Balta1701

God I genuinely don't know. Samardzija/LaRoche/Cabreroid/Robertson/Beckham/Bonifacio Frazier/Latos/Rollins/Lawrie/Navarro/Jackson/Avila Nova/Jay/Alonso/Santana/Herrera/Colome/McCann I literally have no idea which of those is the worst. You can make a case for any of them. This one isn't nearly as expensive as those debacles, we traded away more in those moves, and ugh.

Just remember - Rick Hahn's job is to work with ownership, not follow edicts from ownership. It should be a partnership, if it isn't, then Rick Hahn is doing a terrible job. .If Rick Hahn receives an edict saying he can't go past $250 million guaranteed to Machado, Rick Hahn's job is to find the money to do so. Sign Shields instead of Nova, let Abreu walk and move Davidson to 1b, skip Machado's buddies and play Engel and Palka, and you've saved the $50 million difference in literally 1 year. Maybe ownership doesn't want to let Abreu go...but you make it clear that's how important Machado is, that you're willing to do that set of moves, and you get ownership on board like a quality GM.

Rick Hahn is a terrible baseball general manager.

The sad thing is, this isn't just about making money. The White Sox could easily have afforded Machado or Harper with what they've already done. They could have cleared over $50 million in payroll this offseason if they were desperate to do so and it would have still made them better with one of these guys and probably more profitable thanks to the big name. You may take your pick. This is about the Front Office staff being inept, or about JR refusing on principle to spend top dollar for individual players.

Harper took this deal because it was the only one offered that beat Stanton's deal. This isn't a coincidence - Boras will say whatever he wants to say about how Harper wanted to be there for his career now that the deal is signed, but you know darn well that 330/10 with an opt out after 5 from the White Sox is a deal he takes.

The Phillies know that the money they're paying at the end doesn't matter any more than the deferred money the White Sox are still paying Konerko. If Harper is even moderately productive at the end of the deal that's an extra win. Spreading it out over 13 years keeps them under the luxury tax in 2020 if they sign anyone else, and they're paying him to be the equivalent of an all star for the next 5-6 years. Anything he does over that last 7 is gravy.

Yeah, I'm surprised the Dodgers got into this at all. Maybe just a "push the Phillies deal up and keep him away from the Giants on any kinda bargain deal" sorta thing.

Only unbelievable if you exclude the part where the White Sox's front office has people like Rick Hahn in it.

Harper's side was willing to be a little flexible and give up the chance at one more contract at the end of this deal/age 36 in order to get the biggest deal in MLB history, and no one else was stepping up with anything close to comparable to make it a tough choice. The phillies probably bid against themselves a little bit today to get it done since that really is a discount for Harper, but they get an incredible contract structure out of doing so rather than holding out for lower money.

This is not the danger of rebuilding. This is the danger of terrible ownership and front office people.

They will then open the box and realize there was already a 50% chance the cat was dead before it was signed. Somehow this is a metaphor for our DH position this decade...

I'm much less angry today than last time.

If you adjust ARoid and Manroid's 2000 vintage deals for payroll growth, you're talking about $500 million deals today being comparable to what those guys signed for.

Bah, those last 3 years are nothing other than spreading out the tax payment. It's like deferred money - anything they get after age 34 or so is just gravy.

Jesus they even got Boras to go along with no opt outs and a low luxury tax number. They're going to go sign Keuchel or Kimbrel now since they minimized the tax dollar, they'd have been under the 2020 tax line but narrowly if they had allowed an opt out after year 3. They just made it so they can still add another player under the tax line.

No, we're clowns.

Well the Phillies did their job. Congratulations to everyone who said they'd be as angry as me with the White Sox front office once this was done, welcome to the party.

I think they believed they were bidding against themselves when they went from $175 to $250 million and that they thought they were doing Machado a favor with each time they upped their bid.

A lot. I'd have said Kopech if he was healthy, so Cease?

Deep down, yes I believe this front office would do that. I'm still waiting for a bit of evidence from them to prove me wrong.

This only works if the White Sox were bidding competitively. If Boras had put out that Harper had turned down $300 million, and the White Sox came to him in December with a $225 million offer, Boras may well have told them not to waste his time. We did hear right when Machado signed that Boras and the White Sox hadn't been in contact in weeks - a lowball offer would do that.

You can still add that team to the list of teams that remain interested. 5 teams interested sounds better than 4, especially when it's clear that the White Sox would have a nearly unlimited budget based on their payroll commitments.

It would totally fit with my hypothesis that the White Sox's offers for both of them were extreme lowballs that the White Sox thought were fair.

I just cannot see Scott Boras's side keeping any team with interest quiet for any reason.

Hopefully by 2020 Lopez and Giolito are something good, but Cease will be a rookie, Kopech will be coming of TJS and probably innings-limited, and Rodon has never been more than a back of the rotation pitcher so far - honestly I was sorta hoping Dunning would have a shot at Rodon's slot by then, but alas. That rotation could grow into something formidable within even a year, but then Rodon leaves.