hogan873

This thread is an instant classic. I love the changing titles. On a side note, it certainly does look like a Sox hat. But I can’t imagine he’d wear the hat of a team that has signed him in public.

This seems pretty realistic. I do expect, if (when) the Sox sign Machado, there will be reports that they're still "in" on Harper. Seems like the Phillies are pressing hard for Harper, and I expect them to get him.

The only thing I believe is the offer not having a lot of opt outs. But as we've talked about, no one knows what the offers are except for those actually involved in the process. I still think Machado ends up with a contract close to the 8/$250M rumor, and Harper will probably get more. If, as Bruce claims, both guys get closer to $200M, the Sox should sign both.

We've all been sucked in, and there's no escape. I check periodically, and when I see the note at the bottom about a bunch of recent replies I get excited. That is until I read through the posts and see we're discussing NBA contracts, how much of an idiot Levine is, and why the moon is smaller than the sun even though it's closer.

Bruce should just stop tweeting about this. Maybe he can speculate Harper to the Cubs for a while.

I don't necessarily take that release as a shot at the Sox. Mainly because I still don't see why the Sox would leak such a low offer. As someone said, that could have been the initial offer, but further negotiations have got to taking place. Otherwise, they wouldn't be even in the running. I mentioned before that I don't think leaks are truly convincing other teams to make low ball offers. I don't see what the Sox had to gain by leaking such a low offer.

On the off chance that the Sox could actually sign Machado for $25M a year, would they then still pursue Harper?

Well, now I'm convinced.

Eventually it'll be: Sources have said that the Sox were never interested in signing Machado. Any reports of offers are erroneous.

If that was indeed the offer from the Sox (which seems highly unlikely), the Phillies could easily beat it AND sign Harper.

One can hope. Regardless, I'm sure there are loads of negotiations happening right now that we're not aware of. Hopefully the Sox are working on finalizing a deal with Machado, but I just have a bad feeling this is going to stretch out for another couple weeks.

The amount of disinformation, planted tweets, and speculation is dizzying. I understand that Harper and Machado are two of the biggest free agents ever (and at the same time), but something's got to give soon. It really sounds like there are only two serious suitors for Machado and maybe three for Harper, with the Sox being in on both. Hearing that this may drag into February is very frustrating. I hope that isn't true, but I'm beginning to think it might be. I would think these teams want to get these deals done so that they can move on to other deals and start getting their team set. I'm certain the Sox want to make another move or two, especially if they sign one of these guys. The entire free agent market is at a virtual standstill with these guys not signed.

The Sox wouldn’t be in the running to sign Machado if their offer was 7 years and less that $200M.

Haven’t we decided by now to not take anything Nightengale tweets seriously?

He's at Hahn's house, and they are both laughing their asses off at us. "Dude, call Nightengale and tell him you only offered me 5 years." Giggling like a schoolgirl, "That's awesome. Give me the phone."

The actual page we'll be on when Machado does finally sign is being artificially inflated with the guessing of the aforementioned page. To what degree the it is being artificially inflated is variable based on the number of people a) browsing the thread, b) actually reading the thread c) guessing the number of pages, and d) making fun of fellow posters. Therefore, whoever doesn't "win" could argue that their guess would have won if not for the guessing of the pages. It's a vicious circle we've put ourselves in, and it's damn time something happens. By the way, I'll guess 324...with 16 posts on that page.

Probably both, if the reports are true. I still think the Sox are willing to go more than 7 years, and we certainly don't know what the true actual offer is. However, if the 7-year deal is true, it's probably first the Sox trying to get him cheaper and second the fact that no one is forcing their hand.

Or, think of the marketing with Moncada and Machado patrolling the infield.

Da fuq?

Yeah, I agree. But holy shit this is frustrating. I'm sure many of us thought after the information last night that today would be eventful. Turns out it's just the media arguing about whether the offer is 7 or 8 years.

Just wait until Machado signs. There will be hundreds of us nuts in here. I don't know how this new message board will handle it, but the old one would seize up, and we'd get the error that the site is too busy. We'd madly press refresh, swearing at our computers, praying to all gods that each refresh gets us back in.

If the Sox truly are at 8/$250M, going to 10/$325M is only $75M more and an average of $32.5M, which is only sightly more than the average they've purportedly offered. Funny how we use the word "only" when talking about $75M.

I still don't believe that the feeding of information from agents and teams to the media has that much influence. If the Phillies and Yankees are still in on Machado, do we really think that they're going to make a decision on an offer based on Nightengale saying the Sox are only offering 7/$200M?

That won't get him signed.

8/250 is a good starting point. If Passan's story is accurate, the Sox would be willing to add years and money. They're not going to go in and give them their best offer first. Hopefully true negotiations start soon.