Roughneck

Hey, how about this mad cow disease? It was here for a while and then it went. If you had the choice between the Sox signing Manny Machado and you getting mad cow disease, what would it be?

Now we all know the moon is not made of green cheese. But what if it were made of barbeque spare rib? Would you eat it then?

Yep. If it doesn't happen today, we'll just change it again. Crazy to think we had the "endgame" title like 15,000 posts ago. Totally. Even the Sox disastrous network in the '80s was a brilliant idea about 20 years before its time.

Let's be real. Sportscenter would lead with Machado signing with Chicago, spend 3 minutes talking about how he fits in the great Cubs lineup. Then they'd realize he signed with the Sox, so they'd drop it and spend the next 40 minutes breaking down the Pro Bowl.

At the GM meetings MLBN was interviewing the Cardinals' GM. When they asked him about free agents he was looking at, he responded "as you know, I can't comment on specific players."

They do apply to free agents, but I think they only apply to front offices. It's surprising to hear Ricky talking about it, but as for players, they are walkway talking publicly about wanting to play with a given player. They can say whatever they want.

We got Caulfield'd

This is just the way things are for the franchise. They traded Bobby Bonilla for nothing, then passed on the chance to add Barry Bonds in the '90s. Imagine how things would be different if they drafted Mike Trout instead of Jared Mitchell? Things might change if the Sox can sign Machado or Harper, but what if they fail to land Sale or Bumgarner next year? Can they win a championship with Zach Burdi throwing to Zach Collins? They won't have Keon Barnum Keenyn Walker playing behind them, that's for sure.

I don't. You can jerk yourself off over "nobody gave us a chance" after you sign one of those guys. Until then, it means shit. The Sox got meetings with both guys because it was known they would be offering close to $300 million. They would have met with any team offering big money. And we still don't know who much of a "chance" the Sox realistically have with either guy. We might very well find out Machado was holding out for anyone else to match the Sox' offer and Harper never considered playing here. Long way to go before anybody in the Sox front office can spike the football.

Here's a thought. I saw this documentary called Timecop about a cop who traveled back in time to stop people who traveled back in time to do nefarious things. So, maybe we are not yet at the point where Hahn will travel back in time to sign Machado on Christmas day. When he goes back in time, Hahn might have to win a fight against Jean Claude Van Damme, but we don't know Rick's level of training so it's at least theoretically possible. We could both be closer to the signing *and* farther from it at the same time. Science is wild.

I only went to Minnesota once. Spent a week at Mayo Clinic and traveled a little around there. The Twins were out of town, so I didn't get to a game, unfortunately. Really nice area though. I'd like to spend more time there.

Yeah, right. More like Lake Inferior, amirite?

CC Machado on Bob's tweet. He'll sign before the end of the day.

I don't think the theoretical price of Fulmer and Bush is that high on its own. But to me, it still doesn't make sense for the Sox sans Machado. If Joc were a free agent? Sign him ASAP, that's cool. But I don't even want to give up a lottery ticket to maybe improve by 5 wins for a team that won't break the 80 win mark.

Mall of America isn't in Minneapolis, but yes. We are insulting the whole damn state. Like, why do you need 10,000 b****-ass lakes? Why don't you just get one great one?

I disagree. As of this second, the Sox are in no position to move anybody who might have a future impact, whether it's Fulmer or Bush. There's just no reason to. Get rid of Delmonico, no problem. But no reason to move players who could improve, let alone someone like Bush who is a high ceiling prospect, to help a team that won 62 games last year. 2019 is going to be a bad year with or without Pederson. Now, sign Machado? Then you can also pick up a starter, get Joc and try to compete for a WC spot this year if everything goes right. But as of now, I would be pissed if the Sox get Pederson to patrol CF on a team without Machado or Harper. Might as well hold on to any prospect and hope they improve.

I have a feeling like this trade is all but done, contingent on the Sox signing Machado. Context clues and vague comments from people with org contacts lead me to believe that. If the Dodgers really are waiting for this trade before they can officially sign Pollack, we might have a trouble here. If Machado doesn't sign anytime soon, the Dodgers are going to get antsy and look for another trade partner.

