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Wow...I was actually mentioned on Twitter, he sincerely made my day, lol.

Point taken. At the same time, when the forum has degenerated into something where posters with a positive outlook are going to be insulted, mocked, etc., then the forum has become something it shouldn’t have, regardless of the level of disappointment in the FO at the time.

As a fan there really isn’t anything you can do. As it is, the White Sox fan base has sent a message loud and clear. Declining attendance every season since 2007 except one year when it was up slightly when they slashed ticket prices. Lowest TV ratings in the league. Radio station gets rid of them in bankruptcy because hardly anyone listens. All these things, plus 6 losing years in a row. No playoffs in over a decade. These clowns still think the White Sox are a destination. How the fuck are they going to get a player to take $50 million less in guaranteed money to come to their park when they cannot even get a fan to come to a game? KW took over in 2001. The Sox had one of the youngest teams in baseball. Won the division. Farm system ranked first...ESPN even knew they existed. Peter Gammons said not onky would they own Chicago, they would own MLB. One season they did. Other than hat mostly mediocrity. The one constant has been the decision makers. Anyone who thought they would actually pay Harper after they didn’t pay Machado wasn’t paying attention. Anyone who thinks these guys can oversee a team that wins consistently for years, didn’t pay attention. The team needs to change. Hahn has admitted that. But what he hasn’t admitted is th biggest change needed, is not trading with the Cubs, or going over your international money pool. It is getting new people to make decisions. These dopes have had more than thei share of chances.Sell the team JR. Spare yourself the embarrassment 4 years from now when the Sox sneaks to the second wild card spot and you have to tell everyone they were wrong the Sox needed to sign a superstar in his prime. The new owner will know what to do with your partners in crime.

I have been banging the Harper instead of Machado drum all off-season. I genuinely think the White Sox agree with me wholeheartedly that it is worth letting Machado go to San Diego if it means they stay in the Harper derby. Some maybe think that's gullible and stupidly optimistic, but I look at everything they've done (actually done) and the Machado negotiations seemed like half-ass media games and overblown deals to guys like Jon Jay in an effort to lure Machado in on a cheap deal then turning around and trying to grab Harper. I dont think Machado was ever their primary target. Nothing has happened in the last week to change my mind. The Sox are all over Harper and just because the blue checkmarks aren't reporting it doesn't mean it isn't so.

This did not happen.

To be entirely fair, this is part of what has saved them from being much worse off than they actually have been. They’ve never gotten themselves in too bad of financial shape. But this was the time to take the risk.

My favorite quote on FA is from Andrew Friedman. “If you’re always rational on every free agent,” he said, “you will finish third on every free agent.”

You uppity fans.

We all told you exactly what the Sox apparently thought. I’m not sure wtf you expected? The goddamned FO was in a state of utter disbelief with what happened. What don’t you understand here?

There is zero chance the Sox sign Harper, yet I keep checking this thread.. something is wrong with me

The Sox have spent $45 million this offseason on mostly mediocre acquisitions. A lowball offer of $250 million that isn’t accepted isn’t the same as spending $250 million. Sullivan is a hobbit troll who should stay in his cave.

The Phillies thought it was overpayment. Come on, dude. Give some people that do this for a living a little deference. What happened to you that you became so omniscient? Did you find a radioactive rock or something?

I’m not offering any defense. I’m just trying to point out that things aren’t as simple as you’d like to pretend. I’m sure reasonably bright individuals can discuss geology (or whatever science is your expertise) with you, but that doesn’t make them “professionals.” Yeah, I think Rick is probably questioning everything that happened and how he could have done better. Me personally, I would have been willing to overpay, market be damned. But I don’t know that Rick had that freedom, tbh.

The entire offseason I said that if Rick Hahn was a professional negotiator, you wait until Machado's side comes down from whatever their original ask was into a reasonable territory and then you say yes. When they say "Will you offer 10/$325", the correct response is not "No", the correct response is "If we do that are you in a White Sox uniform today"? That is basic sales and basic negotiating. That is how any professional agent will handle themselves, they will give you an offer and if you say no, you risk someone else saying yes. If no one says yes, and they're that close to done, they would put another offer on the table then, but if someone said yes, it's over. If it's a fair contract it doesn't matter if you've bid against yourself to get it done. The Padres literally bid against themselves for the last $20 million or whatever, once they had passed the White Sox they could have just stood pat, but they met Machado's asking price by saying yes, and no one is giving them any problems over their bidding against themselves to do it. So either, the White Sox were so obsessed with not negotiating against themselves that it cost them the player, or they really wouldn't go past demanding him at a bargain and were willing to lose him if his price wasn't a bargain. I have my preference for what I believe but that's how you handle a negotiation, those are the 2 options.

It totally fits with what I'm saying and requires no bad blood. Lozano said "Will you go to 10/$300 million". The White Sox said "No but here's what we will do". The Padres said "Yes". You don't have to go back to the other team in that scenario and it requires no bad blood. They said no. They had their chance and turned it down.

Great post

Nice.. too bad your hobby as a fake insider was short lived.

I cheer fo4 the White Sox. But I can call a spade a spade. Get some real sources then pop off.

