SoxBlanco

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.

Any clue how Harper feels about the Sox compared to how he feels about Philadelphia? (assuming the money is equal)

As long as we are REALLY hoping for stuff, I’ll just go ahead and hope that Machado signs with us tomorrow.

Thanks for clearing that up. Do you think it gets done?

Make the opt out after four years only if we haven’t made the playoffs at all in the first four years. Has anything like that been done before?

I hear ya. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve convinced myself to put my phone down, only to pick it back up 7 minutes later.

That’s about as likely as you being serious when, 50 minutes ago, you said you were signing off for a while. ?

Fixed it for you.

So let's summarize the positives so far: 1. Chili's source said that Machado loved the Chicago visit and wanted to sign with the Sox (the same source that had the Herrera scoop). 2. Sox sign two of Machado's closest friends in Alonso and Jay. One of them happens to be the brother of his wife. 3. A Dodgers insider said he talked to one of Manny's former teammates, and that teammate said he thinks Manny will sign with the Sox. 4. Bucket came here and told us to relax because the Sox were VERY LIKELY going to get this done. 5. WSD has confirmed via his sources that the Sox are indeed in a very good spot to sign Manny. 6. We all know that we have the space to spend big, and Y2Jimmy0 recently reminded us that the Sox are not being cheap. 7. raBBit seems very optimistic lately, which is different than how he felt prior to this past week.

If Alonso and Jay were part of actual conversations between Manny's camp and RH (like I think they were), I'm assuming Manny will wait until Jay's deal is finalized before signing.