Leaderboard

That would literally be the dumbest thing this organization could possibly do.

What an off season Maybe this is our time Two whales are available Both entering their prime Harper would be an unbelievable catch But maybe Manny’s the better match? We’ve got the money, Rick has said so But will Jerry shell out that kind of dough? Trade for Alonso, then sign John Jay Looking like Manny, he is the play Sign him by Christmas, oh what a present Did I say Christmas? No, in the New Year I meant January came and went and so did the next one Surely by Spring Training, they’ll get the job done Not looking good I fear, taking too long But our competition, isn’t too strong? Why is Moncada taking ground balls at 3rd? Manny is coming here, that’s what I heard Alas San Diego makes a guaranteed offer KW says we don’t have that kind of cash in our coffer What about unprecedented flexibility? Just count that up to my gullibility Now I am upset, now I am pissed They had this all wrapped up, how could they have missed? Time to go online, that’s what I’ll do Time to tell Jerry just who he can screw And about Alonso and his friend John Jay I want them both gone before Opening Day Ok, calm down…sorry for the rant Never really wanted Manny, that is my chant Harper is still out there, that is the hope But why do I just kinda feel like a dope? Following the Palehose sometimes feels like a disease Prove me wrong White Sox, prove me wrong please

Are we getting Harper Like for yes Laugh for no

Im sorry i said something positive. I wont do it again.

Offer 10/335 and make him say no

Bravo. The thing I can't stand is the fans lining up to defend them. This isn't just about Machado, it's about their systematic approach to FA and how broken and flawed it is. It feels hopeless that they will ever be able to convert on any of their targets moving forward. I keep seeing people clamor about the prospects but these people are "la la laing" the fact that they will be extraordinarily lucky if even 3 or 4 of these guys work out. They'll have to play in free agency if they hope to supplement these guys and they failed miserably and sounds like they didn't learn a damn thing through the process.

No matter how hard your heart is, you've gotta love seeing Luis Robert knock in Yoan, who knocks in Eloy...

Every single team in major league baseball would do the same thing that the White Sox and the Blue Jays are going to do. Every. Single. One. Eloy may not like it, but I doubt he's going to hang it over the Sox heads 7 years down the line. If he is as good as people hope he is, he isn't resigning with the Sox anyhow. The Sox also reportedly offered Eloy a contract extension late last summer and would have brought him up then. He, understandably, rejected that. So, it was partially his call.

The door is wide fucking open

Time has already told. The market is set by how talented the player is and what teams are willing to pay for them. The $300 million mark isn’t anything new for premium young talent. Stanton set the mark not too long ago. If anyone is deserving of $300 million guaranteed, it would be the two 26 year old future Hall of Famers that were available this offseason. And if you aren’t offering 10 years then you aren’t getting the player, so how is that well thought out? It’s well thought out for the team’s advantage maybe but that won’t get the player signed. Hahn and the Sox either needs to be prepared to pay the market rate or stay in the kiddie pool with the rest of the non-spenders.

It's just Jerry filling up his Glendale vault with gold coins to enjoy a morning swim.

I picture him alone sitting on his hotel bed with his phone in his hands staring at his last text that said" ???" and seeing the ellipsis from harper pop up, then go away, then pop up, then go away, only for a message to never arrive.

I'm still kinda excited. Until he signs, despite all the evidence of failed execution there is still a chance for them to turn around and do something different. Like in a bad tv show, where the protagonist does something completely out of character because the writers were lazy and bored.

Unless you believe that Collins and, or Sheets could really blossom, all of the best potential middle of the order bats in this organization are right handed. Eloy, Robert, Adolfo, even Burger. Acquiring Harper fills that void. Eloy and Bryce together, batting 3RD and "clean up,' would just be HUGE.

I’ll believe t when it happens. After WSD’s reaction after Manny towards the front office, I have a much harder time taking him seriously. I get why he’s less likely to attack the FO, but it’s so different from what I would expect out of him.

