caulfield12

At least Nick Madrigal is confident. Maybe he can take over Merkin’s job of tamping down expectations. Madrigal needs to toe the line here. https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/white-sox-prospect-nick-madrigal-ready-for-19/c-302684730 "Toward the end, my body was pretty beat up like everyone else," Madrigal told MLB.com before joining his friends and teammates on a White Sox Minor League trip to the Dominican Republic departing on Monday. "You go through a long season and you are going to have little kinks and stuff. "Once I got the time off and got back in the weight room, it was nice to get back in there. I enjoy preparing for the season and taking ground balls, hitting, weight room. I love doing that stuff. Once I got the break I needed, I was ready to get back into it. I don't need any more time off." There's very little worry on Madrigal's part as to what level he will begin at in 2019 or whether he's at second or shortstop, taking ground balls at both spots as he prepares while working with his dad. He's more focused on getting back with his friends and playing White Sox baseball. "They are the core group of players and know we are the ones who are going to change it with the people they are bringing in," Madrigal said. "Everyone knows [the White Sox] have a plan, and we are not afraid to talk about it. "We know that something hopefully soon is coming and it's all exciting. Not one person in the organization is questioning it or what's going to happen here. It's exciting to see what happens."

Merkin is really acting like it was honor just to be in the conversation for MM, lol. See last two paragraphs. CHICAGO -- The White Sox seven-year offer to free-agent infielder Manny Machado has not changed, a source confirmed to MLB.com on Monday. On Sunday, reports swirled that the Sox had upped their offer to Machado to eight years. There also were reports that the Phillies -- after meeting with Bryce Harper and his wife in Las Vegas on Saturday -- had become favorites to land the outfielder. If the Phillies were to land Harper, would that mean the White Sox had a clear shot at Machado? Is there really a mystery team interested in either of those stars, as has been reported? Might the Sox be being leveraged for a better deal elsewhere? After USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported on Sunday that the Phillies were the favorite for Harper, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported that the White Sox had moved to an eight-year offer to Machado. Hector Gomez of Z101 Digital in the Dominican Republic placed that offer at $250 million. Nightengale tweeted later on Sunday that the White Sox had not moved off their seven-year-offer, and that was confirmed on Monday by a source. So what does this all mean for the White Sox? There's little question the team has serious interest in both Machado and Harper. Although the White Sox begin their third season of their ongoing rebuild, they targeted this offseason as a time to be aggressive and opportunistic with a pair of premium 26-year-old talents available and the payroll flexibility to match that desire. That assessment represents no afront to the White Sox, but it is a team coming off 195 losses over the last two rebuilding years. Even in a less-than-stellar American League Central, Chicago is likely a year away from contending. Many people outside of the White Sox organization considered this team a long shot to sign either Machado or Harper as the offseason began. But the club has sold these players on its plethora of burgeoning young talent, not to mention serving as the face of the franchise in a major media market. https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/white-sox-in-running-to-land-manny-machado/c-302716226

You realize he was 19, right? He just turned 20 two weeks ago. Moncada was a full two years older in 2016, his AA season.

More likely Mike Moustakas at the rate things are going...

Even at 5-9”, if a team can spread the field and get him out in the open, he won’t have nearly as many problems seeing over his OL. He’s not the typical drop back passer, but he does have a very strong and accurate arm...he big concern I would have is him getting banged up exposing him to so many running situations. With OU, he developed an excellent knack for when to go sliding or out of bounds, so he didnt take many huge hits at all. As long as the team adjusts the offense for his skill set, he should be fine. He’s not quite as fast as Michael Vick, but he’s 10x the passer. Those are the most important assets, both accuracy and strength of arm. The other thing is he sat so long behind Mayfield...he really loves being the leader of the team, and he also fared pretty well against Alabama’s NFL linemen for 3/4ths of that game, plus their best WR in Marquise Brown was not even close to 100%.

Almost Wednesday in China...does that help? Someone said Hahn wasn’t even in the country right now?

https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-spt-bulls-robin-lopez-chippy-practice-20190114-story.html Now Dunn and Lopez are getting chippy with each other...

