GREEDY

I haven't played poker in a few years but if I had a read on Yonder this was a done deal, not a maybe but a done deal and to be ready for a surprise announcement. I expect the losers that like to take stabs at breaking news will run with this any minute. Someone the level of Duarte or Dan Clark will report he is being unveiled tomorrow soon.

Hawk called me once and after we chatted my rep got on the phone and said "hawk had to go" I interrupted her with a "He gone" and she was laughing so hard and I heard Hawk say it in the background.

Google: Pot Kettle Black and stop @ing me

If you watch the video all the way to end, Yonder starts talking about "surprises".

Dude is one of the greatest baseball players on the planet and all he gets to do is answer questions about the dude who is boning his sister.

Cheer up. They've hired two young, seemingly forward thinking hitting coaches this offseason. Someone also ran an update on Coop's Ipad so hopefully he can get back on the world wide webs soon.

It is ironic because raBBit has been accused of guessing in the past and he was accusing Chilli of guessing. The irony has nothing to do with Machado.

Not sure if this pertains to Joc or even to catcher framing: The Dodgers had multiple high speed cameras on every practice pitching mound at Camelback. The Sox had zero.

Right, and Ross from Friends is insinuating he thinks Chilli is guessing. Which is kind of ironic to begin with.

Is this sarcasm saying he is taking a shot again or are you saying he was right insinuating he had a deal two weeks ago?

You guys realize that this is going to go down as "JoeyDoughnuts" broke the Machado news.

https://www.mlb.com/video/hot-stove-rick-hahn/c-2520857783

The Central was the worst division in baseball when the rebuild started. It was the worst division last offseason. It is still the worst division. This team took ZERO steps forward last season. It is fine if fans are getting antsy and want to watch a competitive team, that is fine, many would say that is how fans should be at all times, but just admit that.

You can trade that backlog for players that have more than 2 years control remaining. Hahn said no stop-gaps. Proceeds to trade for and signs 6 stop-gaps and counting.

Petition for everyone here to disclose in their signature if they think it is important the Sox win 75 games this year as opposed to 65. I think that would help eliminate half of the arguments here. There are folks that care about the product they have to watch this season. There are also folks that think the team needs to take a step fowward before it can leap into contention. Then there are folks that only care about the window (which didn't get ANY closer after this time last year). Not saying who is right or wrong (the people who think they can win in 19 or maybe even 20 are wrong).

Joc to Cleveland is twice the fit he is here in Chicago. Maybe them being our rivals explains the interest and the churning of the rumor mill?

I mean there is a ton of smoke on Joc right now so I'm surely wrong but I don't think that them adding Pollock means he is 100% expendable.

I think it has more to do with the opt-outs they are likely demanding. I don't know if it is even quantifiable how valuable a 4 year opt-out for Harpchado could be on a 10yr+ 300+ million dollar deal. It is the Heyward deal times two. The opt-out essentially makes the deal "you can have me for 4 years 120 million, but if I underperform you automatically owe me another 180 million".

Won't either Kike or Taylor play 2B? You can't count them both as OF then.

Are you saying they have to use the prospects they get from a Joc trade to help facilitate a Realmuto trade?

I know it has been reported that they are shopping Pederson but I don't know that this is a slam dunk unless the Dodgers just want to hand Verdugo a job. If you look at their depth chart they now have Pollock in CF, Bellinger in RF and then a nice Kike/Joc platoon in LF.

I can see why Pollock might have signed this deal. Same total money that most predicted for him. Gets to play in LA. Gets to compete for titles. Likely won't even be able to walk by the time the extra year he has to give them comes around.

Wonder what all these guys have against stairs or elevators?

I hope what Middleton meant by "stupid money" was that he was going to overpay McCutchen by double, because that was stupid.

I know it is easy to look at a list of remaining free agent starters and demand one, but wouldn't it be much wiser for the Sox to give this opportunity to players with control remaining? Especially, if they aren't certain if they are getting Machado (and another OF)? If for some reason they find themselves in the hunt, pitchers that are comparable to the ones being mentioned are available for free. You just have to pay the remainder of their 1 year contract. You send back a young player no one has heard of that has a 500-1 chance of ever making the bigs (save face for the selling team) and you get the veteran starter in June or July. Not to mention you will likely be able to choose a pitcher who is in good form. Right now it is kind of a crapshoot. It is too bad there isn't a list of the Randall Delgado/Dylan Covey types that might be available. If there was I think this would be a much more popular sentiment around here. One of the positives to a complete rebuild is the opportunity to give a second chance to players and hopefully hit on someone that will help your club in the future.