First, I want to ensure that I am not a front office apologist. I'm very disappointed in the Sox not landing Machado, and I'll be disappointed if (when) they don't land Harper. I guess I never 100% expected them to get one of them, but my hopes were pretty high recently with Machado. My hopes were never high with Harper, so I won't be surprised when he signs elsewhere. All that being said, I love being a Sox fan. I don't cheer for Hahn and KW. I cheer for the guys on the field. I'm really excited for the future, and I can't wait to see what these guys do over the next few seasons. I don't go to many games, not so much because it's too expensive (it's not) but more because it's a pain getting there and back. I do, however, watch just about every game. I track the stats of the players, follow the guys in the minors, and talk about the future of the team to my family ad nauseam. I have more Sox shirts in my closet than anything else. So, yeah it's been hard being a Sox fan recently. But to say it sucks being a Sox fan: no, not for me. I'll deal with the pain for a while in hopes that it all comes around as planned.

"Remember, this team has been garbage for 118 years. As once again evident below. It sucks to be us. " Speak for yourself. I have been happy and proud to be a Sox fan all my life and always will be. I am very excited for Spring Training and the baseball season ahead. If you can't enjoy watching baseball unless you root for the team that wins the World Series, find a new pastime.

If Eloy earns the starting job this spring, honor the player and have him start opening day in Chicago. I know about the service time. Do you want to attract free agents? Treat your people well. Pay them what they are worth. Give them what they earn even if you have the upper hand. If Eloy earns it, respect him and maybe he respects you when he becomes a free agent.

If anyone has anything, please don’t say anything that could screw up Sox stealth attack

Are you sure its not more of a door-sized window?

I honestly feel like the Sox have about a 1% chance of landing Harper based on what’s happened up to this point and all the chatter that’s coming out. To believe in your heart if hearts that this is all working out in our favor to get him is really naive. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing to believe though. We all follow this stuff because it’s a nice distraction and sometimes believing in the extremely unlikely is a fun part of that distraction. ?

Dude, relax. It is the 4th game of spring training. No is buying playoff tickets yet. We get it.

The stupidest thing they ever did was invoke the diminished skills clause on Big Frank. Fine way to treat your first ballot Hall of Famer.

Why isn't "Release John Jay and roll with what they have" an option?

It's interesting and perhaps quite telling that the tone of the comments has become very cautious. After the Machado fiasco, it's understandable that no one wants to go out on a limb, or set themselves up for another disappointment. The most common theme, I'm reading here now is; "I'd be shocked if the Sox signed Harper". Personally, that would not be shocking to me, at all. What would be shocking is that the Sox' front office is not going to make any serious effort to do so. It would also be shocking if Harper had no interest in signing with the Sox. There aren't enough suitors for him to be that picky and it is pretty widely assumed that he's not crazy about going to Philadelphia. We also know that he likes the city of Chicago and the Harpers' good friends, the Bryants, do live there. No, it wouldn't be a shock, if he ends up on the South Side. If Hahn can't close the deal, I'll be disappointed in him and ownership, more than in not having Bryce on the team. However, in any case, not even trying is the only thing that would be really shocking.

Constantly mentioning trading with the Cubs as a feather in his cap, is a pretty silly Rick Hahn trait.

Honestly, a situation like this is where I miss Kenny as GM. His aggressiveness got stuff done. Right or wrong, well it got done.

Painful tinder memories. ?

This actually gives me more confidence that the Sox are still involved.

This may have been mentioned already, but there's reason to believe that Lozano asked the Sox if they could go 10/300, they said no (but that they could increase their current offer), the Padres said yes, and Lozano closed with the Padres. If that's the case, then I can see why Lozano wouldn't have reached back out to the Sox. I don't think we can assume that had Lozano made a last phone call to Hahn, that the Sox would have matched the Padres.

Oh, he is still alive and well.

Yeah I think there has been some of the FO wrangling in the owner, I do think philly has eyes on the prize with trout, and part of that is making it known to him without colluding (lol) that they will be able to pay him so don't sign an extension.

Career .388 OBP JR... 3 fucking 88 OBP. Open your god damn wallet.

These situations are so similar that there should be zero doubt that the Sox and Phillies colluded.