As I think about it more, the acquisitions of Jay and Alonso may not have been as counter productive, as we all assume, providing that the Sox intended to sign Harper, all along. Aside from the potential to help bring Machado as well, which failed, they could fit, if Harper is signed and the Sox intended to make a run for the Division, this year. We understand that they are both only going to be on the roster for one year, and they aren't really holding anyone back, except Palka, who would be replaced by Harper, anyway. They would have a decent lineup, with good balance, from both sides of the plate: 3B Moncada. SW CF Jay. LH LF Eloy RH RF Harper LH DH Abreu RH 1B Alonso LH C Castillo RH 2B Sanchez SW SS Anderson RH If Santana is really healthy, he is fine as a middle, or back end of the rotation starter. for one year, until Kopech and Cease going the rotation, next year. The Bullpen has been fixed. The point is that Jay and Alonso could be useful, if they sign Harper. Without him, their presence is indeed counter productive. So, yet one more argument for a scenario, in which they have always intended to pursue Harper, even though they brought in Manny's 305 Club, which did at least serve to conceal, or confuse their true intentions. It's the kind of stealth and 4 D chess, which is probably beyond our front office, but we won't know, until Harper is finally signed, if ever.

Expect a vague response or none at all.

It?

This article is insulting to his readers. Shove it up your ass, Paul. Yes Paul, the fans are greedy and the owners are just scraping by. Sullivan has proven he's just as far removed from reality as JR and company.

This offseason has just been one continuous FU to the remaining fan base.

I think were gonna sign harper

so Jerry's alias is Paul Sullivan? It's truly unbelievable someone could write this article and include the White Sox.

The Sox ahould not have a bottom-5 payroll, full stop.

Not luck that the team was awesome and won a championship. They were awesome... luck that the front office hit lighting in a bottle and put a winning team together. They were projected 4th in the division

If the Padres sign both guys, it will make Hahn, KW, & Jerry look like the biggest jokes ever. Machado was already bad enough, but getting Harper would have to be those guys’ personal nightmare. How can you even pretend your were serious when baby San Diego came in stole both of these guys from under you? Hopefully our front office & Jerry wake the fuck up and do what’s right for the franchise.

Regarding this notion that we shouldn't be following this Harper free agency, because we are only setting ourselves up for another huge disappointment, I have a completely different perspective. My interest in these details is not merely to know whether, or not, the Sox acquire at least one super star, out of this crazy off season. I really want to know what kind of an organization it is, to which I have given my allegiance, as a fan. Is the owner really not interested in winning, but only in making money? Is Hahn really disingenuous and, or incompetent? The answer to those questions can only be discerned with some knowledge of how these negotiations are being conducted. So, here I am, still following "Harper's Folly". Don't waste your breath, cautioning me not to set myself up, to have my heart broken. At this point, I don't care as much about acquiring Harper, as I do about acquiring some understanding of what the Hell is going on, here!

Lozano supposedly asked for final numbers prior to New Years’ Day. How many times might he have done this? This thing was almost done many times, only to then suddenly stop. With the benefit of hindsight, the time Lozano honestly was closing it out was the time it is easy to criticize the Sox for not biting. You have no idea how many other times they didn’t bite and nothing happened.

Because the White Sox said no to the number that Lozano gave and the Padres said yes. The $300 million offer was not a number the Padres came up with, it was a proposal from Machado's side.

After the meeting they upped the offer and presented. Lazano took it, meet with SD and never responded again until after Manny's decision was made.

And I will say this for shack...everything he's shared on here or told me about has been accurate regarding Manny. Never once did he say it was a done deal. What he did say is that he strongly believed the Sox would get him AS LONG AS they didn't blow the negotiations.

I don't buy the theory that Harper has been their #1 target all along. If that was true, they wouldn't have blown 13 million on Alonso and Jay.

I am so angry at the Sox. I am negative everything with them. I don’t even know if I want to continue being a fan of this team. But this statement sucks and is just flat out wrong. You lose credibility with this. You are banished from my mind good sir!

The last few pages of this thread have had several posts that are way too combative. If you can’t post on this topic or the white Sox without insulting or taking pot shots at other posters, then you will miss out discussing it here when Harper actually signs.

The bright side is it's now clear the Sox do not employ the dumbest people working in Chicago

What’s next, bringing Chris Rongey back to condescendingly tolerate and then summarily dismiss meathead pre and post-game callers? Even Tony Robbins would lose patience with how brutal it will be this year.

We’re still bottom five after spending $45 million extra on all the crap stopgap veterans we brought in? Now that’s funny...”well, nobody can call them cheap if they spend, albeit foolishly.” That’s not working out so well. If anything, the perception they spent almost twenty years attempting to counter is the first word that comes to mind, unless one prefers delusional.

Not sure how it makes sense to compare the Cubs and White Sox spending on payroll

2005 was luck in that almost all of Kenny’s dumpster diving moves hit and were successful.

That's because they make money whether we show up or not. This is why I think we as fans need to embarrass them at games, at conventions, on Twitter, in the news, etc. It is working big time right now. Chuck Garfein who is a Sox mouthpiece wrote about how angry we are and tried to calm us down. Laurence Holmes told Hahn Sox fans are pissed and how many have voiced their anger on radio and Twitter. National outlets are writing stories. The Padres front office threw shade at our FO. We just have to keep it up until they put a winner on the field.

If you're going to bring the cubs into this then you win the internet for the day. I'm not about to sit here, on SoxTalk, discussing the cubs. Tell ya what. Go protest outside the park and give the owners hell blasting Twisted Sister and see how much of a shit they give.

What I don’t think Jerry understands is that Harper would only improve the organization’s worth, put butts in the seat, make it more marketable, and show fans he’s serious about this. If they truly are out on Bryce which I believe they are then it goes to show everyone they clearly do not value us as fans and only in for the money. The way the negotiations went with Manny was a shit show, to think your future, having his brother in law and good friend here was more valuable than money guaranteed money to the player goes to show you they don’t understand this market.

If not for the lucky season of 05, it would be at least 10 times worse than it feels.

The Sox just can't offer a guaranteed rate.

Finding a place for Harper is not going to be an issue. Jerry is the issue.