Jack Parkman

These are Jack Parkman's tiers of credibility, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most credible 10-Nobody 8-9-(mostly factual, with some room for error) National big name sportswriter 7-(At least has some basis in fact) Bob Nightengale, only because for some reason he has less accuracy than others in the national media 5-6(probably coming from a legit source with an agenda) local beat writers (Trib, Herald, The Athletic) 3-4 (more plausible) local bloggers for an online publication such as Sox Machine/SouthSideSox 1-2 (plausible) people such as the Red Line Radio crew and other Barstool Sports types; posters on message boards with some sort of track record on actually having a source, such as Rock, raBBit, etc. Negative 1 Billion-Twitter Randos Negative 1 Trillion-Reddit Randos If a twitter rando or a reddit rando actually nails a trade verbatim, that is the equivalent of throwing shit at the wall and it actually stuck. Pure coincidence and luck. katyperrysbootyhole got lucky once. I will remind that person that katy perry is a gringo, which means she has no bunghole. Therefore katyperrysbootyhole doesn't actually exist (end b&b joke) Also, when national writers and local beats are mostly silent, people tend to put much more weight into tiers 1-4, mostly because they're starved for info, and anything is better than nothing.

If we use your criteria, the only credible source is an official team release announcing a signing. I tend to agree with you about sources, that anything short of a team release is bullshit, unless ALL of the national writers are reporting it and the local beats are confirming it. To be honest, nobody knows what to believe and it is mostly confirmation bias. Either everything is credible or nothing is credible. The baseball world is really mirroring the economics and politics of the rest of the country right now. There is a lack of trust in the media, as everyone's credibility is under scrutiny and the economic system is only benefiting the best of the best in terms of talent, as well as shareholders. Everyone else is left behind and has to use their brain to sort out the bullshit from reality.

No, they need a cap/floor system. Right now, the tax is a de facto cap for 26/30 teams. Why do the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Cubs get to play by a different set of rules? Also, the only FA that are getting paid are the best of the best, everyone else is getting short term deals or even being forced into early retirement. Baseball's economic system is broken. All of the money is going to the ownership and superstars, and very little is going anywhere else. If you want to talk about killing baseball, this is what could do it. Young athletes could decide it pays better to play another sport. I could go into a rant about economics and late stage capitalism, but I'm not going to go there.

Continue to hang on to the hope if you want. Whatever floats your boat man. More power to ya. There is a reason why the entire mood of the board changed when Dan Clark and Rock posted their info on twitter/the board respectively.

Incorrect. There are others who know what is going on. You don't actually think that Theo and Jed don't consult anyone lower on the totem pole then each other, do you? It isn't one or two guys making these decisions. Did you ever watch Moneyball? There are 10-15 people in on this with Theo and Jed being two of them. There are 8-13 other FO members who could have leaked this info. Also, most talent evaluators don't have the labor law knowledge themselves to write the player contracts. They hire lawyers to do that. How do you know that this guy isn't in that branch of the FO? There are probably 45-50 people in that organization who know exactly what is going on and 40+ of them aren't Epstein, Hoyer or a Ricketts.

CWS, Rock has been posting here for at least a decade and he has solid sources. Before Rock said this, I was pretty optimistic there were no realistic options for the Cubs to move money, and all signs pointed to the Sox by process of elimination. As time went on, I was starting to believe more and more the Sox could actually land Harper, because there was no real market for him. If Boras and Theo were buddy buddy the whole time and Theo just needed to find someone to take Heyward, and he'd be willing to give up whatever it took within reason to dump him, Harper was going to the Cubs the whole time and there was literally nothing any other FO could do to change that. If Machado is going to the Yankees, the same is true for him. He was going there the whole time and there was nothing anyone could do to change that. It isn't some epic failure, it is just bad timing and that Machado and Harper are more concerned with winning now, and cashing in later if they stay healthy. Can you really blame them?

From a leak in the Cubs FO.

