MiddleCoastBias

I believe Ricky said the main starters will be doing back-field practices and warm-ups this weekend and won't be appearing in games for a few days.

But who would win in a fight, 80 Adam Engels or 1 Bryce Harper, hmmmmm?

Definitely exciting to see what we have coming up. I always try to make it out to Pawtucket, RI when the PawSox host the Charlotte Knights and these last two years have been a must. I've got that series circled in my calendar already.

We don't need a reason.

Look, I get why we shouldn't have a lot of optimism in this FO to actually outsmart anyone and make a play for Harper. But if I'm the Sox, I WANT Nightengale putting information out there saying the Phillies are bidding against themselves so that we can try to sneak in with a winning (panic?) bid that beats what the Phils consider "good enough".

I've lived in Boston for two World Series while my Sox haven't even made the playoffs. It would be so easy to just slip into the crowd and cheer for a perennial winner, but I can never change my colors. I'll keep supporting the White Sox, despite them making little effort to support us as fans.

Fair, and yes, that gets back to your main point - misses on all level of FAs.

I think it's only fair to be noted that 2+ years of that list we weren't even pretending to compete. We took a look on a lot of lotto ticket guys in recent years, but that's no defense of those early swings and misses.

And we need to forward this thread to at least ten people in the next 24 hours or be cursed with bad luck forever. Can't run the risk, you guys.

Yesterday my girlfriend took a photo of the two of us, and in the reflection of my glasses you can clearly see I'm holding my phone with Soxtalk's page open.

"if"? IF?? What happened to WHEN, Dan?

The answer to that was that it would make the Phillies drive up the price for Harper if they knew we were in on both. But that raises the better question - if we know that would drive up the price on Harper, why the hell would Harper and Boras want to keep this quiet? Facts is facts - this has to be bullshit.

He may not be as direct with his certainty, but Hector sure seems to latch onto any Machado/Sox nugget and have a "hey look at this *wink wink*" comment on it. I get the impression that he's really hooked into the idea that Machado is going to the Sox and everything he tweets about is a soft effort to say "look at my info, I'm right".

I'm curious, has anyone seen if Yankees fans are giving Hector the same treatment that we have Dan Clark?

No one likes a show-off.

Is this separate from the locker photo from yesterday? I don't have instagram so I depend on screengrabs here.

I've got cub friends that retweet Charles as gospel and truly believe they're getting Harper. They're getting all riled up like it's only a matter of time. My schadenfreude is strong on this one. I say keep it going, Mr. Cat!

col·ly·wob·bles /ˈkälēˌwäb(ə)lz/ noun INFORMAL•HUMOROUS stomach pain or queasiness. "an attack of collywobbles" intense anxiety or nervousness, especially with stomach queasiness. "such organizations give him the collywobbles"

Absolutely - I like that his line "a team with stupid $ (plus others)" is a barely-veiled code for "Phillies (plus others)".

Other side of the coin says the White Sox have had so few marketable players in recent years that Majestic just stopped making jerseys for us.

*wakes up* *see two pages of haikus* *goes back to bed forever*

That whole Machado/Red Sox episode was something. I was at the Sale game at Fenway in the CF bleachers wearing my Sox stuff, laughing my ass off when Sale gave up the dinger. The Orioles and Red Sox have (not-so)-quietly had some real bad blood brewing in recent years (Adam Jones dealing with jackwagon fans, Machado & Pedroia are just a couple), and I do believe it's primarily coming from the Boston side of things.

The Reds seem to have a glut of skilled infield prospects that can be moved for upgrades elsewhere. With Senzel at the #5 overall prospect looking to be penciled in at 3B, seems like India is a great trade piece. I imagine we'll be doing something similar with our outfield prospects once they're all hitting the show around the same time.

I think it could be a matter of perspective - I'd imagine New York fans are probably saying the Sox are just being used to up the price for the Yankees. They think they're bigger and better than us so they think we can't be serious. We think we're bigger and better than the Reds and Padres and so we think THEY can't be serious.