Jack Parkman

I don't think that the Sox aren't interested or don't want to play ball, I think that it is doubtful that Machado and Harper are interested in the Sox.

I find that surprising because I am pretty math oriented and I don't really do stuff on gut. Prior to the ASB this year, I used to always research everything on fangraphs before making a post, though I do admit I got a little lax on that this year after the point mentioned. I got more comfortable in my own skin over the last 18 months or so, and I gradually haven't been as calculated as I used to be prior to August of this year. I posted a lot on pure emotion/frustration over the last 2-3 months, and I have reminded myself why I shouldn't do that. I'm disappointed that my reputation here has declined so dramatically after posting here for a decade and 3 months of frustration put it all in the tank. I got frustrated, I don't know a lot of Sox fans and I wanted to vent about a couple of my favorite sports teams. None of it was rational, none of it was well thought out, and I really regret doing that. I'm planning to be a lot more calculated and do my research again, rather than trusting my own recollection of information I'm not 100% sure about. Post less, think and analyze more.

I have to get in front of a decision maker. I also haven't written a program in a decade, lol. I'm signing up for Code Academy and I'm going to teach myself python because I got recruited today for the EY Autism at work program. I would rather work for the Sox for less money, because it would be something I truly love and it would probably pay enough for me to be happy, especially as I've been living with my parents with a monthly income in the hundreds, not thousands since I graduated from college.

It's tough to make a career change when your original one never got started. I know that I'd probably be fine if I went back to school for software engineering, but taking on the debt scares the ever loving crap out of me. Especially when I still owe 20K on my chemical engineering degree.

I agree here.

I don't care what they pay, this would be my dream job. I don't know the computer languages they want, as my background is not in software engineering. It should have been though. I do have an engineering degree and I know how to write code in a language or two but not much more than that. I got called by the Sox marketing dept. last winter and I told them that autistic baseball fans with a strong math/tech background would make the best analytics people because we can do this stuff for hours and will never get bored with it. Sigh. I have zero doubt I could write code well enough to do this job with enough practice. I don't have this skill right now though, and I doubt they'd give me a shot. EDIT: I have everything in the required section for the internship except knowing SQL. I could learn it. Dammit. I don't know R and Python either but MATLAB is one of the two languages I know, along with C++. What do you guys think, will that be enough?

Only if they'd send a decent prospect along with him to take his salary.

I think they should non-tender Avi anyway, so that isn't a huge deal to me. Abreu is iffy on my book too. I think he's going to be impossible to move at 16-20M. To most other teams, he's a DH that is coming off of a bad season. If they aren't going to re-sign him, he should be cut loose as well.

I acknowledge that the Sox might be willing to spend the money, but I don't think that either player will want to come here. It doesn't mean they shouldn't try. It is hard for me to know how serious they are about this, but knowing what they offered A-Rod 18 offseasons ago makes me think there might be a chance. Again, I think it is not on the Sox but on Harper/Machado. They were in a MUCH better position in January 2001 coming off of a division championship and the best record in the AL, along with having the best farm in baseball. They might have actually landed A-Rod if Texas didn't blow KW out of the water. I do have an idea of how they can pull this off: Heavily front load the contract. The Sox have 14M comitted to player payroll next year. In order to do this, they'd probably have to non-tender both Abreu and Avi Then, you offer 140M to either guy the 1st 3 seasons of the deal, then average amount(like 25M) during the time in which you think the team is going to be at its peak for payroll flexibility, and then the remainder of the money the last two years, that you know it is going to be bad. In return for this large sum of cash up front, they agree to one opt out after their age 31 season(year 5) of a 10 year deal. It would break down like this: 2019: 60M 2020: 45 M 2021: 35M 2022-2026: 25M Opt out at 2023-24 Offseason 2027-28: 35M Ends up a 10 year, 335M contract. Worst case scenario for the Sox(or best case if you want to frame it that way) it becomes a 5 year, $195M contract, but you are paying for the player's peak seasons, so it isn't really that bad. Get Creative Hahn.

Listen guys, I'd love to be wrong. I don't get why having the attitude of "I'll believe it when I see it" is so horrible. I'm not trying to preach doom and gloom. There is still a chance this works out. It is 10 thousand times harder to be optimistic right now than it was at this time last year. I don't know how it is controversial to say that the Sox had a "Murphy's Law" season in 2018. I don't know how it is controversial to say that they have 3/4 of a player that they can pencil into the lineup for the foreseeable future, and that is Eloy. I used 3/4 because he is still no guarantee. Didn't we used to loathe Cub fans for farting rainbows and unicorns? This fanbase is sounding a lot like that. By all means, the sky isn't falling. But is a lot more up in the air than it was a year ago. I'm consider myself pretty neutral on this whole thing. 50/50 There are things to like, and things not to like. It is a complete toss up though now. Maybe my definition of being negative and the board's are way off. You guys should go read WSI some time for shits and giggles. That place is a black hole of pessimism. I can't even stand it.

