caulfield12

This whole idea of magical presentations winning over players/agents....well, it might have worked with Luis Robert, but it still comes down to opening the checkbook.

Or the Theranos board meeting before the WSJ story hit...

What are the odds he could possibly know ahead of time what will happen with Harper, when they could get Machado in for a physical...and signing press conference, it’s not the type of thing anyone but Reinsdorf, the front office and shareholders will know until the final hours if everything comes together quickly.

This whole thing about waiting until Wednesday seems completely arbitrary though...more of an in-joke about how many big Sox moves have gone down on that day in recent years. That said, it will fit the one week timeline of the Gomez news.

As a married guy, I think I’ll settle for a whale...or even a whale-tail at this point. Something.

Well, if the Phillies somehow manage to get both guys...we can ship them all of our newly-acquired vets for more Tier B/C prospects. Maybe notHahn works for Dan Clark Sports, lol. How would anyone know?

So much for the two whales theory. Just kidding. But I think any reasonable White Sox fan would be happy with just one. Of course, since it’s like noon in Las Vegas, not sure how anyone would know much about the Boras/Harper meeting with the Phils.

He might want to start a GoFundMe...

The real question of today is whether the Phillies can afford to wait two more years on Trout...passing on Machado and Harper. Realistically, If you go back to the Royals/Cubs/Astros, they weren’t even close to paying $7 million per WAR (other than Lester or Shields), the majority of their numbers came from internal development, international signings and trades. That said, the White Sox might not have a choice, especially with the Kopech injury. That ROI on two whales seems “fine” as an evaluative number in isolation....but that also means $160-175 million as a payroll in 2021-22-23. I guess we have to believe it when we actually see it.

If the Phillies didn’t think it would matter...then why do it? If Machado doesn’t end up with the White Sox, obviously that coach won’t be the main reason...on the other hand, the Phillies also aren’t spending $13 million on one of the most reputable infield coaches in the business. If you count keeping Castillo around over Narvaez and Smith, that’s approximately $20 million invested in Machado’s comfort level, versus $200-250,000.

In a positive or negative way? End of negotiations/bidding or end of the world, lol?

Except the Phillies have also countered with Dickerson, the infield coach for the Orioles who was let go at the end of the season. Looks like the playing field is basically even at this point, just comes down to the best offer. The Phillies can’t afford to lose Machado if they get the feeling today in Vegas that Harper is just a pipe dream and using them to bring other bids out.

Well, the obvious point is their presence alone hasn’t been enough to guarantee post-season success for either player. Harper boosts ratings and ticket/merchandise sales, but they still need to get over that 78-82 win range along the way...unless they’re trying to do it in one fell swoop despite the absence of Kopech and likely Cease (at the MLB level) for most of this season.

https://thatballsouttahere.com/2019/01/09/phillies-rumor-manny-machado-race-two-teams/ If the race is down to the Phillies and White Sox, Philadelphia is likely to offer the most money, though they haven’t offered the $300 million deal many predicted, according to reports. Should Machado chose the Phillies, expect a deal to get done involving Maikel Franco, potentially to the San Diego Padres. They’ve had a long-standing interest in him, and they’re reportedly on standby with Mike Moustakas. Philadelphia also has a meeting with Bryce Harper in Las Vegas on Saturday. It’s hard to imagine the Phillies making a trip to Vegas if they know Machado is in their back pocket, and signing both players is very unlikely. https://thatballsouttahere.com/2019/01/09/phillies-machado-decision-next-week/ While a decision may be coming soon, it’s still unclear who has the lead in the bidding. Levine reported that momentum is building for the White Sox. On the other hand, Philadelphia is preparing another offer for Machado, which should get closer to his reported asking price of $300 million. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com also reported that the Phils are ramping up their efforts for Machado. Levine pointed out that Philadelphia is likely willing to go 10 years for Machado, several more years than the White Sox are willing to. He also noted that Machado is receiving offers between $25 and $28 million annually. At that annual salary, no one will reach his $300 million asking price.

