SoxBlanco

If that's the case, then I see your point. I just think that the Sox have money to play with because they have such a small amount of money on the books right now.

But what matters is the yearly payroll. If I walked up to Theo and handed him $20 million right now, it would not increase his chances of landing Harper at all. They would still need to clear some space.

It's not like the $13 million will be on the books each year for the next five years. If it was, then I could see your point. This money will not be a part of their payroll when they are competing, so all it becomes is $13 million less that the team will profit. But it won't make any sort of difference with future signings.

I think the likelihood of that is less than 1%.

It’s not getting hammered. Almost everybody likes the move. It’s just that the negative posts stick out more.

If I'm Manny, I'd rather take $250 million to get to play with my friends as opposed to taking $263 million. That being said, I have no idea how much the extra money would mean to Manny.

...but it will increase to $7 million if the Sox sign Machado.

Hahn: Look Manny, we have a lot of good young talent, and we expect to be really good for a long period of time. Manny: But what about next year? It seems like you guys won't be truly competing until 2020/2021. Hahn: How about you get to play with your two best friends for that first year or two? Manny: Ok, go get Yonder and Jon and I'll sign. Hahn: Sounds good. Give me a few weeks and I'll have them both on the team.

That’s exactly how I feel. It’s pretty funny, but if you look at it from Manny’s perspective, if the offers aren’t nearly as high as you expected, you might as well try getting to play with two of your best friends out of the deal.

Possibly in hindsight. But at the time we traded Sale, don’t you think Theo would have given up Eloy and Cease for Moncada and Kopech?

So does this mean Chili's source on Manny loving the Sox visit is accurate, too?

I think Shane Riordan claimed Manny would sign with thee Sox this morning. I'm guessing that's what he means, but I could be wrong.

Give him 8 for $260, call it a day, and move on to Harper.

It’s nice for us that Harper is waiting. We could use that as leverage with Manny. “Look, we’re willing to increase our offer to X amount, but if you’re still gonna wait around, we will push our chips all in on Harper.”

Start with 7 for $200 and then increase it with some leverage with opt outs if no other teams are going that high. “Ok, we’ll increase it to 8 for $260 with only one opt out after 6 years.”

Haha, thanks. I really like the Nicholas Cage one. If he has a good year at the box office this year, no way will I be hanging around any swimming pools.

http://tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations Take a look at this website. I think you’ll enjoy it.

I came here to post exactly this. Well said.

Normally, I HATE when people claim they know something but won’t share it, but I gotta side with Joe on this one. Because of his previous scoop about Manny and his Chicago visit, it would help his credibility to have this scoop correct. And he can’t wait until after it’s announced because then people would just claim he is lying about already having the scoop and still wouldn’t believe the Manny info.

Don’t engage. This place is much better when there is no back and forth with him.

No worries. We’re getting Machado and Harper now, so I don’t think anybody will be upset with you.

Pardon my ignorance, but who is bucket/macsandz?

What’s even more absurd is that he said 2022 would be the earliest if everything worked out PERFECTLY. To me, perfectly means Giloito and Lopez make huge strides this year and are solid middle of the rotation pieces. Moncada is an all star. Kopech and Cease are TOR starters in 2020. Rodon figures it all out and is the ace we’ve been waiting for. Robert and Madrigal fly through the system in 2019 and are all stars with the big league club in 2020. Palka turns into a stud DH. And our young bullpen arms become above average major leaguers. That is everything going perfectly. And that would mean we are a playoff team in 2020, even without Machado or Harper.

As of this very moment, I like our chances of signing Manny. If offers haven’t even been submitted, I think we are in good shape.

Gotcha. Thanks. I’m guessing the reporting is BS (Dan Clark) because offers haven’t even been submitted yet.