Chicago White Sox

Less than 20 hours would be new information, unless the January 2nd deadline was based on Tokyo time.

Yeah, let me go call Scott and see if he can provide me some examples.

Well that sucks, although there wasn’t really anything tying him to us. That being said, I hope this is for a ton of money.

We wouldn’t keep getting fake rumors if they didn’t work. And I have no idea why the A-Rod sweepstakes years ago have any relevance when social media doesn’t exist like it did today. Things change with technology / time.

Exactly, it’s sketchy as fuck, but if it gets another $25M out of us or the Phillies it could be the most profitable follow in the history of social media.

I totally get being pessimistic, but there are a bunch of posters here that are acting like Hudson from Aliens anytime something Machado/NYY related comes out even if it’s from a questionable source.

It’s ringing some bells now ?

Come on fathom, you know that’s not happening.

This is the first thing that actually suggests there may be some “writing on the wall”, but I’m not giving up hope yet just over this.

This is the best post on this site in a long time!

I will say this, you’d think his agent would tell him not do anything revealing on social media until they’ve got something signed, sealed, & delivered. So either something is in the “finalizing” stages or they’ve stepped their plant game to another level.

I love how everyone jumps ship the moment anything negative happens.

Yup, it doesn’t mean he’s signing with the Yankees but far more concerning than Dan Clark’s report and the rumors from the random New York “insiders”.

Yup, completely serious.

What’s the Players Tribune?

Yeah, no idea what to make of this.

Troll account...no need to fret.

To Rick’s credit, he may have only been GM in name those first few years. Not that saying should give him a free press, but I think it’s clear he’s much more responsible for the direction of the club now than when he was first given the title. For better or worse we’re stuck with him and I think he deserves at least another year or two before a chance is even considered. That being said, I fully expect some major leaps from Moncada, Lopez, etc. next year or I feel like Rick must go. Hahn has refused to make changes to the coaching staff despite underperformance from the entire first wave of talent and as such he should go down with the ship if those guys don’t make significant progress next year.

I think Dombrowski through out the idea of having a deadline for moves being done (say Dec 31) and then rosters would be frozen until opening day. As for why this is happening, I think not having caps & floors is part of it, but also the group think effect of almost all GMs valuing players in similar fashions and more willing to wait out agents for most of the over 30’s guys.

I really think we all need to wait and see where the whales land before we start shredding Hahn to pieces. Rick & KW have had several years to plan these pursuits and in the next 30 days or so we’ll know if they were successful in their efforts. Also, reading through the Yankees Reddit site is making me much more optimistic about our chances with Machado. This post in particular about Leyritz really made me feel better: All this “smoke”, with the possible exception of Dan Clark, seems like complete BS and/or rumor riding. Even some Yankees fans are speculating these are blatant plants by Machado’s agent to cause us or the Phillies to bid against themselves. I’m going to remain cautiously optimistic until a legit insider tells me I should feel otherwise.

The problem is Harper doesn’t really impact their attendance or TV ratings that much, so the Cubs would be paying for on-field production. Harper as a five win player may be worth $40M/year, but if it costs them Schwarber & Almora (or Contreras & Happ) does that really make them better? I would consider any gain there to be marginal at best and now they’ve lost significant depth & financial flexibility. I just don’t see how Harper makes any sense for them when they have far more obvious holes like in the bullpen. To me, the Cubs are nothing more than a Boogyman Scott Boras has created for us to up our offer.

If he’s planning to opt-out after so many years, he’ll likely want a front-loaded contract. And like Shack said, back-loading doesn’t help the Cubs from a luxury tax perspective. They really need to move a bad contract or two to make the financials work.

Well that I can agree with, but that also applies the “win now” aspect those teams provide as well. Regardless, we can’t allow the money to be similar if we want to land these guys.

You can not compare the NBA & MLB when it comes to endorsement opportunities & potential as they are completely different monsters. NBA stars make significantly more money from endorsements than MLB stars. Additionally, Lebron wanted to be in L.A. for reasons beyond just wearing a Lakers jersey. And I’m not suggesting there would no impact from being in New York or LA, I’m just saying it wouldn’t be material for baseball players. Kris Bryant makes roughly $1M/year from his Adidas deal. How much more would he realistically make playing for the Dodgers or Yankees or less playing for the Sox? Again, it’s just not a ton of money we’re talking bout here.