Dick Allen

Unless the Sox are going on a talent acquiring spree the next couple of weeks, even though this is minor league, it is exactly the opposite, which seems to be a running theme this offseason, of the type of players Hahn said he would acquire. If you aren’t going to win, you might as well play your young crap, just in case something clicks, than a older guy who can onky muster up a minor league pact, because he is a replacement level player. it is minor league, so probably if he sucks in spring training he is released. I just think he doesn’t move the needle enough to blow off your younger players, even if they suck.

See Schott, Marge. I don't think he has anything to do with the Cubs or this would be a gigantic story.

He definitely should be paid by Boras. But, if there is any truth to this, than it is more than likely Bruce Levine was right, and all the others that said the Sox are bidding at least $250 million are only insiders in their imaginations. The other problem with this is it may make guys like Arenado more likely to sign an extension than not know where he will be playing a week or so before Spring Training. The White Sox better land one, because it won’t be easier in the future.

Heyman is a well known mouthpiece for Boras. Nothing to see here. Think about it. They already turned down $300 million. They won’t sign for a discount . If SD was willing to pay more than $300 million, they would have been in this a lot sooner.

Having Bryce Harper in SD is a loss for MLB. Nice place, but not all that marketable and West Coast. As big of a starTrout is, if he played east he would be even bigger. MLB doesn’t need its biggest names playing games when most of the leagues fan base has hit their fart sacks.

According to JR, it does.

I was watching MLBN a couple of weeks ago and they were talking about the first draft they televised. They invited a bunch of players to attend and only one did. Mike Trout. They were feeling so bad for him as he kept getting passed over. He had the last laugh.

I used to work with a guy who knew him pretty well and he did prefer baseball. Back then he was telling my friend how he would be a bit more aggressive than his father. Looks like that has changed in quite a big way. At one time I was excited about the possibility of him taking over. Now I think it would be a disaster.

I would take either one. Each has issues, and each has their extra appeal. Machado plays the infield, is GG at 3B...probably more consistent so far. Harper has had some swings, defense may be a problem and plays the OF so that's a little easier to fill. He also is repped by Boras which isn't great other than you know Boras keeps his clients in shape. So 5 or 6 years from now, Harper isn't going to get out of shape. Machado, you never know. Harper sells you more tickets and gets you more notice nationally. I read a scout's take on it. He said if you signed them each for 10 years, you would get 8 All Star seasons and 1 MVP out of Machado, and with Harper's swings, 6 All Star seasons but 3 MVPs. If he is at all near accurate, you can't go wrong with either. The fact that they are 26 makes them unique. They may have not reached peak performance yet.

Law speculated the Dodgers really weren’t too interested because he isn’t a good framer.

Especially if you are out in it.

Game time is a problem, but there are some 3 1/2 hour games that are a joy to watch, and some that seem like it started 2 days ago. Limiting the mound visits was a great start. The number of pitchers used is only going to go up, unfortunately. With the emphasis on being selective, ABs are going to take longer. It generally takes someone longer to strike out than ground out to SS. So basically it's just find some way to eliminate as much of the dead time as you can.

Never was a White Sox farmhand. His father found the bonus the team was offering was embarrassing. He became an Independent League scrub.

He told us something.

Everyone knew Jabari Parker was a bad fit, and plays zero defense, but how does this guy sit out 12 or 13 games on this team? What was Boylen trying to prove? GarPax backing that after guaranteeing him $20 million should tell anyone all they need to know about this organization. They have no clue.

By definition they are closer than they were in November unless they decide not to ever sign a contract.

If the deal was at the league office, there is no chance all of the mainstream guys would have zilch.

I don't know, I always thought if you had a team that lost 100 games, trying to improve would be implied, not praised. Everyone gets a trophy.

LH for Hector Noesi

Rabbit also had a lot of stuff a couple offseasons ago.

As dense as I am, WSD and the rest of barstool job is to get attention.

I would rather have no info than bad info, and we really haven’t had a lot of solid info on this board this year even with the huge leap in the number of supposed insiders.

I think he had a couple that year. He is also good at finding out the minor leaguers in trades.

I think there has been more insider talk this year than all the previous years I was on here combined, and except for when chili said Herrera was coming in, and then signed a couple of days later, none of it panned out. No one scooped the Nova or Alonso or Colome trades. No one scooped the McCann signing. The best was the guy leaking RH was upset about the leaking and then said decision day was coming two weeks ago.

Whether it’s your friend or your sibling or your spouse or whatever, one of the most annoying things is when someone says they know something but they cannot tell you what it is.