iamshack

Yeah, I still think it would be a long shot. And that is indeed a LOT of money. Franchise value would see significant gains by signing both players, including increases in revenues as well as relevance.

So you’re saying...?

If I told you there was a 6% chance the White Sox would sign Harper AND Machado 6 months ago, would you have believed me? To your other point, I actually put the White Sox as favorites to land each player individually. That likely drives the odds above 6%.

Nats are on Harper.

He wouldn’t even be flying commercial. He’d be on a private jet

I’m not interested in rehashing our opinions on the last 10-15 years, but if you have reached the conclusion that KW isn’t willing to be ultra aggressive in shaping the big league club, I don’t know what team you’ve been watching. Additionally, this Club and this FO is in a position of unparalleled flexibility. They won’t throw that away on players that don’t significantly move the needle, but they will absolutely take risks on those that do.

Remember who remains the Executive VP of the White Sox.

Good observation.

Oh absolutely...although they will all say they saw it coming because the Sox have the $ and the farm system. To be fair, we have seen a pretty significant shift from where we were just entering the offseason, but still...considering we should probably be in the top 2 or 3 for both players, it’s pretty obnoxious how much of an afterthought we still are.

Yeah, the real question is do they have interest still at $330m or so, despite the Corbin signing? I have to believe Rizzo and Lerner discussed this possibility before deciding on Corbin. What they decided is anyone’s guess.

It’s senseless to put any stock in these national shows. This is about ratings for them. White Sox interest doesn’t particularly drive ratings.

Boras appears to be waiting on Machado to sign first, actually. I initially thought this would be a risk if the Sox were to sign Machado, particularly if Harper was disinterested in Philly. That may have changed, however, with their meeting with the Nats before Christmas. This presents a nice fallback option for Harper. Additionally, Boras and Co may be under the impression that a White Sox signing of Machado would not eliminate their interest in Harper. They seem to be willing to take the risk of having their market shrunk for the benefit of being able to build off of whatever Machado’s number ends of being.

I wouldn’t be so sure...

Rosenthal is speaking generally. I know he specifically says Lozano is barely engaging teams, but there was definitely some activity yesterday. Whether that was directly with the agent or internally amongst the club(s), there was definitely activity.

That would just be a Ken Rosenthal/Jeff Passan thread.

Heyman also knows the Sox are important to Boras.

Reports that the Sox are willing to offer 10 years. Reports that the Phillies and Nats are meeting or have met with Harper. Followed by reports stating that the Sox won’t go over 7 years. Doesn’t take too much to realize that agents are trying to bolster the market, while the Sox are trying to mitigate the bidding. Leads one to believe that the Sox have offers that agents might be trying to drive up.

What happened today was exactly what one might expect to happen if the White Sox were right in the middle of these things

I don’t mind what he’s saying because I get that there are reasons for saying certain things. My problem is evidenced by your conclusion - it’s basically impossible to reconcile what he’s actually saying. I suspect the winning offers will be lower than anticipated. What I don’t believe is that the deals will be for less than 8 years, minimum, and more likely to be 10. If one of these guys signs a 7 year deal, you are basically signing him to a 3-4 year deal with insurance in the case that some catastrophic injury or massive drop off in performance occurs.

No, he’s making shit up as he goes

Gonna take a LOT more than that, if they would even consider it. I know they had Senzel in the OF, but who knows with Puig and Kemp now.

He also doesn’t mention anything about the terms of the deal. He obviously doesn’t know details.

I would have thought making them stay there would be a great advantage.

I would totally do that if the Yankees weren’t offering me what I was worth...:)

That doesn’t help them from a tax perspective.