Chisoxfn

fantastic move for Sixers.

I'm going to make this clear. The only way Harper is coming to the Sox is if it is part of a bold strategy shift by the White Sox (and offering Bryce $350M+ is a starting point) where they have set out a goal to be a premier professional sports franchise. Beyond landing Bryce, I think it takes a significant and bold statement from ownership regarding how they are going to run the franchise from a financial perspective, meaning they will spare no expense and are committed to running a sizeable payroll for the forseeable future (i.e., $175M+). Bryce could absolutely be the catalyst for this change, but this could be that "momentum that matters" as an organization and it could be the opportunity to catapult the franchise into being something more than just the secondary franchise in Chicago (and in baseball in general). Note: I am not implying they will pass the Cubs in popularity, however, they could take bold action and massively shift the dynamics and be one of the best professional sports franchises.

To me this all depends on the years and money and the bigger plan.

Who are the main Manny suitors? Phillies (if they miss out on Harper)? Cardinals / Giants. It seems like people are going to first go after Harper and than may subsequently pivot to Machado. This is going to drag out and I don't know if the Sox can wait for everything to drag out. Will be interesting to see how teams operate, do you wait for the big fish and potentially miss out or does the entire market literally drag until the two big guys sign. You know Boras isn't going to have Harper sign until at least the winter meetings.

I came to a quick knee-jerk reaction on Parker, but I can see why the Bulls thought he was worth taking a chance on. He has fantastic scoring ability and you can see he is also a solid playmaker. That said, his fit is tough since he really can't play the 3 and I don't think Lauri can either. Carter JR. has really been coming on strong lately though. Very nice to see and Hutchinson has the length and athleticism to project into a high-end defender (he could also very much suck...but his body type reminds me a lot of Paul George).

I was going to say, my presumption was everyone would still be in Carlsbad.

If they went Corbin, Donaldson, Cruz and two other guys, would that be that bad of a move, presuming you went short-term on almost everyone. I don't like long-term deals to pitchers so it wouldn't be my path, but I don't really mind signing a bunch of guys to shorter-term deals and not tying up all your cap space. How did it work for the Rangers when they signed Arod to all that money? The only reason I can somewhat get on board is the team has literally so few payroll committments, but if either guy blows up and isn't productive...that is a huge albatross of a contract.

I still don't think the Sox are getting either one of these guys.

I think they need to run it out...not sprint it out. But on close hit balls, they should be going harder. Basically, I'm not going to rip a guy for not being Adam Eaton on the basepaths. That said, I don't want them to not run at all. There is a healthy middle between those two.

I think their is a difference between running out a ball and sprinting out a ball.

Machado's hustle reminds me of "Garret Anderson" a former Angel player who would go at 90% vs. 110% and ultimately he had a very long career which was largely injury free. Dodger fans are big over-reactors and I think this got a lot of extensive press time, but the reality is Machado is a truly great player who has been on the field the vast majority of his career. The flip-side is Harper, who is an ultra talented player with lots of pizazz who will play his tail out, but has had extended stretches where he misses time (and I think there are times he lets his emotions get the best of him in the sense that he lets those emotions impact his swing/play. The only thing the two players really have in common is they are both extremely good baseball players, but how they go about it, etc is very much different.

It is free agency, if you are going for Machado and Harper, you are fundamentally going to overpay and need to be okay with that. An alternative view is to shell out big money but over shorter-term deals for guys who languish a bit longer on the FA market. You know some won't pan out but you hit on a few and than in another year or two you dabble in the deep-end.

I can buy that. I don't like the idea of spending big money on FA pitchers. Just think you have a bigger chance of "bust" vs. hitters. No idea if the stats back that up or not.

There is no bigotry in there. I don't agree with the comment, but I don't see it as bigotry. Lets make sure we all stay on topic here. It is purely a view that the more populous regions should have far more say than everywhere else. Its a view I fundamentally disagree with because what is important to an urban dweller can be much different than what is politically important to people who don't live in Chicago, New York or Dallas. The beauty of our system is it does provide some pretty good healthy checks on the entire nation (not just a pocket or two of the nation).

The flipside to that is you essentially give all of the control to a minority of states, which I don't think is a good thing either. The views of California, New York, Florida and Texas shouldn't be forced on the other 46 states.

I don’t know if he’s going to stay healthy or not but he has good peripherals. His stats last year were quiet strong...albeit I don’t know much about him.

What is wrong with Corbin?

Glad you mentioned Felicio. He is in much better shape this year and I do hope this burn helps make him a bit more tradeable. I think its going to take prolonged run of decent play though, before you can move him.

Since it is the off-season, we've closed the diamond club. All MLB discussion should go on this page. Should be an exciting off-season and hopefully it is one that significantly moves this franchise forward!

I'd be interested in Yasmani Grandal as a catcher. Was bummed when the Dodgers made him a qualifying offer.

Have the Sox fallen so far, that the Tribune literally hasn't had a writer come up with anything relative to the news out there. I'd have thought this would have been the type of thing you'd have seen some beat guys start to talk about/discuss.

The worst part of these rumors is they will drag on for like a month or two (are they Boras clients?)

I'm starting my campaign for Harper. The team needs more pizazz vs. Machado who is essentially "Trout" with a bit less WAR (i.e., your steadily great player whose most exciting bit is whether he "hustles" all the time).

Here's my question. We have discussions in the other thread about who is the better baseball player, but if you were purely looking at it from a business perspective, do you think one guy moves the needle more and if so, how significantly? I honestly don't know that Machado moves the needle at all, however, I think Harper moves the needle significantly. He's much watch TV. He's the baseball player with personality and bizazz who is pretty much the face of MLB (despite Trout and many others being better players). I think Machado doesn't register much more than a blip from a marketability perspective (did he really make the Oriole's a much watch team)? I think for Machado to move the needle, the franchise has to win games. I think Harper moves the needle alone and gives the front office a bit more time for the rest of the team to catch up. Eventually Harper alone won't work...but I think Harper alone is a game changer in your TV negotiations and if you build a winner around him, it could be the type of move that catapults the franchise forward. On the flipside, the downfall to both of these guys is if they get hurt and/or stink the vast majority of the contract (i.e., go all Jason Heyward).

Its not happening and I think you have to be careful to make sure players know you are "interested" in them. Cash matters but I presume there are going to ultimately be a couple offers all in the same ball park, so than the pitch becomes more important.