GenericUserName

#HatGate2k19 got a whole article written about it. Definitely makes me feel less stalkerish. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/twitter-is-abuzz-after-instagram-video-appears-to-show-manny-machado-in-white-sox-hat/

"This just in, Yolmer Sanchez traded to the Philadelphia Phillies"

So do we sign Manny's evil twin or is he a lock for the evil empire?

I agree that the side does look too small to be a patch and looks more like the normal logo, but that S in the Sox is also seemingly bigger than normal which was a point of contention earlier.

I mean if you're offering......

Do not harass players' families, especially when they are free agents.

Weird Sleuthing - X Crazy Rumor - X "Tomorrow is the day" - X Well, we got everything checked off. Pack it up for the night, we're done for the day.

I haven't seen any Chance hats with the patch on the side like the video

Can someone who was getting screenshots get one of the hat when he turns right at the end of the video? That looks like it might be the most straight on view of it.

What's the feeling right now? Just anything on whether this will be done soon-ish or if we no longer feel confident.

Yeah, I get all that, but those still have the per year salary of the option years being less than the per year salary of the beginning of the contract. So it still doesn't make sense with the 7/$175 deal because the last year or two would max out at $25m/yr and that would only bring the contract to 8/$200 or 9/$225 and both of those seem lower than what has been reported.

The present value of a dollar is greater than the future value of a dollar

I don't know how well the swellopt explains the different contract figures. It might explain the years, but I don't think it would explain the different numbers. As far as I can tell from the other swellopts this year, it doesn't include any sort of second signing bonus or increased salary during the contract, just extra years and whatever salary those are agreed to at. So if the option is for one or two years at the end of the contract, you would think those would only be for $30m/yr max. If the 7/$175 figure is correct, that would only increase it to 8/$205 and even that would mean the last year was a higher AAV than the rest of the contract. If you think the figure might be closer to the 8/$240 we were hearing before, then maybe the 7 year offer is for $210 in which case the final year would be for the same AAV as the rest of the contract. That I could see being the discussion, but it still doesn't explain the 7/$175 offer we heard.

Isn't that illegal? I thought agents were required to report every deal to the player?

When you are talking about that amount of money I think there is less worry about an injury like an ACL tear and more concern about something more career threatening. This is generational wealth we are talking about. Risking leaving over $100 million of guaranteed money on the table would be too risky for me. A much better option would be to try to front load the contract as much as possible and get the opt out after the fourth year to hopefully make it back in the market with the new CBA and hopefully better conditions for free agents. That way he gets guarantees himself the huge contract in case of injury, but also has the opportunity to hopefully find better market conditions. The odds of anything really changing in one year are pretty small anyway. The low contract figures seemingly have less to do with his performance and much more to do with the general conditions for free agents with the current CBA and how advantageous it is to just use pre-arb players.

If this GMing thing doesn't work out, he'd make a great politician. He can talk to you for an hour without really telling you anything at all.

Has anyone said the obligatory "I feel like this is going to end tomorrow" yet tonight? Because if not, I'll say it. I feel like this is going to end tomorrow.

Well he never said which Wednesday. Maybe he meant next Wednesday latest! (This is sarcasm if its not obvious)

Did you also watch Saving Private Ryan last night?

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/lucas-giolito-is-saving-his-season/ This article from during the season comes to the same conclusion about Giolito while also talking about his mechanics a bit.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW!!!! WE NEED INFO!!!! Seriously, like this is becoming a sickness for me. I don't know how much more I can handle.

But what would Boras gain? Surely players aren't choosing their agents based on rumored numbers during negotiations but by the actual final number, right? If anything, wouldn't there being a report of a super lowball offer and then Lozano getting it up to a more realistic number (even if it were always there in actuality) make him look better because he was able to get a ton of money in the negotiation? I just really have no idea what is going on right now. Either an agent or a team leaked something that Lozano didn't like, but I don't know who had the right motivations to leak the numbers we think put Lozano over the top.

Part of the reason for the salary cap is to increase parity. Golden State is doing amazing not because they can spend more than anyone else but because they drafted good players for an innovative system. Any other team could have done that. And that fact that it could be any team helps to grow the sport, which in turn increases revenue which then increases players salaries because the cap and the floor grow proportionally to the league revenues. The superstars might not make as much in salary as they could if there were no cap, but the benefits of having the cap offsets (or more) the reduced salary because the increased popularity of the game gives those star players much better marketing opportunities.

And that is the impasse we are at right now. Manny could benefit from Harper signing with the Nationals, so he wants to wait him out, but Boras always wants to wait out the competition so he makes sure he gets the best offer. The Phillies seemingly want Harper more than Machado, but they probably won't up their offer because Boras will still wait and try to raise it again if they lose out on Machado, so it won't get to a level where Harper will sign first. Basically someone needs to get motivated to make a move otherwise this is just going to keep going until spring training. It might be time for JR to have another meeting with Harper to put pressure on the Phillies to make a move on who they want and for Machado to maybe worry about losing a bidder.

I finally closed the tab with this thread in it and told myself I wasn't going to look at it again until the morning. Needless to say I failed.