SoxBlanco

I think we all find it interesting. But you said that you think he was told to write that. Why would anybody tell him to write that?

This is pretty much exactly how I feel.

But why would he be told to do so? The White Sox don't want a repeat of last year, so I can't figure out why they would tell Merkin to add that part about Wheeler. The only explanation I can come up with is that the Sox are purposely leaking Wheeler stuff while they go stealth mode on Cole or Strasberg. But that seems very unlikely.

I kind of agree with both you guys. I don't think he did it to generate clicks, but I also don't believe he had any inside knowledge. I think he heard the smoke surrounding Wheeler and the White Sox just like we did and decided to add that part to his piece.

I remember that from last year. The site was down for a couple weeks, if I recall correctly.

True. Although I read the article, and I wouldn't have if there was no mention of Wheeler. (I agree that it was not done to generate clicks)

Thank you, sir.

Which move?

Right, but that doesn't really answer my question. If teams never confirm when a player is placed on waivers, and only confirm it when that player is formally removed from the roster, then why would Merkin feel the need to add that sentence with the word "although" in front of it?

Then what was the point of Merkin adding this to his article?... "Yolmer Sanchez was placed on outright waivers by the White Sox, as first reported Monday by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, although the team has not made any announcement or confirmed the news."

Check out my post above yours. The Sox actually haven't officially announced the Yolmer news, so that could be the answer right there. They might be waiting for something else to be official.

I just read the full Merkin article, and I may have answered my own question. He says the team has not made any announcement or confirmed the Yolmer news yet. Perhaps they are waiting for the Wheeler deal (or some other deal) to get finalized before confirming the Yolmer news.

It certainly seems that way, but why wouldn't the Sox just wait until a deal is official before pulling the trigger on the Yolmer thing?

That's how I read it.

Yeah, he does. He's been posting off and on over the past month. @raBBit, you like our chances at Wheeler?

Is this Bilek's way of saying this was a plant with the White Sox as the target audience?

So you’re gonna move your potential superstar CF to RF because there doesn’t happen to be a perfect RF candidate during this one specific offseason? I’d rather they just sign you to play RF instead of moving Robert off of CF.

If a tweet is twittered in a Twitter forest and no one is around to see it, did it make a tweet?

Because some people were frustrated with that trade and thought we could have gotten more. Then they take their frustrations out on Rutherford when he isn't performing. I personally liked the trade, but I really think that is why Rutherford is an easy target for people. Let's say Basabe was the second main piece of the Sale trade and we didn't get Kopech. People would be furious with Basabe right now and he'd be getting similar treatment that Rutherford is.

Good call. I don't expect it to reach Corbin territory either. If it does, who is going to pay him that? Minnesota? I think the Angels are hoping for one of the big two.

True. And his injury history doesn't scare me as much when we have Kopech and eventually Rodon coming back during the year.

We always say that players will sign with whichever team pays him the most. Do most players just want the most guaranteed dollar amount? For example, if all other things are equal, would Wheeler prefer a 5 year $100M contract or a 6 year $108M contract?

Yeah, we're on the same page. The good news is that there are a lot of options. Like we've said before, all of the options have flaws, but we will be able to upgrade the RF position one way or another. That's what makes landing Wheeler so important. If we miss on him, I'm not going to feel good about our rotation.

Yeah, you might be right. I would be completely find with either guy.

You make some good points, and I agree with most of it. But if you were a betting man, who would you say has a higher wRC+ next year between the two guys?