Roughneck

If they are getting Joc for the deal that was rumored last Thursday, that's fine. Giving up mediocre prospects or a Nicky Delmonico for him is a win no matter what. But it would make no sense for them to give up any prospects of value for someone with 2 years left unless they have Machado. In that case, the timetable is moved up and they're essentially trying to win 80 games this year and make the playoffs next year. And realistically, there's nothing much the Sox can do other than bluff. The Sox need Machado, but he has other suitors. There won't be another Manny coming around for the Sox next offseason.

No. The Sox want to sign this guy for 7-10 years. 2019 isn't going to be a playoff year no matter what. They absolutely need Manny, but they have nothing to lose by waiting him out here.

You are right, but Arrieta figured it out with the help of yoga and, um, "supplements." And he was Bob Gibson for about a year and a half. You don't see moves like that very often. I'd be thrilled if Banuelos could be a serviceable starter.

Never. The "Manny plan" is about deciding whether they should spend extra money to put a slightly better team around him, rather than just playing all the kids and losing more. Moves like Joc don't make sense if we don't have Machado. But the other moves are just window dressing. The Sox will gladly sign Machado now or in May.

Oh, the MoccBomb dope again. How much of a douchebag do you have to be to not only make up false rumors to get attention, but to make a stupid name for your rumors? This guy is like the Shermanator.

Looney Leming is a good guy. I follow him on Twitter. Knew he was a big Sox fan, but didn't know he had sources.

Maybe, but message boards are just mental masturbation, anyway. We're not solving problems here. The Sox are involved in a lot of talks with free agents and trade discussions which never happen. Ignoring that they would burn their source, if insiders posted every detail they got, they would get piled on because like 99% of the things the team discusses don't end up going anywhere. Even deals which were close end up falling apart. So you'd have people throwing barbs at them "Hey, whatever happened to the Sox signing Ottovino?" like 4 years later.

Can you explain yet your comments about wanting to get to Sox fest? Were they closing on a big trade or signing at the time? Because there were others hinting towards big news there.

Look, even ignoring Dave's eyeballs thing, we had several people confirm his eyeballs on Thursday night. Something was going down and looked to be done. Rabbit seemed to confirm the report that we were getting Joc, then nothing happened. Clearly, there was *something* which fell apart or got delayed for some reason. Confirmed: Shack and WSD are in a group text with Hahn.

The Sox didn't lose 97 games in 2014 or 2015, they were in a bad division with only one team to beat, and they didn't give up any top prospects for a short-term fix (Tatis wasn't a top prospect). Also, the Reds don't have any Sale/Quintana on their current roster. The Reds are going to be awful for a few more years, and even if they get a fluke year, have to deal with a division with 4 teams with winning records last year. This looks like a totally different situation.

Oh, I get moving the prospects. But they're going to be awful the next two years even with Realmuto. It makes no sense for them to trade for him in an uncompetitive year just so they can trade him again a year later and get less than they gave up. That's a Billy Beane type move.

Soo... why are last place the Reds looking to trade future pieces for a catcher with 2 years of control left?

First off, I think we'd all agree that it's strange the Padres decided they wanted Machado the last week of January. So, do they actually want him? Because it seems more likely that Lozano is using them as a bluff to drive up the Sox and Phillies. Were there any reports of Machado meeting with the Padres? If he sat through 5+ hour meetings with the Sox, Phils and Yankees, why would we take SD as a serious threat if he hasn't met with them?

The way I see it, we're at 50%. Either we get him or we don't.

When they had Sox games, it was a garbage network, staffed largely by scumbags with poor understandings of sports, which did its best to diminish the Sox, put down the franchise and talk about anything else, including fluffing the Cubs. Even in down years for the Cubs, they got way more talk on the Score. Why would anybody think things would change when they started broadcasting Cubs games instead? While the Score jerks themselves off over being the "#1 sports station in Chicago," they are the 18th radio station in the city overall. That's insane for such a sports-crazy city as Chicago, but there's a good reason for that. The Score sucks and ESPN barely tries to cover Chicago sports. As much as radio is a cesspool everywhere, I swear that someone could easily put together a Chicago sports station which would destroy the Score. Then again, right off the bat it would probably bring in "Chicago personalities" like Dan McNeil.

There's literally nothing else he can say except "no comment." You guys can all panic if and when Manny signs elsewhere. Until then, chill.

Nah, most things would be better if they were like wrestling. Imagine after the Rams beat the Saints last week and celebrated on the field, then the Bears walked in with a briefcase entitling them to a game, and challenged the Rams to a games right then and there with the conference championship on the line? That would make things a lot more exciting.

I've envisioned this in the past. Sox bring out Manny, but then Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton show up, knock out Hahn and take out the whole team. Kopech comes in and tried to make the save, but they beat him down and stomp on his surgically repaired elbow. Manny leaves with the Yankees. This Sunday at the Royal Rumble, it will be Ricky Renteria vs. Aaron Boone in a contract-on-a-pole match for the rights to Machado. When the ref gets knocked out and the Yankees fill the ring, "By Gawd, that's Bryce Harper's music!" Harper takes out the entire Yankees team. Machado enters the ring pissed off. Him and Harper stare each other down for 30 seconds. Then Manny smiles and shakes Bryce's hand. He quickly superkicks Aaron Boone and pulls the lifeless body of Ricky on top of Boone. Ricky, Machado and Harper celebrate, then rip the shirt of an unconscious Stanton and spray paint sWo on his back.

It would be really hard to pull off for the Sox. Not saying it's realistic, but announcing his signing to hundreds or thousands of fans is much more of a highlight than just letting the news get out through normal media. Your first post was asking why it would be a big deal and why the Sox would even care to save the news for then. The Sox will clearly take Machado at anytime, but being able to break the news tonight has got to be their dream scenario.

I didn't pay any attention to Cubs Convention, which is understandable because I'm not a Cubs fan. But had they shocked everybody by trotting out Harper, it would have been a huge moment which would have gone viral and been replayed millions of times. Obviously, the Sox signing Manny won't get the same media love as the Cubs signing Harper, but it would be a huge moment which was shown everywhere. Like I said, the Sox would get an iconic image out of it, rather than just letting Rosenthal break the story and having reporters everywhere just mention that he signed. If gives the franchise attention and pays off the loyal fans. They get to celebrate with thousands of other fans, like at a game, rather than reading some tweet while they're taking a crap.

As huge as Ozzie was in bringing the team that championship, he doesn't deserve that honor after the way he quit on the franchise.

Yeah, just think of the rally or whatever it was where the Miami Heat announced signing James and Bosh. It was an iconic moment that was replayed hundreds of times on Sportscenter. It's about theatrics and getting attention for the team. And if clips from his introduction are shown years from now with a voiceover saying "this was the start of a dynasty," then that's a bonus.

It would be an incredible scene and something which would go viral to have a huge announcement in front of a room with a few thousand rabid fans cheering. That's a heck of a lot more iconic or impactful than the news being broken with a tweet from Ken Rosenthal saying we signed him.

But it isn't about getting him signed. It's about keeping in a surprised until the opening ceremony. Are they even going to care about that as long as they get the deal done? I don't know.

If the Sox were to announce Manny at Soxfest, it would be the culmination of crazy events. They would have to sneak him into Chicago and into the hotel, past a bunch of Sox fans. Then they'd have a doctor meet them at the hotel to do the physical there. Next, have Manny sign the contract immediately and fax it to the main office. Then introduce him minutes later before work breaks on twitter. I mean, it's theoretically possible, but it would take an insane amount of planning to get it done and keep it a secret until that moment.