SoxBlanco

Agreed. And if we are worried about this thing dragging out because of Boras, I'd even be ok offering 3/$75M right now. You think he would take that right now? If not, we move on to other options and he might not ever get another offer like that.

What team out there will be so desperate for pitching that they would give Ryu 4 for $110M?

No doubt. We need to go after Ryu now. We should be less scared of an injury compared to other teams because we have Kopech and Rodon coming back. He's actually a perfect fit for us.

I mean, it’s not impossible for Ryu or MadBum to have an equal or better year than Wheeler.

Sox don't offer a free agent the most money: "Just offer the most! Why doesn't RH understand that players will sign wherever the most money is offered?!" Sox do offer a free agent the most money and he signs somewhere else: "Why didn't we offer more?!?! Doesn't RH understand that we need to offer an amount that is even more than something that is already the highest?!?!"

Yep. The productiveness of Kopech and Cease are going to play a HUGE part in our success over the next few years. That obviously would have still been true if we signed Wheeler, but we really need one of those two guys to be a #1 or #2 type pitcher.

I think just the number of innings he has pitched. He has around 1100 more innings than Wheeler, for example.

I know some people don't want anything to do with Castellanos because of his defense and the Abreu deal, but I still like him and think he will improve defensively (like he has during his limited time in RF). An offseason of Grandal, Ryu, and Castellanos would still be pretty solid.

They had the highest offer.

So where do we go from here? Cole/Strasburg is a pipe dream, so do we pivot to Ryu? Maybe a Ryu/Keuchel combo?

I'm not suggesting they get cute. I'm also not suggesting they shouldn't offer the most money. I was simply saying that IF the Reds offered slightly more, I think there's a chance we could still land him. I think we should just offer him 6 for $120 and get it over with.

Because we have a better young core and we are in an easier division.

Like raBBit said, the problem is that they aren't going to play chicken with his agent. If his agent comes to them and says that the Reds are offering $5M or $10M more, how can you believe that? I think they put together a solid offer and will wait to see if he accepts it.

If the Reds do get desperate, I wonder if Wheeler would still pick the Sox if the Reds had a slightly higher offer (key word being slightly). If the Sox offer 5 years $105M and the Reds offer 5 years $110M, I still think he might pick the Sox.

Yes. Thank you. I agree 100%.

Yep. I posted something similar last night, but I’d just cave and give him 6 years for $120. Front load it a little bit.

I think I might just suck it up and offer him 6 years for $120M. Just front load it, so we aren’t paying too much at the end (23, 23, 21, 21, 16, 16)

I still think there’s a small chance that our 5 year $90M offer is the highest and his agent is leaking the $100M offer to get us to raise ours. Like I said, a small chance, but it’s possible.

In one universe, we sign Wheeler, Hamels, a bullpen arm, and trade for Joc. In another universe, we sign Wheeler, Hamels, a bullpen arm, and Calhoun. What is the difference in wins between the two teams?

I’ve read the same thing. It was several years ago when I read it, but it said that 10-11 mph difference is ideal.

If everybody here had to choose between not signing Wheeler at all or signing him for 6 years $125M, I bet we’d be pretty split.

Any quick way to see how many of those 42 games we won?

Yeah, the good news is that we have heard from multiple people that Wheeler wants to get a deal finalized early.

Bummer, Bush, and Laz Rivera.

@raBBit and @Tony... How are you guys feeling about Wheeler compared to last week? Do you feel less confident the longer it drags on, or do you still feel like we're gonna get him?