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P Noles is a wet blanket dork.

Is it wrong to give someone several blows at a cockfight?

That opens two spots. Hopefully Wheeler's friends are better at baseball than Machado's.

Also, not totally clear how people feel about Merkin and it seems like there is a spectrum of opinions here. That said, you can make points towards his loyalty (been covering the team for 15+ years) and that he writes for MLB.com as factors that are potentially limiting his objectivity and I would get that. I would imagine that Scott is limited on information that he can go public with (the Sox want to break their news themselves) and he often knows more than he lets off. Without a doubt, he is very much in the know and established around the Sox decision makers who everyone knows don't change too often. Whether you like his work or think he's the best source of Sox info is one thing, but his insight should be taken seriously. No doubt about that.

I am not saying it's necessarily happening but I do like our changes. And to be clear, when I was actively trying to get information I had more than one source of info. In any case, this info is me clumping together info/work from others. Things should become more clear this week. Sox are positioned to for an add to the roster in the short term. I am not at liberty to speak to it but Yolmer isn't the only move happening with regards to the 40 man. I do think the Sox are beginning to get confident but that doesn't mean the Padres or Phillies or Twins don't swoop in and blow away their offer. In before people bring up Sox being confident on Machado (btw I think everyone is well aware of that now and for the remainder of the offseason so the reminders aren't so much needed).

And those same 3 posters insisted, up and down and left and right and to literally everyone who would listen that they knew what the White Sox would do last season. They were completely and utterly wrong, and may well have been lying at some points - one of them famously said the Sox were "Walking through the open door" with regards to Harper late in negotiations and they didn't even bother putting in a real offer. How many different ways could there be to interpret what the vague posts were? It could be "The White Sox are going to put a real offer up for Wheeler and will not let the Twins beat them." The exact same language could mean "The White Sox do not believe the Twins offer is realistic and see no reason to budge from their 5/$55 offer." Even if people have their information correct, it's a game of Chinese Telephone, where important details are always missing. Last year the White Sox genuinely believed they had Machado in the bag repeatedly, and the problem was the White Sox FO were idiots. None of the insiders bothered telling us that, but they were thrilled with everyone begging them for info, tagging them all the time asking what was up, following their twitter feeds, and clicking on their articles. It's literally . Every single claim should be viewed as skeptical and people shouldn't be begging and tagging and asking over and over for info when we already know how low quality it is by the time it gets to us. Did anyone know the Grandal signing was coming? Why not? Because it was handled correctly - the guy was literally scouting our pitchers and we were wondering if anything was up.

God I wish Nolan would shut his fucking mouth for a second and realize that no one cares what he has to say.

I wouldn't be a fan of signing anyone either if I signed Denny Neagle and Mike Hampton to long term deals...

I am so confused by the thread musical chairs

The lemonade stand guy at O'Hare source said he was just connecting to MN.

Sox didn't decided to release Burr today. I feel like if it were truly nothing they would go public with it right away. Just my 2 cents.

Also, Sox didn't have to non-tender Yolmer until 12/2. Why'd the jump the gun by over a week? Sure, teams do it regularly but it's worth noting.

It's really not that serious

When will you all figure out that Soxtalk plants this stuff randomly to drive page views so that Jason can get a couple extra bucks of ad revenue so that he can buy name brand yacht cleaner instead of Kirkland brand

His record is comparable to that of the people everyone wants to hear more from right now.

Maybe if we all stare at the screens tomorrow again, it will happen.

Phrasing.

Yet they didn't...

damn it raBBit, why can't you satisfy our unreasonable demands for immediate info at all times?

That's fine and you make a reasonable case given the information publicly available but like I said, things should become more clear this week. They were going to cut Yolmer either way. Them cutting Yolmer and making another cut on top (we'll see) is 100% them positioning themselves to be capable of making a move. Whether they can seal the deal is another story but I will go far as saying that they have positioned themselves this week to be in position to strike this week. That does not mean they will convert on their target but it does mean they're not ruling it happening and happening soon at that.

I never lied about anything. Also, I've never claimed to be an insider. I blog about my favorite baseball team. That's pretty much it. This is funny though.

We really need to stop with the blanket hating of insiders. Yes, peavy44 was a fraud and plenty of random's pop up with claims of rumors, but guys like @raBBit, @Y2Jimmy0, & @iamshack are legit and either have sources or are connected to others that do. If raBBit is optimistic about a Wheeler signing, then we should all be optimistic as it's likely based on some credible information.

Damn, I was hoping the site was broken due to something big happening.

As negative as people are on this board about so many things, I’m kind of amazed at how jacked everybody is about the possibility the Sox could sign the third best pitcher on the free agent market (maybe) when we easily have payroll room for #s 1 and 2. (...Debbie Downer—wamp wah)

I have source that says I am going to bed. The source also says I am going to get up tomorrow and check soxtalk....all day long

????

They want to announce the Strasburg signing simultaneously I guess.

The Bruce kiss of death

Just my pet peeve, but the abbreviation should be just DFA. DFA'd means designated for assignmented. It's completely redundant and unnecessary. The past tense is built into the acronym by context. Thank you, I'll leave now. Ja Vol. (meaning I'm a grammar nazi for those that don't get the reference)

I seriously want to kick him in the shin if I ever meet him. Just an insufferable dbag on twitter.

Basically this.

I thought Wheeler had signed when the other thread was suddenly locked.

downgraded from tonynugget to tonynibble.

Tony out here live-tweeting his post-lunch constitutional ?

In Tony I Trust Cole out of left field, right???? Lol

I do

Yeah, must be hard for you to be on the right side of a debate for once. ?

Regarding all the previous posts too numerous to multi-quote: There's no reason for in-fighting because some choose to believe the hype while others don't. It is what it is . Some posts will age well and some won't. No one should be saying "I told you so" because if something does happen we are going to all be happy either way,(unless it's not the grand anticipated news.)

Please stay off the "roads"

He is literally the Sox in-house beat writer. He had no reason whatsoever to mention Wheeler in a Yolmer article, unless he was told to do so. He doesn't benefit and the Sox don't benefit from pissing more fans off by getting their hopes up about a FA they aren't serious about.

I had so many good posts I just had to mutter to myself. Forgot them all.

How have people not learned their lesson about "Insiders" from last offseason?

^^Awesome post ^^Shitty post

If it happens today I will be happy for you and everyone else who has come to this conclusion. but, I don't think it will. It's just too much too hope for so early in the off season. It would be like the Braves and the Sox are the only ones doing anything so far.

I think this is a misreading of the way baseball FA has worked recently. Logic would indicate you have the teams looking to upgrade starting pitching, and as they miss on #1 on the list, they move to option 2, and so on and may get more desperate to make sure they don't miss out. But in practice it has appeared teams may be willing to spend X for the top pitcher, but if they miss out they may just move to an entirely different set of pitchers on different budgets. Last year the Yankees liked Corbin, missed out, and didn't then spend the $100 million on keuchel. They paid for JA Happ and traded for Gray. The White Sox may like Wheeler for 5/100, but the yankees may either want Cole at whatever it takes, or move down to a year-by-year method of someone like Ryu or Miley, where they can then play the market again the next year until they get the elite talent locked up long term. Each player has its own market it seems.

Yes, I think we all pretty much agree.

Is Zack an $18 Wheeler or a $25 Wheeler stay tuned to Chuckie Garfield.