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No it isn't. Caulfield just laid it out for you... it's not that simple. The marginalization effect of the cubs has a big effect here, amongst other things.

In the past 20 or so minutes here I've been researching some rumors/sites, and a lot of fronts are quiet on it. There's no way that 8/250 or 8/280 is all it takes for Machado methinks. Gotta believe he's going the 10 years with a team.

I just can't believe Machado would be the one to take less $$$ to play for the Yankees. If it's 8 years and say 275 that's about 35 per year. He wouldn't want to play for the White Sox for like 10 years 310 or something?? I don't know. There's so much smoke here it's hard to deny it now. Anyone have any news that states otherwise or that says all this is B.S. ?

From what I am gathering around the interwebz most people agree that Dan Clarke doesn't have any 100% credible information, he's simply taking a stab here with a 1 in 3 chance with low long-term risks and high short term gains. It just doesn't make sense. I'm treating it as a non-story.

Royal Rumble prediction for male: Seems like the picks are AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, or the field. My wish is that it is AJ Styles and he goes on to face Lesnar and beats him at WM in a great match. I'd be OK with Rollins as well, but he has been hurt with his feud with Ambrose. Drew came on strong, but is now getting no crowd reaction. He might need some time to build up. Also a heel vs. heel (Lesnar) doesn't really work well. A heel Drew vs. a face Braun doesn't appeal to me. And a heel Drew vs. Heel bryan doesn't work either. Not a lot of good choices there. Finn Balor is interesting, but come on -- he's not going to face off against Lesnar. There's no way that size difference goes over at WM. I guess I'd put my probabilities at: 40% Rollins, 30% AJ Styles, 10% Drew, 5% Finn, 15% Field

I'm not buying the tweet by Dan Clarke. It doesn't make sense. I've been saying all a long that Machado will be a White Sox player. Yankees don't have the money that he will demand. If Machado does go to the Yankees, I will very eagerly wait and hear reports from Hahn and co. as to why they couldn't get Machado. I will likely be very upset. If the White Sox also don't get Harper, I will be furious. Sometimes, you can't help it and these guys go to their desired destinations, but that's shit for baseball. There's a reason I don't watch any NBA anymore ... due to this kind of shit. If Harper/Machado go to the big dogs, and our offseaso n moves are summed up by Nova/McCann/Colome/Alonso, I'll happily forfeit my baseball hobby in place for other more interesting hobbies and forget the White Sox exist. But for now, I am firmly believing Machado's ours!

The fail here is that you guys are using the additional titles as an excuse to get more time for our favorites for how poorly they've been booked. 1. The booking isn't going to get better from this, as I've alluded to, there's a strong chance that it'll get worse with the way WWE handles tag teams. 2. Who's going to be losing time now? The US Title on PPVs? Intercontinental? Other tag titles? They have no time for another title! 3. They still can not perform a storyline without a title belt.

Sometimes I forget that I am on a sports website that isn't for the intellectuals. My apologies, I'll try to post more simpleton material in this thread . I think it's a very limited scope to require tag titles to get Sasha/Bayley etc. more time. For one, who do you think is going to be losing time to get these girls some time? Also, almost every storyline in WWE revolves around titles these days. That's a problem in of itself. Requiring a title to make talented performers available more often shows how limited the bookers are.

You didn't answer my question. Do you think the women's tag belts are a good addition to the product?

Stick to the Harper discussion in this thread, gents and gals! The sulking over the shit 2018 season is in another thread! I think we are getting both Machado and Harper. Come at me. Machado is virtually guranteed to sign with us in early January. Harper will soon follow.

You don't have a disagreement about the Men's Tag division here. What they've done to tag divisions has sucked. And no, I'm not complaining to complain... I watch the product and can foresee a terrible failure with these belts. They introduce them to spur momentum and ratings in the short run, but in the long run it decreases the credibility of the product. It's the equivalent of giving yourself a shot to boost your productivity in the short run but with the knowledge that it'll end up hurting you in the long run. If they wanted to truly increase ratings and buzz, they'd fix their storylines/booking. That's all I'm asking in 95% of my complaints. I assume you think the women's tag titles are a good addition? based on your comment.

Womens tag team titles are going to suck. Here's my thoughts why: This is an awful idea. I am a huge fan of women wrestling, I actually prefer it to men wrestling and my favorite current wrestler is Bayley who would, I assume, be in line for a push with these titles. However, what in the actual fuck WWE? We have 2 Heavyweight titles, 2 mid-card, 2 men tag team titles, 1 cruiser-weight, 2 women main titles already. With just that a lone we have a watered down product and the inability to get all the stories across on a PPV. Just look at smackdown and see how everything revolves around the titles in their 2 hour program. Now we are adding 1-2 women's tag team titles to the mix? Yeah, that's going to work... Not. Just by sheer time available that means some title(s) are going to take a major hit. Also it means we will see less story lines and more of the same title-hunting garbage. Further, the division just isn't built for this. As others mentioned, there's like 3 main roster 'teams' and I'd struggle to really call Bayley/Sasha a team since everybody and their mothers have been waiting for them to split up for the past year. This means we are going to be seeing more fake-make shift teams created which adds nothing to the drama/product thus ensuring more shit story lines to come out of it. We already see this bull shit with Dana / Alicia / whomever that goes from face to heel on a semi-weekly basis just to fill in a role. What the fuck was that 3on3 last week with Ember/Bayley/Sasha vs. Mickie/Alicia/Dana?? Like seriously? Just give us some one on ones and keep the mess out of it.

