Dick Allen

They haven't said anything like that this year. Olney is the one who said they are frontrunners.

How much did they pay for Harper?

The one thing I am worried about, just like when they signed Robert, it "checked off" one of Rick's boxes. Once that got checked off, they got back to where they always were internationally. Now they get Grandal and apparently checked off another of his infamous boxes. I hope that doesn't mean back to comfortable second place finishes for good free agents.

Not yet, but maybe in a few years. I remember in 2005 I said to myself, just let them win the WS, I won't care if they suck for a decade. I cared.

If the money is similar, a lot of them do. It's one reason a lot of players live the offseason near the spring training facility. Workout facilities during the winter and an extra 6 weeks at home in the spring.

One other thing to keep in mind...the Phillies train in FL. I think Wheeler lives in GA. He may not be too keen on spending 6 weeks in AZ if his other choice is around the same money. So the Sox may have to bump the Phillies offer a bit.

Sox would improve their chances if the second best bid won.

Yeah, I don't think teams are playing Dave Hester and risking hundreds of millions to get other teams in other leagues to up their bid. Also keep in mind, if they got the White Sox to pay extra, that ups the cost for everyone.

When there is stuff leaking that the White Sox are close it always seems to fall apart. Were their any "insiders" who had the Grandal signing more than 5 minutes before it was announced?

The problem is there is always one team willing to crazy pay the top guys. The White Sox will need to change their philosophy if they expect to sign these types.

Because the next two seasons he will be 36 and 37 years old. It can happen at any time. It's $70 million, so if you expect Wheeler to be good for 2 seasons, guess what? The dead money is about the same or less. Every 1 year of dead Greinke money is almost 2 years of dead Wheeler money.

So he won't because Ray Ray says so. God are you full of yourself.

He's 35 and owed $70 million the next 2 seasons. Dead money is certainly a good possiblilty.

It's another way of getting bad contracts. Both Verlander's, as he was signed through this season when acquired and Greinke's have had hints of dead money. Face it, the Tigers wanted out of the contract. They didn't get a huge haul for Verlander. Arizona got a bigger haul but still have to pay $24 million for Greinke to pitch elsewhere, and they think that is more than worth it. If you are serious about signing one of the top free agents, you better be prepared to pay them for years your people will tell you they probably won't be productive. It was a much smaller gamble back in the day, but JR got Carlton Fisk because he guaranteed him 3 years. Roland Hemond advised him Fisk probably had 2 more productive seasons left. That worked out tremendously, just like the Verlander trade did for the Astros. But I guarantee you, their people thought they would probably be eating money at the end of his deal.

But they picked up $53 million for 2.5 years of a 35 year old pitcher and gave up their #3, #4 and #5 prospects.

The, the White Sox will not be negotiating with Scott Boras for Gerritt Cole thing.

They traded for a couple. At the time they got Verlander, most didn't anticipate his rejuvenation, at least to the level he is at. And Grienke wouldn't get paid what he is owed if he was a free agent today.

How soon do we hear about how JR stepped up and made an unprecedented offer again that fell short? I do fear Wheeler is a one or two year guy though. So this failure may be a blessing.

Even they fuck up.They took Jake Peter off the Sox hands.

I do agree with you about this. They just better make sure they choose the correct ones to move.KW actually got several major leaguers in the early 2000s for crap.. of course back then, everthing was crap.

If the theory is correct and leaking cost the White Sox a Joc trade last year, why would this leak be different?

The White Sox used to play rent a RF in the 90s. Ellis Burks, DJ, Mike Devereaux, Danny Tartabull, and Dave Martinez until finally Maggs broke through. It was pretty amazing as all of them were pretty good with the Sox.

Not all do. But the ones the White Sox select seem to struggle a lot .

If you just picked last season or the last 3 they are much closer. The Joc age 28 season probably pushes it over the top but Calhoun has been in the AL. The Sox have certainly has problems bringing in NL hitters . Especially guys who can rack up the ks.

How much better is Joc than Kole Calhoun ? You could probably get Calhoun for the same money or less and not give up a player.