Look at Ray Ray Run

I get the speculation, and I still really found that piece from Ken Rosenthal about the Sox being willing to spend at that level but not wanting to get in negotiations to fail at that level, but it seems so unlikely. I will say there are two legit smoke pieces between Rosenthal and Boras implication regarding his discussions with the Sox. It would be batshit crazy if the Sox closed this out. I'm raising my percentage from 0% chance to a .0000000001% chance. Speaking as a White Sox fan who clearly loves abuse and to be disappointed, maybe the Sox told Boras if their interest leaks they're out.

? I'll give Scott this, he never stops trying.

He said that Castellanos "loves" Sausalito... which is weird to hear from a guy from Florida who has played mostly east. I like SD a lot too, but that doesn't mean I'm going to move there tomorrow.

A follow up: Henry Schulman @hankschulman · 51s A lot has been made about a Castellanos comment on not liking Comerica because it's so big. In the end, I believe money, chance to win, geography, etc.. will be his biggest factors. #SFGiants How does "chance to win" and Giants fit in the same sentence? Giants are in one of the worst positions in baseball at the moment.

Henry Schulman @hankschulman · 38s I couldn't get close enough to Scott Boras for his scrum. (I did see the brand new Boras Corp. logo jacket and backdrop he brought. Cool.) But am hearing the #SFGiants interest in one of his clients, Nick Castellanos is genuine. And a HUGE nugget: Castellanos loves Sausalito. You really got to wonder what the Giants are thinking. Huge outfield that is very tough to play, Castellanos power already didn't play up in Comerica and they want to bring him to a tougher hitting platform, and the team is no where near being able to compete within their division. Some baseball teams do things that just baffle my mind.

Looks like Cole will likely sign before the Winter Meetings conclude if we trust the implication from Scott Boras.

Oh, I agree.

I hear you, but at the same time they would fill the RF gap that they are considering spending 15-18 million a year on anyway. So the upgrade to Bryant is about another 12 million. You'd have to replace Madrigal, but the other pieces aren't really locked into the future with the way the team is constructed. Vaughn is, but at the same time maybe Collins pans out and saves you from having to invest in that position heavily. I'd be happy as a clam if they got Bryant - assuming they were set on signing him obviously.

You know I'm not a fan of the irrational negativity, but at least Yoan owns it. A lot of people act like they're being rational thinkers when ridiculing everything about the team. I think Yoan knows some of his anger is misguided and irrational but he loves it and owns it anyway.

Matt Boyd was a piece I didn't think about prior. They don't really have an OF piece to pair with it though, and I imagine Detroit wants only prospects so maybe it's a hard pass.

?? The guy has grown on me.

I have been critical of the White Sox plenty; I'm simply not critical of things that don't warrant criticism. Internationally - they are cheap and have shown a reluctance to actually participate in that market; whether it's for moral or monetary reasons, it sucks. FA - they haven't really played in this world much lately as they've been so bad. They butchered the Machado negotiations and were lambasted, rightfully so, for it. That said, it ended up being a blessing for the White Sox that their incompetence there likely saved them from a deal that wasn't really warranted. Trades - they have succeeded here, but they've also had failures (Tatis, Semien even), but every time that trades assets can run into that issue. Overall they've done really well on their big trades, and not as well on their small trades. Big League Scouting - This is where the organization is really lacking. They used to be able to find pitchers that fit their mold for change, but now I don't really see that happening. The biggest shortcoming of this rebuild is they really haven't found a single diamond in the dumpster while they were diving. I can talk reasonably without getting angry and taking this personally. The Sox just had the worst decade of my lifetime, and this was after 2 decades of competitive baseball. The Sox are far from the best organization in baseball, but they're also far from the worst (I think). They could have really butchered the rebuild - look at some of these other elite player trades that were awful (Pirates, and Marlins come to me fastest) - but they have been just good enough to give the team a chance. Let's see how they close before we ridicule this off-season in which they've spent money, and attempted to outspend others for assets they enjoy.

It'll never happen, but it would be awesome and hilarious if the White Sox traded for Kris Bryant to be their RF of the future. Most agree that he won't be at 3rd base long term, with his size. Sox could offer a Madrigal, Vaughn, Stiever, and wild card like Hansen/Adolfo etc and might be able to even get it done. Sox would obviously have to be committed to signing him, but that would be great lol.

Of course they could have; they simply valued other players higher and figured they wouldn't garner such a heavy commitment. Dodgers clearly were willing to move Turner off of 3rd base, they just had no interest in doing it for Machado.

Man @Moan4Yoan, I think I might be the only poster who isn't angry at you and your takes. ?

Yes, if the Yankees were involved (breaking news, they were involved) for some reason Machado would have gotten more than 300 million and signed earlier. It's amazing, the Dodgers are interested in Rendon, so the argument that they had a 3rd baseman (Turner) so they didn't want to retain Machado was erroneous nonsense. Machado played for the Dodgers and they had zero interest in retaining his services last year. Yet, this year they are interested in Rendon. Hmmmmm, almost seems like the Dodgers had no interest in Machado at that price point. Yankees were supposedly already interested and in the bidding for Machado last year, but they dropped out because it got too expensive for them... but somehow, posters here have made it out to be that if the Yankees were involved, the White Sox never would have been the front runner. I've said this quite a bit recently - as have others - but there's plenty of things to give the White Sox hell about. They have made a lot of mistakes and things have been really frustrating... but to constantly discredit their good moves (Robert, Abreu, Grandal and etc) by making up reasons for why they happened "the Yankees weren't iNvOlVeD! while critiquing them for every failure is just overkill and annoying and over the top. Fact is, the White Sox didn't get Machado, and it had nothing to do with who was involved. The scenario wouldn't have changed if other teams were involved. It's just nauseating reading all these absurd takes about how everything is awful, and the Sox have no chance here and there despite evidence to the contrary. Focus on ridiculing them for things they actually have failed at; don't make excuses to even discredit their successes.

I have no idea why you're posting this when Nightengale's report was immediately walked back as being inaccurate.

Well, they offered him more money so yeah, that would make sense.

This narrative is tired. The Yankees don't magically give the highest offer to every major FA. They lost Robinson Cano to the Mariners for goodness sakes. The Yankees were involved in the Machado sweepstakes - reportedly - and had no interest at that price point.

Willie can rake, but man he makes Castellanos look like Buxton in the OF.

So Heyman is calling BS on a story he put out there himself? Interesting take.

Some of the best bargains of FA the past few years have come later in the off-season. I think it's a smart play, but a risky one to be sure. This market is moving differently though, so it's possible this year doesn't play out like the past couple.

Income tax actually might matter to someone like Lyles at his price point. Texas has none. Texas also may have guaranteed him a starting spot, which was something the Sox maybe couldn't have done for the duration of the contract.

OK, champ. Plenty of Sox fans have posted on this forum and twitter angrily towards Hahn spending time with the media. Sorry that offends you that I pointed that out that I find it weird.

He's actually made a lot of changes in the past few years; consistency has escaped him, but he's been a different pitcher the past two seasons than he was before. Lyles was really rushed to the big leagues, and he's had to adjust on the fly and he's really changed his repertoire in the past two years. His numbers in SD and Milwaukee were fine for a back end stuff and he does generate some swings and misses. I wouldn't be shocked to see him be a decent piece for the Rangers, but he is of course capable of being complete garbage.