KiwiSox

Landon Collins cleaned out his locker at the Giants facility and if I'm the Bears I am all over pairing him and Eddie Jackson together for the next three seasons in a Chuck Pagano defense. With Floyd under contract for two more seasons and Massie locked up on a pretty team-friendly deal the Bears biggest off-season needs are kicker, tight end and runningback. And really, the only true NEED they have is kicker. Top to bottom I reckon the Bears have the NFL's best roster. The Bears are not without weak spots but I think there is a good argument to be made that making strengths even stronger overall does more to improve an NFL team than trying to patch up weaknesses. It obviously depends on what position and what player, but if I'm the Chicago Bears and I am looking at how to get better this off-season there aren't many options. Got lucky that Pagano came in to replace Fangio but missed out on Hunt. A new kicker will be nice. But they need some oomph, a real marquee acquisition. Collins would be that.

I have been banging the Harper instead of Machado drum all off-season. I genuinely think the White Sox agree with me wholeheartedly that it is worth letting Machado go to San Diego if it means they stay in the Harper derby. Some maybe think that's gullible and stupidly optimistic, but I look at everything they've done (actually done) and the Machado negotiations seemed like half-ass media games and overblown deals to guys like Jon Jay in an effort to lure Machado in on a cheap deal then turning around and trying to grab Harper. I dont think Machado was ever their primary target. Nothing has happened in the last week to change my mind. The Sox are all over Harper and just because the blue checkmarks aren't reporting it doesn't mean it isn't so.

I should add that if they don't sign Harper that's about it for me. I don't need to follow this shit from the other side of the world if they aren't even going to make an effort to win any games. But I really don't think they're out on Harper. Nightengale is really not a good reporter, reference the Kyler Murray "report" which he released AFTER Murray announced his NFL intentions on Twitter. So I'm withholding judgment here.

I really think the Sox came to their senses about giving Machado $300m and are just refocusing on Harper. Maybe this is what I choose to believe, but I really think it's so. I've always thought Harper was priority #1 and once Machado became cost prohibitive to also add Harper they gave up. These reports that they are out...I just don't buy it.

Are they really out?

Lester, Zobrist, Ross, Heyward, Coughlin, Arrieta...none of them came from the minors.

Not worried. Sox flying under the radar with regards to Harper. We know they are all over him.

Its completely insane to think the gap defensively between the two is large enough to bridge that kind of massive gap in offensive production.

Rather have Harper.

Yea I'm done with somebody who cant have a decent civil conversation without making it some giant battle over each other's personal character. He can go play by himself. Not interested in PM's.

Well this is just a disappointing cop out of an argument that you clearly aren't interested in losing. Why do you have to make it personal with me? I never said one bad thing about you, yet here you are trying to psychoanalyze me for no purpose. Really rude, and I think you may be projecting your own anger issues and insecurities onto me with it.

This statistic says nothing to the quality of those hours. Dumping sixty hours a week into a dead-end job because you are afraid to try for something better or lack the drive to make something more of yourself doesn't make you a hard worker, it makes you an idiot.

Of course Australians make more money, Australians have much better work ethic than Americans and have way, way more drive. Take your average poor, bogan Aussie and put him in America and he'd do great. Americans are just a bunch of entitled, whiny and lazy babies. Look, I'm not arguing that America is in any way a nice place to live. Its a crime ridden shithole filled with the world's absolutely worst people. Going back even temporarily feels like going to some alternate "worst-case" dimension. But the economic conditions in America for someone who gives a shit are laughably easy. So easy it is unfathomable to everyone else in the world. Within 10 years you can realistically go from living in a box to upper middle class and its not even that difficult. I dont see how people fail in America unless they get themselves addicted to drugs or have criminal records.

The only reason someone gets stuck working for Uber in any capacity more than a side hustle is if they have zero initiative in life. Nothing wrong with having zero initiative, but you cant come b****ing about how unfair everything is if you wont put in any effort. You ever worked in Australia? I have. Its not great. The internet is still 90's-era and the absolute vast majority of the country is totally undeveloped. Getting around is a nightmare.

