SoxBlanco

Has to be an O

Gotta get more vowels. I’ll guess I

I think the number one reason they are promoting him is their feeling that he will be better as he moves up, based on his patience and knowledge of the zone... “You don't want a guy in the lower level that shows patience and the ability to judge the strike zone well -- you don't want him to compromise that because of umpires or bad calls at the Double-A level. As he goes through the system, I think you are going to see, as he gets to Triple-A and the Major Leagues as the strike zone shrinks, he's going to be better off offensively.“ — Hostetler

This is possible, but pretty unlikely. It would mean the Sox had a cap of $300 and thought that was good enough to be in it from the beginning, while the Padres also had a cap of $300 and they decided to sit out until late January. The much more likely scenario is that Manny wants to play for the Sox and his agent is doing everything in his power to increase the price.

And I completely agree with this, as well. Sox are in great shape right now.

Couldn’t agree more. Sitting back and waiting is our best move right now, but that’s what makes it so frustrating.

I’m not at all scared by San Diego. If they were a true threat, they would have been it in from the beginning. They might drive the price up, but I’m not worried about them outbidding the Sox. And I also believe Manny wants to play with the Sox more than he wants to play with the Padres.

The main difference between the Sox and Padres is that the Sox have been in it since the beginning. The Padres are in it now because the bids seem to be low. While nobody truly knows how much either team is willing to spend, that makes it seem pretty obvious that the Sox are willing to spend more.

Figured it would be good to bump this thread now that February is approaching. Any changes to people’s predictions? It looks like Collins will start in Charlotte, which was heavily debated a couple months ago.

Yeah, sorry that I didn’t specify, but you’re right that I was talking about the “prospects”. I appreciate the info. And thanks for the Paulino link.

Thanks! Other than Eloy, who do you think are the top 1 or 2 guys to watch from that group?

It’s so cold today that Hahn has no other choice but to stay inside all day and get a deal done. Oh, and it’s a Wednesday.

So we have exactly three weeks left! Not so bad.

He’s not going back to Washington.

And if Philly does happen to sign Manny, then where does Bryce go?

Much appreciated that you took the time to write all that. One of the things that sticks out to me is that you said you "haven't been able to really talk about anything as a fan" this offseason. I think everybody should let that sink in and realize that you are in a tough spot a lot of the time. You want to come here and talk White Sox and speculate on things, but you run the risk of people hounding you for information as if you automatically know something. Keep up the good work and know that the majority of people here appreciate any info you are able to provide. We know that any info you give is a bonus and not an expectation.

Agreed. Although it may be unlikely, his ceiling is definitely higher than 5th starter. But then we could be getting into the definition of ceiling. Is somebody's ceiling the best outcome possible? Or is it just the best realistic outcome possible?

Half serious about the Sox Twitter part.

I agree with you completely because that's the case 99% of the time, but in this most recent situation, raBBit was talking as if the deal was done. These were his posts from Thursday night... "It will be interesting to see how Sox plan to release it. I imagine it will leak before they can make good on any plans on it." "I think it's safe that Rosenthal or Heyman wont break it tonight but who knows if some random reports and then some national guy confirms its the wild west." "Maybe Sox twitter scheduled for 11AM? Half serious. If I had to guess, I'd guess tomorrow morning."

?????????? ???

So what can you share? We landing Manny? ?

Well let’s give one of them an opportunity to explain... @raBBit, do you think you were fed misinformation about something happening at SoxFest, or do you think something was expected to happen and it just never materialized? EDIT: I should clarify that I’m not sure if you ever said something would get announced at SoxFest, but on Thursday night, you did imply that something was done and your guess was that it would get announced Friday morning.

Could WSD, raBBit, Chili’s source, etc. have been “used” by the Sox to drum up more interest in SoxFest? Or do we think there was actually something brewing that just fell apart or hasn’t fully materialized yet?

Without having to go into any detail or reasoning to support your stance, what percent chance do you think the Sox have of signing Manny at this point in time? I said 80% earlier in this thread.

He didn’t realize the posts from early in this thread are over a month old.