KiwiSox

Its kinda hard to say since there is so much potential on the Sox roster. Both potential for good and bad.

They gotta start winning some ballgames. Really, they are going to have Moncada and Eloy both on the major league squad. Cease and Madrigal wont be far behind. The injury to Kopech sucks but it should not be debilitating. The time to start stringing together some on-field success is now. I'm not saying they gotta sell out to win ninety games, but if they aren't .500 I'm gonna be a little upset.

ESPECIALLY previous HR totals.

I think I believe Rick Hahn less than I believe anyone.

Im guessing to get more teams involved? His job is to get the best offer possible and logic dictates that the more teams bidding, the higher the bids will get. Not that I believe any of what I see reported when it comes to this saga anyways.

Well if Eloy is great, Rutherford is good and the Sox sign Harper it wont really matter if Basabe, Lugo or Robert can play.

Well much like ERA is counter-intuitively not the best predictor of ERA, home runs aren't always the best predictor of home runs. Over their career's Harper hits the ball harder, hits the ball to more fields and more of Harper's fly balls turns into home runs. To me those numbers strongly indicate that going forward Harper's power numbers are going to be better than Machado's. Some statistics paint a player's profile, other stats paint a player's production. The Sox should not be buying production, they should be buying a profile. I like Harper's profile more.

I dont see how its controversial to wish Madrigal doesn't have a major league career where he strikes out forty percent of the time.

To be fair the only historical data you are looking at is three years of home runs and if you look any further than that everything else indicates Harper is the better power hitter. Even Harper hitting five fewer home runs in forty-five fewer games does not really tell me a whole lot, if anything it makes me believe Harper would've outhit Manny that year by a serious amount.

It would be nice if Madrigal isn't a total, laughable embarrassment at the plate the Moncada has been.

You are just deliberating misrepresenting what I am saying here and I frankly cannot understand why. If after 2015, the year where Harper cranked forty-two dingers, I said "Manny Machado will hit more home runs than Bryce Harper each of the next three years!" you would have this same incredulous tone in dismissing it. I am saying, irrespective of what Steamer projects, that Harper is going to hit more home runs than Machado each of the next three years. Part of this may have to do with where they wind up by the way. If Machado goes to Philadelphia and Harper goes to San Diego (which is probably a less-than-likely scenario) ballpark factors may influence it in a big way.

Its not a popular opinion, but I could see it dragging into the regular season.

Most of them will probably suck.

No. I'm just using Steamer to help prove my point since you seem to be dismissive of anything effort that tries to project what they will do, and not just lazily assume what happened in the past will continue uninterrupted into the future, as worthless "gut feeling" and the beep-boop puter machine has no gut feeling and still thinks Harper is a better power hitter (if only marginally).

Its not really based on gut. Steamer has Harper hitting more home runs (or more aptly, one more home run) than Machado in 2019. The computers may not agree with me to the extent of my certainty, but they definitely dont think Machado is a slam dunk to keep outputing more home runs than Harper.

Yea but the Sox are not paying them for the last three seasons, they are paying them for the next three seasons. Its a dangerous trap to think just because baseball-things have happened in the near-past those same baseball-things will happen in the near-future. I am very convinced Harper's offensive profile will age better than Machado's, though I dont think either will suddenly become chopped liver.

The Sox will be lucky if just one of Robert, Rutherford or Basabe can be an all-star caliber outfielder. Having two hit to that extent would be remarkable. Bryce Harper wont be blocking anyone, and if he somehow does we'll cross that bridge then. Of course my ideal outcome is the Sox get both Machado and Harper.

Left handed and I think he'll be hitting for more power over the next seven years than Machado. The Sox really need some guys who can put the ball over the wall.

haha I think you're just bored/at the end of your rope. We all are.

Also keep in the mind the Sox are not potentially paying these guys for what they did in the past, but for what they are going to do in the future. Its easy to look back on each respective player's career and argue about who was marginally better, but the Sox aren't paying them for that necessarily.

I dont want to pretend that defense isn't important but the Sox are after these guys because of their ability to drive in some runs and form the anchor of a middle-order. I would still take Harper over Machado overall even though its very close, but if I'm the Sox for what I'm looking for specifically Harper is clearly the better fit.

I dont think its too controversial to say Harper is a better player from a purely offensive perspective. The number I know are close, but Harper has a noticable edge.

Harper is the better player and that's why I would prefer him to Machado. Sometimes its just that simple. I think the Sox see things the same way.

A lot can change in a few months though. What if the Knicks had the 1.1 overall and showed themselves as big player in free agency? I think Kristaps probably would've at least had second thoughts about wanting out. Now the Knicks are Bulls-tier hopeless and the Mavs are one of the most attractive landing spots in the NBA going forward.

There's no reason the Bulls couldn't have moved up for Doncic and made that trade for Kristaps. The franchise just passed them by.