 3 days before the game. Lets focus on this

I think we would be happy with 4 points from the next window right? (Mexico and at Jamaica). Just mapping out the last 3 windows: Window 3: vs. Mexico, at Jamaica - 4 points Window 4: vs. El Salvador, at Canada, vs. Honduras - 7 points If we did that we’d need maybe 1 point in the last window, and I don’t think the above is unrealistic

I have to say I was less optimistic than most about the Blackhawks this year and legit hated the moves they made this offseason, but this exceeds even my level of pessimism

If scores hold and Mexico wins tonight I think the US will be 5 points ahead of the cut line for at least 4th

Probably could have helped our GD more but I’ll take 3 points considering the early deficit. CR could have easily drawn a penalty shot late in the first, and they failed to score on a uncontested breakaway so I guess I should be happy.

That was beautiful

Gregg fired with a loss today? You have to at least consider it after 2 straight disappointing windows and only 4 points from their first 3 home matches Not to mention he basically punted a WCQ match with his lineup last time

Or maybe switching keepers was not the right decision. That one was on Zach

And I'm very wary of anyone related to the Cubs with the last name Hawkins. Carter is cool because it reminds me of who made the final out in the 1998 Wild Card tiebreaker

Dont know anything about him

How on earth is that better than Arlington Heights? its "better" for the City of Chicago (?) That's what I'm thinking. Plus the possible effects it has on the surrounding area on the south side of Chicago, an area which many Chicagoans never visit. But if I had to guess, gentrification around a stadium doesn't have the effect that you'd hope it would have.

Not sure what they are thinking. Everyone knows they don’t need him and he didn’t show well toward the end. Not sure what leverage they have. There's no reason not to pick up the option. It's a chance to acquire young talent using only money. It's very low risk, even though it's doubtful they can get back something huge. But there's going to be a contender that wants a solid closer going into the season for nothing but a decent prospect and a small financial commitment. It would be foolish to not pick up the option because your manager didn't know how to use him. That's like trading a 1st round TE because you hired an OC that doesn't use TEs. Also there's been discussion about a salary floor in the next CBA. Not sure if it will come to that, but if it does someone like Kimbrel could have value to a team like the Rays. Helps them get to the Salary floor and gives them a player with very high upside.

They can definitely be the 2015 Cubs or 2015 Astros, but as I mentioned in my last post, I don't think they are set up as well for the future as they hope they are. The 2015 Astros still had 4 top 100 prospects, the Cubs still had 5 (not including Eloy who didn't make it). The Sox have 0, and doing a quick google search saw one site rank their farm system 29th after this year's draft. Their payroll is already pretty high, though I don't think they have any Heyward like contracts so they have some maneuverability there. Their window is right now and maybe the next 2 years unless they hit on a high percentage of their moves, which they could. Like I was saying a few pages ago, the easy part is accumulating talent during a 4+ stretch of tanking. Expectations are low, you can afford to take risks, you have extra draft and IFA capital. The hard part begins now when you have the good team but need to not only make it better, but sustainable. Based on the state of their farm system, I'm not sure how sustainable it is. We'll see...I like their team overall. Also I think the Tigers are the sleeping giants there. They have a top 5 farm system, a ton of money to spend and had an unexpectedly decent year.

I also think, like many of us did, they are expecting their peak years to be in the future. Eloy and Robert are both 24, same age as Bryant, Javy and one year older than Schwarber in 2016. Not to say that they are going to decline and both of them have barely played an entire MLB seasons worth of games, but I see a lot of Sox fans talking about how they will continue to get better when this may be as good as they get. Tim Anderson is 28 too so he may be starting to decline soon. Comparing the ages of key players on the 2016 Cubs and 2021 White Sox: 2016 Cubs (top 12 bWAR): Bryant - 24 Rizzo - 26 Lester - 32 Hendricks - 26 Arrieta - 30 Fowler - 30 Russell - 22 Zobrist - 35 Baez - 23 McHorseface - 37 Contreras - 24 Schwarber - 23 (replacing Hammel who is 12th with him since he was injured most of the year) AVERAGE: 27.7 2021 White Sox: Lynn - 34 Rodon - 28 Anderson - 28 Giolito - 26 Moncada - 26 Grandal - 32 Robert - 24 Abreu - 34 Cease - 25 Hendriks - 32 Garcia - 30 Jiminez - 24 (replacing Engel who is 12th with him since he was injured most of the year) AVERAGE: 28.6 They've already made 1 win now trade that gave up part of their stable of young players (Madrigal/Heuer) and their payroll is higher than its ever been historically (though average payroll has steadily risen so they may have some room). I also do not think they have any top 100 prospects anymore and historically haven't been a team that's been able to develop players outside of high draft picks/big IFA signings. The more I type this the more I can see some parallels to the Cubs, but without the WS title in the bank. While they can definitely still win a title, I don't think they are set up as well as Sox fans want to believe they are.

Jeez Brewers fans are torching Yelich on their forum. I thought they’d be somewhat supportive but I guess not http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=41152&start=1400

Took a risk not starting Burnes on short rest and it didn't pay off. He’ll be well rested for Opening Day

The Red Sox have been under .500 3 of the last 7 years. Far more likely the White Sox are just kind of good and not some juggernaut, sustainable success team since they don’t really have a super star and seemingly are tapped out on spending. Their division gives them a little handicap but they really aren’t all that good or set up all that well. This core hasn’t won a playoff series yet, they might just be perfectly mediocre without the ability to really add. True about the Red Sox recent history, I guess I was thinking the 4 WS championships beginning in 2004. They aren’t consistently good but they are never 2 years away from being good it feels like. They retool like when they traded Betts but they always seem to put it together shortly afterwards

The AL and NL Central have combined to go 4-21 in the playoffs over the last 2 seasons, 0-10 in playoff rounds Cubs 0-2 Reds 0-2 Twins 0-2 Indians 0-2 Cardinals 1-3 Brewers 1-5 White Sox 2-5

For someone who puts up such great numbers he sure seems to give up big hits a lot Also when do the Brewers regret that Yelich contract? $26 million a year for the next 7 years for a guy that hasn’t gotten his OPS over .800 the last 2 seasons

Aww boo hoo Brewers