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Indeed, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to one and all!

I’m fine with that. However, if Cobb is the big signing this off-season, my expectations for 2025 won’t be very high. I don’t expect Skubal to duplicate 2024. He’ll still be ace but not the 2024 ace. Lightening in a bottle the last six weeks of 2024 isn’t going to happen again either. That storyline is a classic but won’t repeat this coming year. It’s early yet, but I’m not optimistic that things will be much different at this point. I don’t believe Tork will move the needle much. I am cautiously optimistic Baez might surprise to the upside. Enough to make a difference, who knows… I am suspecting Harris is quietly looking for a trade he likes. That’s about the only avenue left at this point for this team’s budget. That and a good bit of fortune from the minors.

I absolutely agree. My primary point was that Chapman looks like a bargain now, one year removed from the asking price of somebody like Bregman. It’ll be interesting to see where he and Burnes end up. I know the Giants want Burnes bad but I don’t know if ownership is going to pony up for the $$$.

"I suspect that Bregman and his agent, Scott Boras, are aiming higher — specifically, at a deal closer to the 11-year, $350 million extension Manny Machado signed with the San Diego Padres in February 2023," he wrote. I believe the above quote was by Ken Rosenthal. Doesn’t matter, it’s going to be close to this asking wise. I wouldn’t touch the guy. A year ago Chapman signed a six year $151 million deal with the Giants. The contract pays $25 million annually. I knew Detroit wouldn’t entertain signing him. With what he brings to the game, he looks like a bargain now.

Website vintagedetroit.com has some postcards like that. I believe they have the one you described here and others.

So, apparently Biden didn’t commute those that had been convicted of a hate crime. For what it’s worth, this decision doesn’t make a bit of sense.

Erie will be in Richmond the week of May 13th. Will Max Clark be with Erie then? The floor is open…

I’d guess Harris never considered the possibility. Heres hoping Cobb stays healthy and has a productive year.

Did we even try?

Flaherty also said he loved L.A., for what it’s worth. What kind of contract is he looking for? I liked the contract he signed last year but I don’t know that I’d be interested in committing to a high dollar deal with years and I’m sure that’s what he’s looking for. Harris signed his Jack Flaherty for 2025 with Alex Cobb. I’d be surprised if he does much more as far as pitching goes. There are several potential starters that pitched out of the pen last year. I think this is where he will fill out the rotation.

I’m about to believe that’s the case. I knew Harris wasn’t going to spend much but I’m a bit surprised just how little has been done to this point.

Walker to Houston is being reported. After hitting 26 home runs and recording 84 RBIs in 2024, first baseman Christian Walker reportedly signs with the Houston Astros

Minor league games are great! We try to visit MiLB parks every year that we’ve not been to before. Columbus, GA, Spartanburg, SC, and Knoxville, TN are all on the radar this year.

The Pinellas County Commissioners voted to approve the bonds tonight to move the needle forward on the Rays new park.

This would be interesting. He just turned 29 two months ago. He’d have to be asking more years this time around and more money per. I’m a fan of the guy but could the two parties find a contract suitable for each side?

Who says Harris isn’t working the market! The Tigers are in agreement with catcher Brian Serven on a minor league deal, reports Aram Leighton of Just Baseball (X link). Serven, a PRIME client, will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee. Serven, 29, joins the fourth organization of his career. A fifth-round pick of the Rockies in 2016, he got to the big leagues six years later. The Arizona State product appeared in 62 games as a rookie, hitting .203/.261/.332 in a backup role. He only made 11 appearances the following season, spending the bulk of the year in Triple-A on optional assignment. Colorado placed him on waivers last winter. 😉

Twice in the past month, Donald Trump has singled out companies known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), blaming them for high drug prices. “We’re going to knock out the middleman,” Trump told reporters in a press conference on Monday. He noted that “the horrible middleman…makes more money frankly than the drug companies, and they don’t do anything except they’re a middleman.” The comments came after he made similar remarks in a “Meet the Press” interview earlier this month following a dinner with pharma executives and RFK Jr. CVS Health was down 5.6% late Monday, UnitedHealth dropped 4.2% and Cigna declined 3%. The three insurance companies own the country’s three largest PBMs and collectively manage roughly 80% of U.S. prescriptions. These three stocks were already sharply down over the past month amid widespread public anger with the insurance industry, prompted in part by a debate about their role in society in the wake of the fatal shooting of a UnitedHealth Group executive. wsj

Tony LaRussa is also 80 years of age. LaRussa is showing his age more these days but several years ago you’d never have guessed they were the same age.

… and they are numerous.

Regarding UNH: Down @ $80 in the last 30 days. Up $23 over the last six months. Peaked at $625 on November 11th at $625. I watch this stock frequently because it is a top holding in one of the funds I hold and has been for quite some time. The realized capital gain in the fund has moved up a bit recently. I know managers buy and sell often at the end of the calendar year, although this particular fund has a fiscal year end in January. I’m guessing/hoping the fund manager has taken some profits out of this holding. With RFK Jr. in play, healthcare stocks in general have come under a lot of scrutiny for a couple of months now. Morningstar has cautioned on this sector since RFK’s name dropped. just thinking out loud…

Carson Kelly to Cubs on a two year deal. I’m still a Kelly fan.

This is a beautiful thing…. A federal appeals court rejected Nasdaq’s years long push to set racial and gender targets for the boards of its listed companies, dealing a major blow to one of most prominent efforts to promote diversity in corporate America. The New Orleans-based Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission had erred in 2021 when it approved two Nasdaq listing rules focused on boardroom diversity. WSJ

Max Fried to the Yankees. DALLAS — After his big-league debut in 2019, Max Fried enjoyed an extended run better than any other Atlanta Bravespitcher since John Smoltz, the last of the team’s “Big Three” Hall of Fame pitchers to leave the franchise nearly two decades ago. Now it’s Fried’s turn to leave the franchise that turned him into a star. On Tuesday, Fried signed an eight-year, $218 million deal with the New York Yankees, a league source confirmed to the The Athletic. The deal, first reported by ESPN, is the most lucrative ever for a left-handed pitcher and the fourth largest pitching contract overall. The move comes after the Yankees’ failed pursuit of Juan Soto. Prior to agreeing with the Yankees, The Athletic’sKen Rosenthal reported that the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays both had interest in the southpaw.

"The home run became glorified with Babe Ruth. Starting with him, batters have been thinking in terms of how far they could hit the ball, not how often." -Rogers Hornby

The Rays have the 4th best winning percentage in MLB over the last five years. https://www.statmuse.com/mlb/ask/mlb-teams-most-regular-season-wins-last-5-years