Harry Chappas

What makes next year any better when there are some pitchers out there and a couple of third baseman one just as good......and a year older.

Why? If the Sox came out now and said they have an offer for 8/$240 on the table it would make Olney look like a fool. Olney has stated all winter the Sox have no business in this process and ESPN itself cannot be too enamored with the idea of the White Sox signing either. The Sox cannot really state anything but Olney leaking White Sox information is ludicrous as he pays them no mind. Nightengale put out the lowball to offset Gomez and Olney just trolled the situation and looks like an asshat to me. My guess is Gomez got the information from Machado directly and the White SOx used their sources to offset it and temper any hope from mystery team. I beleive the Gomez report as it is the onyl one that makes sense.

I think Olney iwas in essence trolling for ESPN

It is not the top of the cap that is the problem it is the floor and teams pocketing revenue sharing money as profit. If you make a team spend $100M that money goes to these middle of the road free agents.

If the Phillies offer more so will the Sox....the Phillies have to offer more though. Again everyone thought, I included, the Dodgers, Nats, cubs, Yankees would all hang in there and be in the mix. The Yankees have picked up two infielders this off-season...one that was not on the cheap. If those teams are out you need to now find a team that is contending that is now going to find $25M a year in their budget.......is that team out there.....there are two agents that are hoping so and one is most likely the Phillies but they have made some moves this offseason already and were outbid by Corbin Think about the Reds, Padres, Pirates, Braves, Brewers, etc. if they were told it would take $300M to get one of these guys and they went in other directions do they now pivot back? The White Sox could have had $280M sitting there...the agents balked....the White Sox pulled it back and now the other teams that could been in the mix have moved on afte grabbing their Donaldsons, Corbins, Puigs etc.

It's about being gotten at 7/175...if he does sign for that or even 7$210M, baseball is screwed seven ways to Sunday. Jason Heyward signed for 8/$184.......Machado at 8/$240 is low but fair Look if the Sox get him at 7/$200 nobody will complain but the sport is then obviously going in a direction that will not benefit us as fans or the MLBPA This isn't like buying an undervalued house because the market crashed this is GM's crashing a market. Guaranteeing a salary cap and floor in the next negotiation.

If the big market teams are not touching the luxury tax it is Harper and Machado....the Phillies and the White Sox If the Olney tweet is correct, I am guessing the White Sox were around $250M at their original meetings with each and are now dropping their offers and planting or at least not refuting this stuff to prove that the market is not there for either guy. If the Yankees, Dodgers, cubs and Nationals are really out of the picture, there is no market for teams looking to spend $175M+

I think the Sox have a strong and fair offer that is 10's of millions below what both agents want. These mystery teams will check in and check right out. The hope is that some team will get anxious or be able to move enough money to open a spot, Teams will jump in at $180-$200M but teams looking to spend to $250M+ are not coming out of thin air but the agents and players are hoping for this to happen. This era of GM's not giving 35+ year players $35M/per is new but these two agents/players are hoping for a break in the sensible actions. The old baseball Hawkeroo GM is not employed any longer and the agents are now realizing it. The NBA is star driven, the NFL is QB/pass rush driven....in the MLB you start 1 of 5 games, bat 4 times a game or pitch 1 inning every other day so your impact is rather diluted and the Ivy league guys have figured this out while the baseball guys used to just spend and spend to fill spots. These guys are worth $35M a year but not for more then 8 years and that is the cold reality.

So Jim Boylen is guaranteeing the Bulls a legitimate shot at Zion, that is all we can ask for. Do the Bulls then trade that shot at Zion for Anthony Davis?

I think the whole process boils down to this......no team has given either player an offer that they feel is fair and the agents are sitting around hoping some GM/owner gets desperate and stupid as spring training draws near. That was kind of what happened last year with Martinez but he ended up with a $110M deal and earned it but history did not dictate he'd put up career highs in WAR and OPS at age 30 but maybe his move to DH was actually good for him.....and hitting behind Betts..... Sadly if this has not ended by now I think it goes until mid-February and somebody cracks and drops a large offer then the Sox will need to decide a course of action.

Andujar is not keeping the Yankees from signing Machado. At this time they have Tulo, DJ and Torres until Didi comes back. It is a nice story to fill air time but makes no sense. The Yanks may sign Machado but getting Kluber and moving Andujar is not going to be the reason why.

Think they trade him?

JR told Scottie Pippen he was going to regret the contract he was about to sign when he signed it and boy did Scottie ever.....

I have heard Lerner and Middleton more throughout this process than Rizzo and MacPhail or other front office guys from those teams. I was under the assumption that he was lock step with the Hahn and Williams on this the whole way through.

You state the obvious. He was never going to sign with the White Sox for a reasonable contract and we decided to move on instead of being used as a pawn to drive up the price fro the predetermined final suitor. We felt it was best for our fanbase to understand we made every attempt to sign the player but it was just not going to happen. I don't know if that is a better situation or not but if either player lost out because of it I'd be fine.

Agree with that sentiment as well.

Greg, Hawk is the guest speaker at the St Catherine smoker...well it's called sports night now a days....for this year if you are around.

If he gets a contract greater than Stanton's $325M I am fine with the White Sox taking a pass. If either or both sign for under $275M total then the Sox look cheap to me. From $275-$325M I am not certain how I would feel.

That is the only take I can get from leaking this to 4 different reporters after there was little to no activity on this for weeks. Now all of a sudden we get the 4 leaks from the White Sox all stating the same thing, The feeling I am getting is this is the logjam. Not the AAV but the years.

It's not that they are negotiating it's that it appears to now be a way of laying the groundwork for failing to sign Machado because they refuse to go more than 7 years.

So I guess it is safe to assume the White Sox are not going over 7 years.

I agree

The Sox aren't denying the amount just the years. So is it safe to assume the contract is 7/$245M

I'm kind of lost as to why everyone feels the need to keep leaking this information.

If you want to look at it that way. I took it as Cody didn't help himself...........and he feels bad that the Hunt situation happened but is not condoning it nor looking to give him a second chance. .