I still can't imagine a world where Machado/Harper don't end up signing with the White Sox or Phillies. It just is such a better fit for them over any other team. I'd be going like 42% White sox, 42% Phillies, 10% Yankees (On Machado) 10% cubs (on Harper) and 6% field. Only way it makes sense for the Yanks is if they somehow deal Andujar which I think would be kinda hard to get good value out of due to how poor his defense was. Only way Harper makes sense for Cubs is if they deal a significant amount of their liabilities away, also very difficult.

Yup from a statistical point of view, financial point of view, and marketability point of view, it's much better to put out a consistent contender over 1 random fluke world series winner.

Some of you voting #2 (world series) are outta your mind! Check out how bad this past season has been and how bad this past decade has been. The only tolerable thing going for the Sox now is that they have a loaded farm system of young guys due to the trades. Can you imagine going 50 years like this? We already won one in 2005, I'd be a much happier W'Sox fan if we put a consistent competitor on the field for the next 10 years. If the Sox go the next 5 years as trash that might be the end of it for me.

If you haven’t won in some x amount of years than it's better to win a world series. If you have won in some x amount of years than it would be better to go to the playoffs more often than just winning once again. methinks x is roughly 50 years

The funny thing is ... the return from the Cubs trade hasn't even hit the majors yet so... we don't know how successful it will truly be.

My guess (note: not any sources :p) is that this is NOT a move to get Harper. Too many people here are calling doomsday prior to anything really happens. As already alluded to in this thread, if they Sign Harper they will still need to get creative with the financial aspects to not go over the luxury tax. Further, Harper is IMO NOT beneficial to their team needs compared to other assets available on the market.

Charlotte is the best women's wrestler of all time. Has the best matches, the best resume, and is the total package. She IS the women's revolution in the WWE. McMahons message on raw: We have a new era (named WWE Forever apparently) and they want things to be 'fresh.' I got goosebumps listening to their promo as it was finally some sort of truth. However, it's all bull shit. We don't need new faces or new matches we desperately need BOOKING and consistent storylines. That's it! The wrestling is often fantastic, it's the booking that is constantly dog shit! I'm not betting things change here, unfortunately.

So far TLC has been dull but all the great matches are in the last half. Three way tag match was great wrestling-wise, but couldn't give a fuck since I've seen these three teams battle for hte past 2+ years. MMC match sucked as predicted. Rey/Orton, Finn/Drew, and Ruby/Natayla all were just *boring*. I'm not sure who cares about Orton, Rey, Ruby, Natayla anymore and there was no reason to care about Finn/Drew since they gave away the true PPV match (Dolph vs. Drew) on raw now... twice. The cruiserweight match and Elias/Bobby match were all OK, meh. So far, it's a better PPV then the shit they've been putting out in the last few PPV's, but hopeful that these last few matches end up well. Oh yeah. almost forgot -- The Corbin/Strowman match went as I feared. It was a complete squash. sure, it was nice to see the gang gang up on the vile GM... but meh would have been a cool match if the heel had more heel control but ended up losing to Strowmans abilities.

Have we heard anything on whether Abreu is open to DH-ing? I know there was a tweet a couple of days ago suggesting that Abreu HATES to DH.

Most of us are only going to like it if it leads to us landing Machado. If he signs somewhere else, I wouldn't be shocked to see him moved again. I don't think that's an easy task. He's overpaid and no one will need him. The Indians were happy to give him to us for free. We aren't moving him. Completely hypothetical here, but what if you knew trading for Alonso would increase your chances of signing Machado from a 25% chance to a 75% chance. You pull the trigger and Machado ultimately signs elsewhere. Was it a bad decision to get Alonso? That's a good hypothetical and then no - it was not a bad decision in that respect then, but we will never know those details.