I think once Machado is eliminated and sets the market, and let’s assume you’re right and it’s under $300 million... Then you have to start thinking about all those other teams who need to jolt their fanbases back to life. So you can start with the Reds and Padres, and go from there. The Padres have a very similar situation to ours...but they’ll also need to maintain financial flexibility for their young core players starting in that 2021-2024 window. Possibly having $60-75 million per year (let’s assume the worst case scenario, you have two Heyward’s where you’re saddled with contracts long-term after 3 or 4 year opt-outs expire), it’s pretty much going to limit you to keeping only one guy out of the list of Moncada, Jimenez, Kopech, Cease, Robert or even the upcoming #3 pick from June, 2019. IF IF IF the new broadcasting rights deal locked in a huge bump up in payments for 15-20 years, then you could withstand those two whale contracts...but if most of the minor league pieces fizzle and you’re left with Heyward/Darvish albatross deals four years from now, you’re really going to be screwed trying to get out of that mess...and looking at lower broadcasting revenues locked in down the road if everything blows up. The logical thing to do here is assume you’re going to have one or two Bryant’s and Baez’s that you want to lock-in long term, homegrown players that fans have invested their interest in for a significant amount of time and energy (jerseys/merchandising, etc.) before either player reaches free agency. Those players like Jimenez and Moncada are integral to the long-term viability of this franchise. And it’s also a pretty strong bet that mystery team on Harper most certainly will be out there in the $320-340 million range, rather than a deal closer to $400-500 million that was previously speculated on months ago before the whole offseason began. You can take the White Sox and the field...I’ll take Cincy, StL, Washington, SD, Atlanta, LAD, Cubs and Angels (they realize Trout won’t stay) and Giants (no franchise player to identify with after Bumgarner and Posey). That gives you the White Sox and 20 other teams for Harper against my nine. Sounds like pretty even odds. And I left you the Yankees and Red Sox. And the most important argument of all, one of those deals alone will be almost four times the largest contract in White Sox history. Now, JR...is suddenly going to change his lifetime character and authorize 8-10x that amount of risk on two players? I don’t think so. Older investors usually become more conservative with time, and look to preserve what they have for themselves and their children. Let’s call it risk mitigation. I could buy two players like Machado and Harper if the t.v. monies were guaranteed 15-20 years into the future, but it’s only five. While KW might say go for it, I don’t think that move gets approved...and most front offices would rather spend $500 million on Trout than $600-650 million on Harper/Machado. It’s just that we know the odds of getting Trout are not in our favor, so the time to act is now or next offseason. And that’s the final factor, the front office and shareholders want to see one more year of the rebuild progressing before committing all their eggs to just two baskets.

At this rate, we can read all of Faulkner’s major works and still not miss anything of significance...

Unfortunately, at the time of Shakespeare and Marlowe, there were no orange Gatorade buckets...perhaps we can start rewriting the modern-day version. Or do it up all Great Gatsby style as a musical.

Claudius or Hamlet? Anderson can be Horatio. Boras/Lozano as Polonius, depending on who we’re more upset with by the time this is all resolved.

Wasn’t Mitchell the MVP of the CWS for LSU? Or was that Todd Walker? Highly doubt there’s much correlation to results there and professional success...to the point where one month of scouting I’ll supersede years of scouting. Larnach seems pretty similar to Max Kepler in terms of upside. Not the kind of guy you draft #3/4 in the first round.

The NL Central and AL Central would almost be diametrically opposed if Harper went to the Reds. Just goes to show how fleeting a competitive window can be, no matter how promising things looked back in 2016 for the Cubs. Still hard to believe Harper would actually go there, though. Other than KC/Cle/Mil, you’re talking about one of the smallest media markets in the league. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2016/10/19/reds-fox-sports-ohio-extend-partnership-through-2032/92418972/ That said, the Reds signed their own new broadcasting rights deal after 2017, going all the way through 2032.

They have Nola for just three more years, better make them count...that’s another reason why waiting for Trout to play for them in 2021 makes less sense. Also doubt they will try to upstage the Eagles’ playoff game, but who knows. Signing Harper might be the only thing that would outrank that for Philly sports fans.

Probably have to start out as an intern in the marketing/sales department. Or volunteer in community relations with Christine O’Reilly, something like that...or Bulls/Sox camp.

How would anyone know anything about Harper/Phillies at this point tomorrow? Until it’s clear Boras is leaving Philly without a deal signed, nothing is likely to happen quickly with the Machado camp, unless the Sox are worried someone will significantly jump their current “relatively low” (based on offseason projections in Oct) offer to Lozano and “steal” him away...

Laclede’ s

Nobody cares about Dag, unless they are the same ones who care about Tim Berners-Lee. Highly significant/consequential, but not necessarily famous. You can make arguments for Larsen and Baxter, but Indiana is a basketball state, and everything else is secondary. If you say New Castle twenty years from now, the Alfords will still come up.