They need to do a better job of teaching college students real world skills too, as right now a BA or BS is nothing more than a tuition receipt. I never thought I'd be so unprepared with a college degree that I couldn't even get a decent job. You try to get a crappy job after that, and they won't hire you because you're overqualified. This is the problem that College grads are running into: They're underqualified for entry level jobs in their field with just a college degree, and overqualified for any other job. It is leaving a lot of people in no-man's land and having to lie on their apps to get the crappy jobs.

C'mon I get this site is pure entertainment and time wasting, but I don't understand discussing Harper/Machado. There are a 300-400 Million reasons why they aren't coming here. I just wish we could talk about realistic moves the Sox can make, not rainbows and unicorns.

Speak English please? What you posted makes no sense. Did you mean that what I posted would spark more discussion? Ok whatever. I might have to stay out of PHT until they both sign elsewhere. If either signs here I'll eat crow and be really excited at the same time.

Why are we discussing Harper and Machado? Really people, there is virtually zero chance either sign here. I just don't understand why we're wasting bandwidth on this.

I'd love to have Ozzie back, but he burned that bridge and pissed on the ashes. He'd be a great manager for this group. At the same time, it isn't happening.

I blame Ronald Reagan. He got rid of the regulation on news, which used to be non-partisan, but became partisan after he repealed the Fair and Balanced News Act. I think that Network news, for the most part is centrist outside of MSNBC and Fox News, which are clearly partisan. However, the thing that nobody talks about is CTR, or conservative talk radio. I think it has a far greater impact on political discourse in America than Network TV news. There are states where if you wanted a left-wing radio station it doesn't exist. Most of the existing progressive talking heads have to sell subscriptions to their podcasts in order to keep themselves on the air. Reagan still giving the USA the shaft even from the grave.

If Moncada has to move, I'd prefer it be 1) When Madrigal is close to MLB ready and 2) to at least try him at 3B before moving him to the OF. Again, the Sox have a lot of OF options, I'd like to keep them open for the Sox OF prospects.

No, I can be rational about it. I was just saying I'd like to see where they fall in the 2019 lists since a lot of their players were injured and took a big step backward this year. When Spring Training opened in February, I was as positive as anyone. Now, not so much. They might still be top 10 in 2019, but I'd be surprised if they were top 5. Teams whose farm systems I would take over ours right now without blinking: Padres Rays Braves Teams that I'd have to do more digging about: Yankees Jays A's

I'm not mad that they're bad. That is understood. I'm mad that they're bad at scouting. You can almost count the number of neutral or good moves outside of the ones that built the 2005 team on two hands since the end of the 2000 season Neutral: Sirotka for Wells as a rental Rowand for Thome (this is only neutral because they filled one gaping black hole and created another that still persists to this day) Vizcaino, Young, and El Duque for Vazquez Good: A broken Freddy Garcia for Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez McCarthy for Danks Re-signing Buehrle in 2008, and then letting him walk in 2012 Drafting Chris Sale in 2010 Signing Jose Quintana off the scrap heap Reed for Eaton Borchard for Thornton Tentatively good: Quintana for Eloy/Cease Jury's out, but not looking so good right now: Sale and Eaton selling trades That's it. Outside of the 2005 team building, those are the only moves that did not blow up in their faces since the 2000-2001 offseason. It is utterly amazing that the same people occupy the front office.

I'm not even going to argue this point. Just because I believe in rejecting bad opinions doesn't mean they don't have value at the moment they are said. You can share your ideas, and if others think they're bad you realize it and consider others input. I did that. You don't have to stick to an opinion indefinitely. People are allowed to change their minds. Flip flopping isn't a sign of stupidity, it is a sign of intelligence. To each his own though. Unless you're omnipotent, everyone is ignorant about something. It takes a lot of courage to admit that you were wrong.

I said that I knew that I was working with incomplete data, but based on the data I had at the time. What happened then was happening then. What's happening now is happening now. What's wrong with "Based on what I've seen so far....."? On the other hand, I flipped a bit on Giolito and Moncada on the Sox end because I realized I was falling into the trap that is confirmation bias. Trying not to do that.

I've actually been defending Trubisky lately, if you haven't been paying attention. I think he's fine for a 2nd year pro. He's grown on me. Evidence and more data is a wonderful thing. Again, I'm not afraid to change my opinion as the data set becomes larger. Scientific method ftw, eh? Go read the Anderson doesn't walk thread. Ever heard of confirmation bias? I'm trying to avoid doing that. Nobody is supposed to stick to their guns indefinitely, as you acquire more data you can change your opinion accordingly. To quote Spaceballs: What's happening now is happening now.

Bears fans don't know what a good Quarterback actually looks like in their uniform, so they hold them to the Tom Brady standard. In Chicago, if the Bears new QB isn't as good as prime Tom Brady, they suck.

I tend to think Sox players are worse than they actually are and other team's players are better than they actually are. It comes with the territory. Again, when you watch your team every day you see their warts in a different way than those you don't follow.

This is a really good point. I wish the Sox would look for more of those types of hitters.