Here's some numbers from something I posted (what feels like 2 years ago) about 5 weeks ago. These numbers are from last year. My choice of Stros, Dodgers and Sawx was random choice of teams that had a good deal of success - Astros had 20 players at 1.0 WAR or higher. Dodgers had 17, Red Sox had 17. Sox had 10. - Astros had 10 players at 2.0 WAR or higher. Dodgers had 13, Red Sox had 10. Sox had 5. - Astros had 5 players at 3.5 WAR or higher. Dodgers had 6, Red Sox had 6. Sox had none. This is why people are correct when they point out that Eloy reaching 3.5-4 WAR, or even if Moncada reaches 5+ in addition to Eloy, that's not enough. You need studs. Playoff teams typically (no, not always) have a lot of really good players. Not just three guys at 4+WAR and then a bunch of 1.5-2 WAR players. That was the White-Sox-Stars-and-Scrubs-Mired-in-Mediocrity business model. Having a 6WAR player is not a necessity, but this was the Sox golden chance to get one and they blew it.

I’m glad we didn’t sign Manny. Just didn’t seem like a good fit to me. The rebuild is still the rebuild, looking super solid but set back because of Kopech.

It's not. However it was a great way to jump start that process and add several "WAR" at one time, without it costing prospects. So you keep your depth and you keep your prospects and only pay from what the surplus is...cash. Since we are so low, it would provide us with a nice safety net should 1 or more of out big prospects fall off (likely). Obviously it would be great if all the prospects take off and perform as we believe they can, but you grab a superstar to give you some insurance, and to put a face to the process--give the fans something they can get behind and stay interested in until the winning comes along. It also gives the young players some reason to believe...wow that's Bryce Harper in the locker next to me. This is for real--this is going to happen--people in the organization believe in this process enough to go sign a monster contract.

Let’s just say the number was less than ten...and those who weren’t drinking the Kool Aid were getting ripped nearly every day for not trusting this “new” front office operating style.

This isn’t directed at you, but the amount of “tough guys” on this site over the last week has been too much. Everyone can be pissed at the Sox, but far too many posters are taking out their frustrations on other posters.

I’ve never heard a GM say “you never know who the 3-4-5 will be, still moves to be made” basically unprompted. That level of cockiness was embarrassing in retrospect.

I’ll let Fathom rattle off all the ways the fanbase got punked in this Machado chase...it was a lot more than some banal general statement of interest this time around.

No Hahn said that when the time is right, the money will be there. That was a lie. That is what I'm mad about. If you're not going to spend the money on Machado at age 26, You're not going to spend it on anyone.

No, you think? I'm also not under that delusion either. We're on the same page here. I know I'm powerless about it. The fact is: THEY FUCKING LIED TO OUR FACES. When they failed, THEY CONTINUED TO FUCKING INSULT OUR INTELLIGENCE. That is what I'm mad about. The hubris involved in the whole process was staggering.

No matter what you think about the Yankees, Cashman has done an amazing job rebuilding that team on the fly.

And your position is what exactly here? From my standpoint, there’s only about five posters (Ray Ray, Shack, Eminor, PTAC, Southsider2k5etc.) who haven’t been ripping the front office to shreds. Balta, Dick Allen, Chitown and Chicago White Sox, not to mention Fathom...have been ripping the front office as well since last Tuesday. Same with most of the mods like BMAGS and Tony. Which Sox fans do you know personally who are actually content with the way things have gone this offseason? This is some real Stockholm Syndrome stuff here to keep giving this front office carte blanche to make mistake after mistake.

The pity party Sox fans are having right now sure is something. Caufield is loving every minute of it.

For whatever reason we became a Sox fans we are here and here to stay . I'm new to the game I could have chosen anyone , I knew the White Sox were crap , didn't know they were this crap mind but hey-ho on with the show , can't wait for the season the start .

Seems like the Harper derby will end this week. Assuming Bryce signs with someone else, I hope Hahn never again uses the terms “unprecedented financial flexibility” or “economic might” while pretending we’re actually going to pursue impact talent. Just be honest and tell us you plan on adding a boatload of past-their prime B tier free agents and that we can all expect to relive the glory that was the 2014/15 offseason.

The original problem is still the same — “same FO staff from 2008.” No one has any confidence in Hahn, Kenny, and JR to seize the opportunity and spend money when a perfect time like now becomes available to bring the rebuild to the next level of tacking on established talent.