I'm still surprised that people are defending this Alonso trade. 1. He is overpaid. I don't think this is a point on contention. There's some 10 other dudes around the league (probably more) that we could rather have that give us the same sort of skills or better skills and cost less. 2. This adds to our 25-man roster. Sure, our roster isn't deep, but we are at a point in our direction that needs to be determined. Are we going big and getting Machado+Harper or a combo of one of them and other stars? Or are we going 100% rebuild next year? Either way -- Alonso doesn't help. If we were going with the rebuild, give the young guys the time and position on the 25 man roster and if you want veteran presence, use the money on someone who is actually highly skilled in the market. If you are going to try to compete there's no way Yonder Alonso is a top candidate here over our current players. Find someone better. 3. This entire trade hinges 100% on Machado signing. If Machado signs with us, you won't hear me mention the negative aspects of this trade ever again. Whatever was said between management/Machado is unclear, I have to think Hahn is a smart guy and he knows what he's doing. If this gets us Machado, then this trade was a Success and ONLY then. BUT, if we don't get Machado, this looks creepy as FUCK and it's downright unprofessional to start trading for FA's family even when it is detrimental to the team. If we don't get Machado, it's moves like THIS that would make the management of this team look like an utter disgrace. This is the first time since the rebuild started that I am started to question the ChW again. Prior to the rebuild I was considering finding a different team to root for... however management has made a lot of good moves since then. They have a leash with me now, but this offseason has went from "maybe they'll sign a whale--that'd be cool" to "They need to sign a whale, otherwise there will be serious questions on what they are doing." I want to also add that I understand in the big scheme of things Yonder Alonso isn't a big deal. His salary won't kill us anywhere. That's not the point tho, you don't make bad moves just to make moves.

Per usual, shit storytelling hurts the overall event, but WWE TLC 2018 has a special card, I think! Some predictions: WWE Championship: (C) Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles Going with Daniel Bryan winning via heel cheap shot. EXPECTATION: High. Really looking forward to this. I hope they don't let me down. SmackDown Women’s Championship – Triple Threat TLC Match: (C) Becky Lynch vs. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair Going with Asuka as they decide to throw the curve here. EXPECTATION: Extremely high. This is perhaps the match I've most looked forward to all year. Love all three competitors AND it's a TLC match. Raw Women’s Championship: (C) Ronda Rousey vs. Nia Jax Rousey. EXPECTATION: Absolute shit, but it's Rousey, so it's kinda cool. Intercontinental Championship: (C) Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose I'm going Ambrose here with heel tactics. EXPECTATION: Love Ambrose's heel turn. Love Rollins as a face. Hope this delivers, it's too bad they had to rush this storyline, but I think it's been delivering, so expectations: HIGH Chairs Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton Meh. Hate seeing two old guys fight. There's no reason for this. Have them fight with the up and comers. Going with Mysterio, I guess. EXPECTATION: Boring, dud. Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match: Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin I hear Strowman is still hurt. I'm expecting him to show up and squash Corbin, which would be a shame. EXPECTATION: Unfortunately, very low. I was initially looking forward to this one, but since Strowman isn't ready to go, they can't do much here. I would have loved the heel GM to do everything in his power to screw over Strowman. They are going to squash this match, my guess. Finn Balor vs. Drew McIntyre McIntyre is winning this for his massive push. EXPECTATION: Love both wrestlers, but it's hard to get high expectations for a match that doesn't really have a story or feel to it. Middle level expectation. Ladder Match: Elias vs. Bobby Lashley Lashley is winning this EXPECTATION: Meh. Bobby Lashley might be the most boring wrestler on Earth. Elias as a face? Meh. SmackDown Tag Team Championship – Triple Threat Match: (C) The Bar vs. The New Day vs. The Usos The Bar wins EXPECTATION: They always deliver good matches, but I've seen it 6000 times now. So middle ground. Tables Match: Natalya vs. Ruby Riott Lol, Riot wins this EXPECTATION: Trash. Why is this on the PPV while Bayley/Sasha are snubbed. Cruiserweight Championship: (C)Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander Don't care, but match should be good, always enjoy watching the cruiserweights. Mixed Match Challenge Finals: Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox vs. R-Truth and Carmella Lol this is dogshit. I'm guessing Jinder and Fox win this as they are the better #30 candidates in the Rumble. R-Truth shouldn't even be in the Rumble.

At this point here's the way I'm approaching free agency MLB: First off, I'm as addicted as anyone. I check this site, twitter, and Rotoworld every 30 minutes sans sleep. I'm assuming Harper is going to LAD. It makes sense, there's a lot of smoke and most rumors coming out now are that ChW won't go the distance with the contract. We've also had the Yonder trade to appease Machado perhaps signaling their direction. I'm still watching every Harper rumor because LAD has a lot of issues with this. Their financial ability, their stacked OF already... I don't see why from their perspective they'd do something like this. In fact, I think this is a bad move for LAD. I think getting Harper is a great move for ChW. I am fully expecting the White Sox to get Manny Machado. It also makes sense for Phi. It makes little to no sense for NYY. They absolutely need to get one of these two with their moves this offseason and the rumors surrounding everything. At this point, when you bring in Alonso for the purpose of targeting Manny, we make some questionable moves with Nova, Colome, and McCann, going into the season with this boring lifeless team would be a death sentence for the fan base.