Dam8610

Machado fits the rebuild perfectly. He plays the one position the organization has no answers for right now, he's a legitimate Gold Glove caliber defender there, he rarely misses games, and he rarely falls below 5 WAR in a season. Harper is more like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. He's a lefty power bat, but he's missed a lot of games due to injury, has bad-average defense, is a risk to need to be moved to DH, and plays the position where the organization has its greatest depth.

Lambert is a starter that went from org filler to legit prospect due in part to the uptick in his velo.

Sign 3B Manny Machado 10 years $350 million Sign LF Michael Brantley 2 years $30 million Sign SP Yusei Kikuchi 6 years $60 million (+ posting fee) Sign SP Gio Gonzalez 2 years $25 million Sign CL Cody Allen 2 years $20 million Sign DH Nelson Cruz 2 years $30 million Lineup: 01) LF Michael Brantley 02) 2B Yoan Moncada 03) 3B Manny Machado 04) DH Nelson Cruz 05) RF Eloy Jimenez 06) 1B Jose Abreu 07) SS Tim Anderson 08) C Omar Narvaez 09) CF Adam Engel Bench: UTIL Jose Rondon UTIL Yolmer Sanchez C Welington Castillo Rotation: 01) Carlos Rodon 02) Gio Gonzalez 03) Reynaldo Lopez 04) Yusei Kikuchi 05) Lucas Giolito Bullpen: 01) CL Cody Allen 02) SU Ian Hamilton 03) SU Jace Fry 04) MR Nate Jones 05) MR Dylan Covey 06) MR Zack Burdi 07) MR Ryan Burr 08) LR Manny Bañuelos Seems like a roster that could be competitive in the AL Central. Specifically because it's in the AL Central. Didn't sign any QOs and didn't commit more than 2 years to anyone over 30. Those are intended bridge players to the swarm of talent the team has in High A.

No they're not. Some teams, even prominent big spending teams, are telling their fanbases that they won't be going after one or both of these guys.

The simplest solution seems to be to just sign both.

I'd like to see them do that. Structure the deals for when the team has to pay its own, opt outs and all. Something like: 45-45-40-/-45-35-30-/-30-/-25-20-15 That's a 10 year $330 million deal with opt outs at years 3, 6, and 7 which is clearly designed to be opted out of after year 7. I feel like that offer would be attractive to both players for many reasons, and it would allow the team ideal flexibility in payroll in the back end years, with likely opt outs after year 7.

If Eloy is as good as we hope, they'll eventually have to give him a "[one] of the biggest in history" contract as well, so if they're not ready to spend when appropriate, there's no point to this whole endeavor.

If this team wants to compete with the big boys, they'll eventually have to pay payroll like the big boys. They aren't my dollars to spend, but if having two big contracts on the books is going to restrict the White Sox from doing other things to improve the team, this whole process seems pointless, because even if they don't go big in free agency, they'll have to pay their own eventually.

Has anyone actually said Eloy's defense is bad? Because it seems like scouts seem to think he's long term viable in RF. Is this just a case of people thinking "well the bat is great so the defense must be terrible" or is there actually something to this notion that Eloy is bad defensively?

Contract 2 absolutely would. Using a 10% required return rate: PV of contract 2 = $212.53 million PV of $30/year contract = $194.85 million. The first contract you proposed is questionable due to the lowest payouts being in years 4 and 5. That may throw off the value enough that the annuity is greater value.

Move one of the 3 to 1B where they don't have a good hitter. Makes more sense than putting Machado at SS long term. So if you have a butcher at 3B, you make your IF defense worse by signing Machado to play SS? Signing Harper, moving an OF to 1B, moving Torres to SS, and finding a 2B makes a lot more sense.

Machado is the Yankees plan A? I don't buy that.

I believe he is referring to the profession of baseball analytics, which is, in fact, a profession. That said, the fact the he can't recognize his own biases is almost certain to be a negative in that profession.

He's basically left handed Jordan Stephens.

Pomeranz and Gonzalez are the two most attractive options on that list IMO, though Gonzalez would mostly be a bridge/flip candidate.

CHAMPIONSHIP!

Accountants don't typically have the quant background and almost certainly don't have the programming background necessary for these postings.

Be sure to check your biases against certain Cuban slugging 1Bs at the door.

Ugh, I wish I had verifiable experience in R and the ability to take on the internship.

Wouldn't the goal of such a deal, though, be to get the player to opt out on the back end of said deal. Like if there's an opt out after year 8 or 9, wouldn't we want him to be more likely than not to take it?

If you stack that so the age 37-38 seasons are worth like $30 million total, it's not a terrible idea. Still likely that the first 5 years or so of the deal are the most important, though.

I thought it was the day after the conclusion of the World Series? I know baseball free agency just isn't the feeding frenzy that football free agency is.

? Never change, Ron.

That would be nice. 6 WAR players aren't easy to come by.

If he's getting paid large sums of money I don't see why he wouldn't.