ChiSox59

Sucks on Basabe. He is probably the most interesting young OF on the 40 man not named Eloy that actually had a shot to play in the big leagues this season.

Hard pass. At this point, roll with with marginal young guys we have. The only position player FAs I have any interest in are Harper (not happening) and Marwin. But even Marwin seems unecessary at this point. Let Palka, Delmonico, Engel, Cordell and Leury get the OF at bats that aren't going to Eloy. Trade Jon Jay as soon as humanly possible.

I don’t think I will ever root for a seemingly nice young man to fail more than Tatis. But chances are he’s going to be very good. Obviously another another tarnish in the ever growing list of mishaps over the past decade plus.

I am thinking the 2 vesting options were what was recently added.

Very sad. Way too young. Saw a Twins reported tweet that he saw him at coffee shop just this morning down in FL. Guessing heart attack. Terrible news.

I mean...did you really expect him to come out and say they expect to have to pay a premium over every other team to land free agents? Wouldn't exactly be the wisest thing for a GM to say. Obviously to to win a FA bidding, 95% of the time you need to be the high bidder. But Hahn coming out saying that the White Sox simply would need to "overpay" to convince a FA to play for them would be......a questionable thing to say publicly.

I was all aboard the Machado train. If I had the choice, I would have taken Machado over Harper 10 out of 10 times. But that ship has sailed, and I am willing to admit that Machado continuing to be a force well into his mid 30s and paying him ~$30M per for a decade would be a significant risk. A lot of his value is derived from his defense, it would be a surprising to see him remain an elite defender into his 30s. Harper, while unlikely to provide much defensive value on the backend of a long term contract (or frankly at all), doesn't strike me as the type of guy that would "take it easy" once he gets his big payday. Machado, on the other hand, I could definitely see regressing. He's already well known around the league for lack of hustle in his mid 20s, and now that he's a three-hundred million dollar man, who knows how much he'll care. Machado was a way better fit organizationally, but Harper definitely has some positives as compared to Machado. But I refuse to convince myself the Sox are actually in the running until it happens. Tanking in 2019 and waiting until 2020 to add major reinforcements just seems like the better move at this juncture.

Same. Id have given him a B yesterday. I am down to a D today. Will probably be a C in a few weeks, but missing on a Machado was a big black eye.

Based on the interview just posted from earlier today, it’ll be a lot of the same BS.

Thanks for sharing!

I’m sure we’ll just get a bunch of Hahn speak, but I’m looking forward to this.

Lol, thanks Goober! He may be a better poster, but I highly doubt someone that openly admits to hardly watching them for years a bigger fan. But who am I or you to judge that? Fandom is subjective. Carry on.

You post an awful lot here for someone that says they don’t care.

Totally fair and understandable.

Why follow a team if it causes you so much anguish on a daily basis over years? I love the Sox. I always will. I am beyond pissed right now, and if I actually lived in Chicago I would do something about it and attend far less games than I usually would. But I don't live in Chicago, and I will continue to watch the team, because that is what I have done since I was a young child. I think the Sox have done a poor job in a lot of areas in the last decade. I think yesterday was near the top. I think they deserve a ton of ridicule and I think they deserve every bit of lacklash they will get this offseason. I am pretty much done with JR. But I still love the team, and I will still root like hell for them, and I don't openly hate every single decision they make (though I do hate them not just guaranteeing $50M more to MM) and act like I could actually be better at the professionals jobs than they are. But that is just my opinion.

To be fair, you've openly hated pretty much everything about the white sox long before yesterday.

I could get behind that.

I wouldn't surprise me if the Sox were indeed out on Harper, but Nightengale's tweet doesn't mean anything. Its just as likely to be a plant from the Sox hoping the Phillies think they are in fact the only team in, as opposed to the Sox actually being out.

I suspect he'll be shipped out as soon as Hahn finds someone who will absorb his salary. That could be this week, it could be in June.

I would be excited if we signed Harper, but the disappointment when he signs elsewhere for me personally won't even come close to what I felt yesterday. Harper is going to be a bad contract. We have a slew of OF prospects. The fit isn't that great.

If Manny Machado is still a really good player at 34, I dont think the Sox are manipulating his plate appearances. Obviously they would and they should if sucked at that point and they wanted him off the team. Again - I understand why MM took the $50M guranteed over the chance at an additional $20M. I'd probably do the same thing if I were him. But its not like he needed to finish top 3 in the MVP voting to get it. 550 plate appearances, while not something he is directly in control of, is not this enormous bar to clear. If he was still a good and productive player, with inflation, I am sure the Sox would have been happy to pay the $35M in 9 years. But it is what it is now.

Dude, I do understand. I just said that exact thing. Of course the Sox could make sure he doesn't hit those PA if he sucks at 34 years old. This isn't rocket science.

Not really. Machado has had over 600 plate appearances in 5/6 full seasons in the big leagues. Sure it could be manipulated if he's an albatross at 34 years old, but lets not act like 550 plate appearances is a tough bar to clear for a healthy player that will likely be well on their way to the HOF at age 34. But yah, I get why Machado preferred the $50M guaranteed - especially as a guy that I could definitely see coasting a bit now that he's signed the richest FA contact in the history of american sports.

Matt Klentak (Phillies GM) also said that they felt $300M was well over their valuation of Machado. So skepticism on the the Phillies willingness to blow by $300M for Harper should also be considered.

Yah, I don't disagree - just sharing what was said. IMO - KW should just keep his mouth shut. What he said was actually pretty much false - they may have been unwilling to guarantee $300M, but if the rumored $250M + $35M + $35M with two fairly attainable vesting options is true, they were definitely willing to go over $300M. They just got too cute.