Dude, I know you want to hang on to hope, but you're in denial. It ain't happening. Do yourself a favor and move on. You're like a jilted ex bf right now. She ain't coming back to you. Let it go.

To be honest, I thought going into the offseason that Machado was always going to the Yankees and Harper to the Dodgers or Cubs. I never really thought the Phillies or Sox had a chance. Out of the Phillies/Sox, I actually like the Sox organizational talent better than the Phillies, and I think the Sox are better set up for sustainable success. The only advantage the Phillies have over the Sox is that most of their young talent is further along in the development process.

I don't think it would be an FU if they got Fisher and Martes from Houston, especially if Abreu comes right back in 2020 like Chapman did with the Jankees. Where does Abreu fit long term anyway? He really doesn't, so I really don't mind cashing in on him this year. If they don't get Harper or Machado, this year is going to suck anyway. Grab another top 3 pick in 2020 and grab some talent for Abreu too. If Abreu really wants to come back, and Hahn wants him back, move the guy and sign him in 2020. It would have to be a deal similar to the one mentioned above to consider moving him. Otherwise, Abreu is worth more to the Sox than anyone else.

If they sign neither, Abreu is traded for prospects and Alonzo mans 1B this season. Jose can come back in 2020 if the price is right and he wants to return.

Robert absolutely can play CF.

Maybe the Cubs would add Adzolay as well, and he had TJS late this past season. Adzolay doesn't help the Cubs in their window.

Anyone see my posts? Heyward+Chatwood=133.5M Cueto+Melancon=96M Other Option: Samardzija+Melancon=67M Heyward=106M Schwarber/Happ=the difference? The Giants also get to spread out that money over 5 years instead of 3.

Melancon and Cueto combined are worth $96M in contracts Heyward is worth $106M Melancon is off the books in 2021, Cueto only has a $5M buyout in 2022, While Heyward is making 22M in both 2022 and 2023.

Outside of Madrigal, yeah. The Sox are absolutely loaded with OF. Of their top 10 bats, 7 are OF. The others are Burger and Collins who are 1B/DH types. Jimenez Robert Rutherford Basabe Adolfo Walker Gonzalez are all OF. I am actually perfectly fine using that depth to acquire MLB pieces if they were to sign Harper, but to each their own. I'd keep Eloy and Robert, but after them anyone is fair game, should Harper sign with the Sox.

They could if they got a 3rd team involved who needs pitching and would be willing to eat Cueto's contract, while they take on Samardzija and Melancon who only have two years left. It isn't out of the question they go into the luxury tax for this year only, as they have Zobrist coming off the books after this season. They only have 81M committed in 2020, according to Cot's contracts. If they get rid of their arb guys(Schwarber, Happ, Almora) , they could do that to shed the long term money for short term money. Should they pick up Quintana's option next year, they'd have only $93M committed for 2020 +whatever Bryant and Baez get in arbitration.

Possiblities to be moved to Cubs from Giants: Cueto: 3/68 left Samardzija: 2/40 left Melancon: 2/28 left

I don't think it would be that. I'd imagine it would be money for money. Something around Heyward, Happ or Schwarber, and Chatwood going to the Giants and Melancon and either Samardzija or Cueto going to the Cubs. If it happened I'd imagine it would be Heyward, Happ and Chatwood for Melancon and Cueto. A Darvish/Samardzija swap is also a possibility.

For the most part, yes. If a major story, they usually get cited in the report as the source.

I thought it was common knowledge that the national writers rely on local writers.

I tracked down who Dan Clark works for, and it is a Washington/Baltimore site called The Big Leagues Daily. He writes on Baseball and Hockey only. I thought he worked for MASN, but I guess not. Maybe he's not as credible as I thought. Seems to be a blogger, not a beat reporter. It would be the equivalent of someone like Margalus from SoxMachine.

Or it could be that the Sox and Astros have a deal in place for Abreu. Jose can go to the playoffs with Houston and come right back in 2020.

Agreed.

I think he had the Freddy Garcia deal in 2004. They used to break stuff all of the time before Twitter. They used to be the most legitimate sources there were.