I just went to MoM this past summer. It was fine. A bit underwhelming in that they had multiple locations for several stores because they were clearly struggling to fill retail spot (there were like 5 Lids locations). But it was nice. Definitely for tourists and not something locals would go to that often. But someone with hundreds of millions of dollars isn't going to be anywhere near that scene, anyway. If Mrs. Machado is calling the shots, I'm sure she's much rather head to the Mag Mile.

Come for the 30 degree May weather, stay for the lutefisk.

Even when the G Spot was Comiskey, maybe half of fans just called it Sox Park. I'm not going to say "Guaranteed Rate Field" in casual conversation, just like I'm not going to say "PlayStation Fiesta Bowl." Nobody not being paid to a network broadcasting live sports says "Mercedes Benz Superdome." Call it Sox Park and everybody knows what you're talking about. But do Brewers fans have a secondary name for their stadium? Brewers Park? It's always been Miller. I'm sure street vendors will sell loads of "I still call it Miller Park" shirts, but other than that, I wonder how Brewers fans will take to the name change. Maybe they'll just say "going to the Am Fam." That's the problem with the newer stadiums, they don't have an old name that people can use by default.

The public sees 7/175 million and thinks it is a monstrous deal. That doesn't mean Machado would take it.

Stanton's contract isn't the highest on AAV. That is Greinke's at something like $33 mil. Stanton's contract is the highest in total money. I think Manny wanted to break both records, but the total money barrier is probably more important to him. That being said, they want that money over a shorter timeframe. I imagine if the Sox offered him Stanton's exact deal, he would turn it down. He wants $330 over 10 years, not 13.

The reason Farmer is so bad at PBP is because he needs someone to reign him in and cut him off as necessary. His rambling, sometimes incoherent stories can be fun for filling time, but we are tuned in to hear baseball. Too often, Ed thinks fans listen to hear his stories and the game comes second to the point he was trying to make. In the past, Rooney would cut him with "Wow, interesting. So here's the 2-2 pitch. Fouled off. You were saying?" Today, I hear something like this every time I turn on the Sox in the car. Farmer: I was at a golf tournament with Dan Hampton. Hall of Famer. Super Bowl winner. He was telling me about his time back at Arkansas. They were playing Alabama, coached by the great Bear Bryant. You know Bear Bryant? DJ: ... Farmer: Bear Bryant, the greatest coach of all time? DJ: Huh? Farmer: Former Alabama Coach Bear Bryant? DJ: Yeah, Bear Bryant. One of the best ever. Farmer: You ever see a Bear Bryant coached team play? DJ: Oh yeah. All the time on TV growing up. Farmer: So he's telling me this story *crack of bat in the background, fans gasp then organ plays* about this time they went to Tuscaloosa. That pitch was fouled off. Anyway, they were worried about staying at the team hotel because *crack of bat, fans gasp and then groan, farmer speeds up to finish his story* back then, Alabama fans used to call the hotel all night and wake up random players. They weren't supposed to. So Morneau pulls into second with a leadoff double. Trouble brewing here. So Hampton says... Maybe just as bad as that is when Farmer is actually paying attention to the game, but gives the hint that a play is happening much differently than it is. Such as: 1. Abreu gets a hold of this one! Hits it deep to the right center gap. This could be trouble.*dramatic pause, mild cheering* Trout camps under it for the first out. 2. (calmly stated) Lindor swings and hits a weak flyball to RF. *dramatic pause or continues telling story* Lindor doubles as Garcia can't get there in time.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Dude has probably tweeted 50x already that the Sox are likely going to sign Manny. He's not going to get any more attention by repeating the same thing when there's no news. And he's not a douche like Dan Clark, so he won't dig in and bring attention to himself by insulting others or guaranteeing that Manny will sign here. So he's addressing random rumors from others (like the Pirates rumor) just to keep the views and followers. He got a taste of fame and he needs the attention.

I don't think he's full of it. I think he had legitimate info. But it seems like all the attention and new followers influenced him, and he's now tossing out random stuff and mentioning others' rumors because he needs content to keep the following he gained. Plus, he can say "nothing has changed, Manny still likely to Sox" only so many times. There's sadly nothing to talk about. He should do what the big sites do for empty content - start tweeting out power rankings.