They already have negotiated a five year extension with Comcast/NBC Chicago...through 2024. 1)The White Sox are confident in the rebuild and believe the deal should be worth a lot more revisiting it again in five years. 2)Comcast isn’t 100% confident in the rebuild and wants to wait another five years before committing to a $1-2 billion deal over a 15-20 year timeframe. 3)The White Sox and Comcast worked out some type of “incentivized deal” where the rights would go up considerably in those years due to signing $100+ million contracts with multiple players who have 3-5 year opt-outs...but the deal would basically remain the same were none of those players to actually sign with the Sox.

That would be a novel approach...blame the leaks and social media information/misinformation for poisoning negotiations. In the end, the net effect of all this stuff we’re constantly speculating about can’t possibly be more than +/- 3-5% in any direction at any given time. Fernando Tatis, III ha sido el mejor novato que se ha visto LIDOM en los últimos 10 años? Has Fernando Tatis, III been the best rookie that you have seen in the Dominican Winter League in the past 10 years? 36% I don’t believe so. 64% Without a doubt! 845 votes. Question at Hector Gomez’s Twitter account.

He was a precursor to Peter Bourjos (he was technically on our roster for days)...or Juan Pierre, not sure which.

He put up the lightest high batting average in the history of modern baseball in 2007.

Eduardo Escobar, and most assuredly NOT Andy Gonzalez, lol

Bob Nightengale "Phillies' stupid money is going to be more than enough to overcome White Sox homefield advantage of Alonso, Jay and only 7 guaranteed years. Phils currently offering 8, willing to to 9 or even 10 before moving on to Harper negotiations."

Or better yet, the old KW bromide. "Even without Manny Machado or Bryce Harper, we feel extremely confident that the rest of the league is just putting themselves in a better position to compete with the Chicago White Sox, especially after all of playoff-experienced veteran leaders were added to the best young core in the game today."

I think everyone needs to watch GREEN BOOK, lol...we are in a different world, theoretically.

When we have just as many fans for Sox game threads in August and September as the last month (who are interested in Machado and Harper on a daily basis)...then the White Sox front office will actually be succeeding.

The list of players we've finished 2nd or 3rd on over the last two decades would be longer than I have time to write in a day (even when we're having semester finals in China).

Well, obviously if you're going to 10 or 20 games or more from Rockford, that's impressive dedication. You actually go to 81 games per year and drive 1 1/2 hours each way?

That's pretty much the MAIN reason to have hope...it just sounds so ludicrous and embarrassing if it doesn't work out.

Well, it really doesn't matter because JR is NEVER in a million years going to say that. Do you think if we miss on both Machado and Harper that he's going to make a similar statement as the Phillies' owner heading into next offseason? Then I've got some of Greg's Lawrence/Topeka/Johnson County (KS) houses to sell you at a discounted rate you won't be able to turn down.

All the fans who show up at times like these...I almost never see them on a daily basis in the game threads. If the signing doesn't work out, they simply disappear back into the woodwork. Heck, if the front office could see they have as many page views as 1/4th of their season attendance, they would recognize the appetite and need for the fanbase to have SOMETHING to believe in.

If the White Sox owner promised fans they would spent "stupid money," then we wouldn't be having this same conversation. Not only that, but it's pretty clear the first White Sox official offer was well below expected market value. So we certainly know they will be beating that, so it's back to them to respond in a way where Machado is convinced not to keep going back and forth for weeks.

If they know that they can't sign Nola long-term and are also freeing up money by trading their 3B to the Padres...it at least makes some degree of sense.

It's very very SIMPLE. If the Sox want to shut up all their fans and provide no excuses...then they have to SHOW THE MONEY. Otherwise, we can be glass half full or half empty all we want. When you go over 20+ years without making a move like this...something that happens once a generation, what can realistically be expected?

It's better to be realistic/pragmatic as a White Sox fan than to be hopelessly optimistic and have your heart torn out again and again. If you were a Sox fan in the 1970's and 1980's, this feeling would be quite easy to identify with.