SoxBlanco

So if we are offering 8 for $250, and he wants $300, then throw two extra years on and offer 10 for $300. He'd be getting a lower AAV, but then we might be closer to a deal.

Exactly. At this point, if we give an extra $30 million, how do we know Manny even accepts it? Like Balta has been saying, what needs to happen now is Hahn asking Manny's camp what number they would sign for. Then you negotiate and try to meet in the middle. You don't just throw extra money at him and hope he accepts. It's hard to sit back and wait, but at this point, what other team is going to swoop in and sign him? I like our chances, but I have no idea how long it will take to find a number (and opt out agreements) that both sides agree on.

Pi Day! (with 22/7 being a close approximation to pi)

I think people are claiming this offer isn't as high as originally expected because they are looking at the $250 million number. But the AAV of $31.25 is still very high. I don't think teams are going to look at this offer (assuming it's true) and say, "Wow, Manny is only going for $250...let's jump in!" I think they are going to look at the $31 million per year and say, "Yeah, I don't think we can add more than $31 million to our yearly payroll. If they were willing to do that, they would have been in the mix a month ago.

I think Manny wants to sign with the Sox at this point (going off of nothing other than a gut feeling). I think if Lozano and Machado are trying to get other teams to enter the mix, it's because they want to get the Sox to increase their offer, not because Manny wants to play for a different team.

Yeah, Hahn said earlier this offseason that Cease is on the same path Kopech was last year. So assuming things go well, he could be up in August, just like Kopech was last year.

Palka it is!

Did you not list a position for Anderson because you’re still not sure if he will be making the switch to catcher?

You’re the long time lurker that has some connection inside the Sox organization, right?

Where would Passan most likely be getting this from?

How about an opt out after year 3 if we haven’t made the playoffs yet in 2019, 2020, or 2021? If we do make the postseason at least once in those three years, it kicks in after year 4. Or do you never want to tie wins/losses/team results into the contract of a player if it means a negative outcome of the team means a positive for an individual player?

I deleted my post.

Oh, I totally agree. I’m not at all worried by what NotHahn has to say. But I think it’s pretty clear he talked to his source and received some bad news. Hopefully the bad news is just that it’s not looking good for Manny to sign anytime soon.

I thought of all that too, but then he wouldn’t have added “not looking good”.

Yeah, he said that if we had never acquired Alonso and Jay, he would never have thought Manny was more realistic than Harper, based on his conversation with his source. I’m obviously paraphrasing, but it was something along those lines.

Maybe NotHahn’s bad news is only in regards to Harper.

I don't believe he ever said anything about this coming Wednesday. Four days ago (Tuesday), he tweeted that the White Sox used to always make their big moves on Wednesdays. I don't think he had any inside information that something would happen with Manny/Harper on Wednesday. Or are you referring to something else he said?

My guess is it's something like this: Our negotiations with Machado have slowed recently. There was some momentum and hope that we would reach a deal this week, but both sides appear to be far apart on the money side of things. This may drag into February. The bright side is that Philadelphia is not meeting his asking price at the moment either.

If Banuelos isn't our 5th starter, then perhaps he is the long reliever and Covey starts in AAA. Assuming we sign another starter, I'll go with: Colome, Herrera, Jones, Fry, Frare, Hamilton, Banuelos, Minaya

If Manny goes to Phili, I like our chances to get Harper better than all three of those teams.

In that scenario, who do you think gets Harper?

I think he knows somebody connected to the Sox. The stuff he has relayed about Harper is very similar to what Bucket was saying (we are still very much in play for him). I don't see NotHahn going through the trouble of fabricating a birthday party for a 1 year old kid when he doesn't really have anything to gain. He hasn't been trying to drop some huge scoop on us. It seems genuine. That obviously doesn't mean it is, but using my gut instinct based on how he has been describing his connection, I feel like it's not bullshit.

Let’s say Machado doesn’t really like Phili and, in his mind, has settled on the Sox. He likes the city of Chicago and really wants to play with his friends. In this completely optimistic hypothetical situation, why wouldn’t Manny just wait it out until Harper signs elsewhere? What is there to lose? Is there any way we lower our offer at that point? I’m guessing people will say that he risks losing Phili as competition to the Sox if Harper signs with the Phillies, but would we really risk losing them both by lowering our offer? Maybe if Harper signs with the Sox, then we might decrease our offer to Manny, so I guess that would be the risk.

I thought Chili was the one seeing his source tomorrow.

It's sad that it's gotten to the point now where if the last message in this thread says "1 minute ago" as opposed to "just now", I know nothing important has happened.