Jake

Sox should have done this deal if it is accurate that there's a single opt out after year 5. Surprised we would have come to the table at all if we weren't willing to go for him at this price. There's still a good chance we wind up feeling glad we didn't make the deal, but this is what everyone should have expected Machado to get. And there's of course a chance he makes it well worth the expense.

If there are no opt outs in this deal, then I'm really disappointed that the Sox couldn't match/beat it.

Let's hear about opt-outs.

Why would anyone think the team is going to be good this year? That's not my expectation at all and it wouldn't change even if we added Machado.

I suppose tomorrow Yoan will take grounders at 2B and we'll have rapid fire speculation about what that means

I don't know. Who is the backup 2B?

To me that feels more likely than the Sox moving Yoan there permanently

One thing that is interesting to wonder is what kind of signs there would be if we had basically withdrawn from the sweepstakes.

I think he does actually have a very strong arm, it's just not high on the list of reasons to move him from one position to another.

One thing I'm pretty confident about: If Yoan can't cut it at 2B, he'll be worse at 3B.

I have to think it's more likely that we're playing a very weak hand with Lozano to show we have a long-term option at every spot in the infield.

I think that if Manny insists on playing SS or Sox scouts feel Manny showed an ability to stick at SS, this is a plausible and probably the best configuration.

Good for him to take his career into his own hands and not do things he felt were hurting him. Hope it works.

I've not seen enough to see that as an assumption. Who plays 2nd? Yolmer?

For me, the easiest thing is it's a bad deal if he has a unilateral opt-out after 2 years. 3 years may be too early too. When you sign a player to a contract, you're hoping to at least get exactly what you paid for. But for a long term deal, you know it's more likely you end up either doing really well (player outperforms the deal) or very poorly (player is much worse than the deal). If you give an early opt-out, you almost can't do well — if he outperforms the deal, he becomes a free agent and then gets a bigger paycheck — but you're exposed to 100% of the risk of things going badly. For us, you enter the deal knowing that Year 1 is very unlikely to be a championship year so you want him to do well but his performance in that year isn't very important. And so Year 2 is the first year you start to really get a payoff if he outperforms the contract. If you risk losing him after Year 2, then you have practically no upside in the contract. It's not a ton better if he can leave after Year 3.

The potential positive spin is, as always, that we might avoid a bad deal.

We would be more willing to outbid if our window is open versus now, when we can't risk a lot of money if the deal gives the guy the chance to dip out as soon as we get good.

deferrals = not serious

Opt outs are so important. If he can opt out after two good years in SD, then we can outbid them in two years and if he flops then SD is hamstrung for a decade by a bad deal.

I think that's a plausible interpretation of those comments, but I just didn't see any direct relationship with Harper being on the team or not.

The Heyman tweet screams like desperation from the Yankees to me. "Psst, Manny, don't forget we're here to offer you a shitty deal"

Moustakas gets $10 million. That's a pretty good deal for him, all things considered. I'm sure he would have liked a 2-year deal (or much longer), but he's just a so-so guy and gets a good chunk of money.

Clearly not everyone agrees with me, but I think it's silly to do anything on the MLB roster to accommodate a guy who thus far has done nothing but hit okay in A-ball.

I don't follow.

Seems plausible that the Sox could sign Manny to play SS, move Tim to 2B, and Yoan to 3B. I continue to think it's stupid to move Yoan in general, but that configuration would probably be the best use of our talent if we start with the stipulation that Manny plays SS.