Dick Allen

I wonder if Lebron let him borrow Maverick Carter.

O'Dowd surprised me yesterday when he said he wouldn't trade for Puig under any circumstance. He didn't like the cut of his jib. He also was stumping for a Tulo comeback. Said he was working out and feels as good as he has in years. Makes you wonder what the deal is there.

It has to do with if it makes them better or not. Obviously the Reds would not do it if they didn't think they would benefit. I would think at least now that benefit would have to be pretty big.

I mentioned the same thing earlier. We are after one and dones and have Bruce Weber recruiting, coming off a 2-16 year in the Big 10, and are selling everything going almost perfectly. He would need a booster with too much money. We need JR willing to pay too much money.

He's negotiating. You will always hear things you would normally never hear.

He's not telegraphing anything. He is just mentioning that he won't rule out a team that lost 100 games even if he actually would. He could be using the White Sox to get more from somewhere else, he might love what they are doing, and signing with the White Sox gets what he wanted. He and Harper are the ones in the know. We can speculate but you could make a legitimate case either way.

He live in Vegas. So that would be about as close to him as he could play.

Did they have White Sox fans pitching tents in their pants while staring at him in RF.

Hahn has basically stated he is a year behind Kopech. So a September call up seems to be in order if all goes well.

Maybe more encouraged, but both are most likely just a bunch of BS. The insiders knowledge this morning was most likely crap, and Boras is playing a game as well. So it should be just as before, but it is why the White Sox, who normally play everything close to the vest, should be skewered if this doesn't work.

I'm sure the White Sox gave them a binder with their prospects written up.

Of the teams rumored to be in on him, how would you rank the ownerships regarding providing every opportunity to win?

He clearly isn't going to eliminate teams publicly even if there is little chance he signs with them. If it is reported JR will spend huge, even if Harper would take $50 million less, there is no way Boras, or any agent would publicly eliminate him. So really all Boras said is just noise.

Flips don't work out as great as most people think. Swardzak got you Cordell. Big deal. Soria was paid around $6 or 7 million, he worked out as well as can be expected, and the guy he got you is somewhat meh. Couldn't the White Sox have bought that player from Milwaukee for half the amount they paid Soria? It works out great once in a while. But usually signing guys for $7 million or 8 million or 9 million and hoping to flip them is just a waste of money. I would rather they sign some $1 million to $2 million guys and a shitload of minor league contract guys and load up Charlotte. See if any of them work out. Have a short leash. Release them if you need the room.

What changed?

peavy44 told us Boras has nothing to do with this. It's all Harper and all he wants is Chicago. So have faith. His facebook source is pretty, pretty, pretty good.

I wonder if his source with the bad news the same guy who basically said it was a virtual lock Harper would be a White Sox.

It is. But I think even the most optimistic was expecting a bit more in 2018. That with Kopech going down isn't good. At least Eloy and Cease were spectacular. Hopefully that can continue.

Stay the course, but never forget the Sox couldn't land the big fish with less than $11 million committed in 2019, and $4.5 million committed in 2020. It basically says if any part of this rebuild requires landing the big fish, Arenado, Rendon, are next up, I have some elevator insurance to sell you. At some point, winning games has to come into play. Prospects fail. We all know that. But, until they show they can draft or trade for or sign prospects who actually are very successful, it's fine to be skeptical. And these prospects need to start showing something in 2019 or the heat should be way up on these guys. Speaking a good game, which both RH and KW do very well, doesn't win them.

I hope they can get it done. But I don't trust they can, and certainly doubt it. If you owned the White Sox, and had the exact same results, and came to the conclusion after going for it in 2016 and winning 78 games that a rebuild was necessary, would you have let RH and KW do it? I would bet 99 out of 100 people would say good God no, look at their track record.

One thing Boras doesn't want is for Harper to sign soon and have Machado get more cash later, which if the Phillies or White Sox are still out there, and really as engaged as reported, is a really good possibility. The only way he could spin it is where Harper signed is where he wanted to be.

Yet the White Sox have a worse record than any other team the last 6 seasons. EVERY TEAM has been better than them.

Yeah, 2013 called and said, good idea. He was an 0.5 fWAR last season. Adam Engel was an 0.2. This would be a ridiculous signing.

They have actually been linked to all 3 of those guys.

It does you no good to let it out you actually think you will land one of these guys. The Phillies owner will never live his line of spending stupidly down if they fail and the guys they sign instead don't get the job done. What the White Sox leak out really means squat. The fact is, they leaked out enough to stick their necks on the line. If they don't convert, the backlash they get is well deserved. If they don't offer enough money, it was unrealistic to think they had a shot. If they do offer the most money, and the player looks elsewhere, they created the undesirable situation. If they leaked out nothing, we would think they have little shot, so we all go about our days. Now they leak enough to think it very well may happen. If it doesn't, think of all the time they made you waste. And I know some will say that isn't on them. I disagree. They know their fully engaged fans are totally into this whole process right now.