In a couple hours this will blow over and he still wont be signed.

If an employer thinks you have enough knowledge that they can use you to at least debug some code you'll find someone to hire you. The pay wont be good, but then you'll be building resume experience. Life in America isn't great on $30k a year but its also not impossible, and the point of such jobs is that after a year or two of wallowing in it you develop even more experience and skills so you can find yourself something better. Repeat that process a couple times and you're making an upper middle-class income and enjoying a salary that is basically impossible anywhere (and I mean anywhere) else in the world. That's why I'm saying its easy mode. Like in Europe everyone has a degree and nobody has a damn job. 30 year olds living with their parents. Australia and NZ? You are happy just to get that $30k. Little less so in Aussie, but in New Zealand? Man there just aren't opportunities past that entry level. The whole country is the size of metropolitan Dallas.

Are you talking about quality of life or economic growth? Because in the past forty years you have gained access to things like ultra low-cost air travel and a pocket supercomputer. Go back only twenty years and tell somebody you can pull a little machine out of your pocket and use it to book a flight from Chicago to Los Angeles for $75. They'd slap the shit out of you! On wages specifically, the fact that people are content working absolutely dead-end jobs is their own problem. There are many ways to develop skills that can be accomplished totally independently and put someone on a career path for decent money.

Open a new tab in the same browser window you are viewing this forum. You now have access to an indexed collection of mankind's cumulative knowledge. It took you about eight seconds. And your right to peruse it is absolute, guarded by the first amendment to the founding document of your country. If you aren't educated in America these days that is entirely on you.

There is an unlimited quantity of information and knowledge available for free, or nearly for free, on the internet. Three months of diligently using Codeacademy and anyone, literally anyone, can waltz into a middle class income. There was a time when schools and institutions were responsible for education but that time has mostly passed. Of course if someone wants to be a doctor or pilot they should go through the formal training, but if the goal is just to "make it" there are paths for everyone to be successful no matter their station. Really, if you're poor in America its your own damn fault. People hate hearing that but its true. The wages there are so ridiculously high and costs so ridiculously low, I dont think Americans realize how difficult it is in other countries. I love life here and am never turning back but if I ever were I know that life in America, at least from a money perspective, is like the easy-mode setting on a video game.

That sure would be nice wouldn't it? I would not count on it though. And even so, that doesn't solve the problem the Sox have at the other corner spot.

Nobody they have in the minors is a good reason to not sign an MVP-level talent like Harper. I like Blake Rutherford a lot, but what are the odds of him becoming Bryce Harper in the majors? As for Jay and Alonso. The money invested in them is puny compared to even the lowball numbers being discussed in regards to Machado and Harper. Its not like the Sox are doing anything better with those roster spots. I think actually a bit too big a deal has been made of those two acquisitions, personally.

I dont think the Sox have a maximum. Or at least their maximum is so high it may as well not be relevant with how the market for Machado has materialized. What the Sox do have I ***think*** (no direct source, no "guy" in the White Sox FO) is a serious intention to spend as little on Machado as possible because whatever excess value they get out of that contract they can turn around and use to outbid on Harper. Harper is the prize. He was the prize for day 1. That doesn't mean they dont desperately want Machado too, but the ability to sign both informs every offer the White Sox make.

Bears should have been all over this. Big whiff, especially with limited ways to improve the team this year. Murray makes the correct and obvious decision.

Baseball is fine and will stay fine because of Asia and Latin America.

I like quirky, weird rules so the distinction between NL/AL to me is endearing. Same with a lot of things people complain about. I kinda like blown calls and huge gaffes. Makes things interesting. Also, I dont really watch sports to "marvel" at feats or anything. I just am emotionally invested in my teams, am following some narrative or have some gambling interest. I'm in it for the outcome and tension. I wouldn't care if you took every major leaguer in existence and replaced them with college kids in MLB uniforms. As long as there is a contested outcome I'll tune in and get invested one way or another.