I think the Sox have to be considering a failure tax. I know they pretend to be tone deaf, but at the same time are paying attention to everything that is being said, so they obviously care.
I could ask here, would it be worst to come in 2nd for Harper, or to not have interest at all, at least as far as the fans see? Could that shape the face they show to the general public if they really do have interest? Being the public leader for Machado made missing out on him WAY worse than if they had never bid on him at all.