Dick Allen

His agent's future clients? What does that have to do with anything? If he was sold on the White Sox, and was going to sign there no matter what, he wouldn't be making these visits, and the Yankees and Phillies would be happy he didn't waste their time. The agent's job is to get the player what he wants. If he wants the White Sox, then it's the White Sox. The theory that he is just going through the motions for his agent's benefit is laughable.

I'm sure they had an idea of what will be offered going in, or why make the trip? Just throw out some figures and say mystery team.

Right, but he's not negotiating at these meetings. That's his agent's job. He probably has an idea where they are willing to go, and maybe after a sitdown it goes higher. If it were me, I would prefer a 90 minute meeting vs. a 5 hour meeting.

His wife was there. I really doubt the agent would want to negotiate with Manny and his wife present. I doubt anyone has made a formal offer at these meetings. They might have come into them with some really good idea. Manny doesn't have to be sold on the Yankees. He does with the White Sox. I think people put too much in the length of the meeting. No one really knows how long he met with the White Sox anyways.

Greinke signed or agreed to sign the day he got the D Back offer. So this could go quickly. But if it's not done on Friday, I am guessing after New Years Day. I think MLB is basically a skeleton crew next week.

They did say that Machado is going to have to sell himself to the Yankees, while the White Sox are trying to sell the White Sox. I'm sure 90 minutes is long enough. I know the White Sox meeting with Harper was reportedly 5 hours, but so much about the Harper meetings have turned out to be BS, maybe that was as well. The other thing is Hal Steinbrenner's mother just died, so he might not have been able to make the meeting. I wouldn't take anything out of it being 90 minutes, good or bad.

He can be really good. The problem is, he has a tough time pitching back to back days. As a reliever, that's a huge problem. Maybe the surgery will correct it, but he also has had shoulder issues.

Stories that the Yankees might sign Tulo instead of Machado are pretty laughable. Like you could count on him. If Manny doesn't go there, they will pick up a 2B and move Torres to SS/.

If he was flying private, he wouldn't have been at an O'Hare bar. He probably wouldn't have been at O'Hare. But there is a ton of information from all sources that just isn't true. Abreu wasn't there. Alonso wasn't there. The one guy tried to show a picture of a suite, where they were going to give Manny and his wife White Sox jerseys. Really? Is this 3rd grade.?And why is the television on in that picture? Were they going to watch Jerry Springer, and tell him it used to be taped in Chicago? It couldn't have been it was snapped during the season. As for money, yes I think he will take the highest offer, especially if it's a record breaker. But I did here an interesting take on cash last night. Ego will play a role, they are going to either want to be able to say the signed the highest contract ever, even if a lot of it is deferred and current value isn't as high, or they are going to want to say its the highest AAV ever, but, when you are talking that kind of money and it isn't breaking records, there really isn't a difference to these guys if its 250 million vs. 275 million. It's all money they will never spend. If no team is willing to let Manny's agent mention a record being broken, the Yankees probably hold a big advantage. Supposedly if the Dodgers clear some space, Harper's contract will have a record breaking AAV,

You should be banned just for this.

I think it probably does.

I wonder if there are clauses that would motivate all 3 to have good teams. Like if ratings are at certain levels you get X per game. If they dip below a certain point maybe the go lower the next season.

I will be very interested seeing how they cover the Cubs. Other than that, probably mostly the same. I wonder if this will end the Sox on WGN. It was pretty obvious this is how it was going to go. JR and Rocky are tight. Funny that none of the teams is must watch TV right now.

Not many guys get their GM start taking over 95 win teams, and ranked with the top farm system.

Depends. Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams have been around forever. KW inherited a young, cheap team that won the division, and he struggled for a few years. Then won once. These guys don't have a track record of sustained success even when talent was handed to them on a platter. If you were a player and wanted to win, of what appears to be his choices, right now, the Sox would be last. But, they do have a lot of talent, and when you are as good as these 2 are, you have some ego, you he may feel he is the one that will change things.

It’s not the best idea, especially for a team that most likely will require an act of God to ever be flirting with the luxury tax. But it beats all the other plans now. If the White Sox prospects are successful and start to get expensive, there is going to be a sell off. But that is years off. You would change a lot of perceptions about the White Sox signing one of these guys. If the one in a million comes through and you sign both, you will change everyone’s perception. For where they have been, and where they are, I don’t know what that is worth, but I know it’s a lot.

But for some reason Lillian doesn’t seem too keen on adding what would probably be the best LH hitter in team history.

I know people are excited and thing maybe things are changing. I myself, think Machado is a done deal ever since Alonso was acquired. But.... if somehow Both of the big guys sign elsewhere, and the Sox winter acquisitions are Nova, Alonso, McCann, and Colome, I am going to be more upset than I was last season.

The reality is their best 3B prospect is probably Moncada. You might rate Eloy above him, but that’s about it.

If there was no chance of Manny signing with them, I am sure the Yankees and Phillies would appreciate their meetings being cancelled and their time not wasted. I am sure the presentation was well done, and Manny is getting the royal treatment, and it is probably blowing him away. But, two other teams are going to do the same thing. One, he seemingly always wanted to play with. It doesn’t seem they want to go too long with him though. I still think showing him the money, and Alonso should win out. Besides, leaks about how this meeting is going or went, are BS. Do you think Hahn, and Renteria, and KW, and JR are live texting?

He’s a good player. if the Sox signed him, he would probably play about 35 games.

Some advice to any fake insiders who want to make anyone think they have real info. Never say things will quiet down for a few days after the Winter Meetings. Especially if they were pretty slow. There are always a couple trades and signings in the 3 or 4 days that follow.

Read his last week of tweets. I think you will jump on the dismissed bandwagon.

Just scroll down his twitter. They were supposed to announce a Harper signing last week at 1:30 or 2pm. He didn’t even delete it. Then said the Sox hoped to have Manny in on Thursday. Surprise, it’s Monday. Then said things would really get quiet for a bit, so naturally within hours McCann is signed, Alonso trade goes through, and Manny’s meeting is confirmed. Eventually he will be right about something, but he clearly is just throwing shit at a wall hoping something sticks, and people will believe he is what he isn’t.

If Jackson would have just taken a knee in the end zone"....... Hoefully he will be OK for the playoffs.