Chicago White Sox

For those debating what raBBit said, here is the tweet: And Balta, he did not say the same thing about this past Wednesday.

Perhaps, but I continue to take any positive insider info to mean the organization feels its in a good spot to land one of these guys based on their assessment of the market and knowing they still have plenty of room to go up with their bids. I honestly believe when Machado finally picks a team, it’s going to come so fast (because someone caved and changed their ask / offer) that our insiders won’t be privy to that in time to share in advance of it leaking through the national insiders.

But what momentum was actually building? I think we’re all confusing the addition of Jay and some random tweets from insiders to suggest things were actually moving when in reality I don’t think that’s probably not the case. To me, it really seems like it’s been the same stand-still for weeks, except now the Yankees are out and we’ved added another one of Manny’s friends. Those are good things, but not indicative of any momentum. Nothing really going to change in that respect until one side finally blinks.

With the additions of Colome & Herrera along with picking up Jones’ option, the Sox are absolutely loaded with potential bullpen arms. Those three guys and Fry are guranteed spots and should make up the back-end of the pen. That leaves three or four spots for the following guys (an asterisk demotes said player is out of options). Who do you think wins those last few spots? Aaron Bummer, LHP Caleb Frare, LHP Manny Banuelos, LHP* Ian Hamilton, RHP Dylan Covey, RHP Juan Minaya, RHP* Ryan Burr, RHP Jose Ruiz, RHP Carson Fulmer, RHP Thyago Vieira, RHP Jordan Stephens, RHP Randall Delgado, RHP (NRI) Zack Burdi, RHP (NRI) Out of this group, I think Hamilton is the closest thing to a lock. I also think at least one of Bummer or Frare makes it as the second lefty. After that, I think it comes down to one or two of Covey, Banuelos, & Minaya. My official predication at this time would be Hamilton, Frare, & Banuelos, with Covey as the 8th man if they go that route. I think Minaya gets dealt in spring training if the back-end guys stay healthy.

@NotHahn where you at son? Stop eating cake and post some updates!

We have no choice but to believe.

NotHahn needs to fake a deuce and slip into the bathroom so he can post the goods.

No doubt, but that’s only one trade and I specially mentioned that one in my post. What other bad trades had he made?

What are these questionable trades?

Oh shit, is that why NotHahn is connecting with his source?

I love it!

Aiken got them Bergman bro, who just put a 7.6 win season (god I really wanted him for Sale). That’s a gigantic fucking win for them and you trying to suggest otherwise is manipulation at it’s finest. Passing on Bryant was a huge miss and there is no doubting that. But other than the Gomez deal, have there really been any other deals that were legit bad? Luhnow literally has stolen a ton of quality players (Marwin, Devinski, Alvarez, etc.), drafted incredibly well, and build a strong LatAm pipeline. I stand by my statement they’ve hit on the vast majority of their moves. The same applies for the Cubs. They literally hit on almost every draft pick for an extended period of time, made an absolute killing in LatAm (Eloy & Torres in the same class...holy fuck), built a championship rotation with zero in-house guys, made numerous trades in which they were the clear winner, and added several high end free agents that played integral roles in winning a World Series. Of course they had some misses (Heyward, Jackson, etc.) but again the vast majority of their moves worked. Look at most teams draft, trade, and free agency histories and they’d be FAR worst. The Cubs & Astros have been without question amongst the elite in terms of talent evaluation. You are kidding yourself if you suggest otherwise, unless you are fixated on an arbitrary percentage I threw out there.

WTF bro.

Awesome thanks! Hopefully NotHahn provides those rumors in real time!

Apparently Hahn mentioned to our old friend Bruce Levine that they’d like to add another starting pitcher and hinted that right now Banuelos could be the favorite for the #5 spot. Assuming they want to address this via free agency, below are the highest ranked starters per MLBTradeRumors: 04) Keuchel - 4/$82K (QO) 27) Gonzalez - 2/$24M 39) Holland - 2/$15M 42) Miley - 2/$12M 49) Santana - 1/$6M 50) Pomeranz - 1/$6M Any of these guys of interest? I think Pomeranz on a cheap one-year deal makes a ton of sense regardless of what we do with the whales. If we do add a whale (or two), I might be able to convince myself to add Gio instead, even if it requires a two year commitment.

Really need Chili or NotHahn to provide us with an actual rumor or hope some smoke comes out of this Philles-Harper meeting.

I just don’t see why it matters what these other clubs did. The Royals had to suck for a decade to amass the talent they did. The Cubs & Astros basically hit on 90% of their moves, which is not a realistic expectation. And the Cubs still spent a ton of money on Heyward, Zobrist, Lester, Lackey, etc. We need to do what’s best for us right now, not what has worked for other teams in the past.

Yup, and the part I love about adding both is you suddenly have a ton of expendable pieces. We could build a nasty package to acquire a cost-controlled TOR and still maintain plenty of prospect depth. It advances the rebuild quickly without jeapordizing it’s long term viability. Just makes too much sense IMO.

I think the reality is we’ll never be able to win a bidding war for Trout. He’s so damn good that every major spender with sufficient payroll space will be in the mix. I have no doubt the Yankees and many others already have their eye on the 2020/2021 offseason. Knowing that Mookie Betts could be the consolation prize provides even more incentive to wait if you’re already a 90+ win team with no gaping holes. Their markets are going to be crazy and I just don’t see us winning those sweepstakes. We’re also very lucky that Harper and Machado both have their warts. Bryce due to his health, inconsistencies, & defensive concerns & Manny because of potential characters flaw. The fact there are only a couple teams in the mix for these guys is absolutely bonkers, but speaks volume to the desire of teams to spend $300M or more on these guys. If this year’s market isn’t the definition of “right time right place” for us then I don’t know what is because both of these guys fill huge needs for us (impact 3B & face of franchise star) and are the perfect age to fit our projected window. We can potentially add 11 WAR / year (for the next 4 or 5 years) for around $70M annually, which is basically paying $7M per win. That’s a fucking steal in this day & age, especially when you consider the premium we should be paying for all that WAR coming out of two spots. Trout may provide even better value over the first few years of his deal, but who really cares if we can’t land him. Instead, let’s take advantage of this year’s market and add two 26 year old whales while we actually can.

Gotcha, just shocked by that number and didn’t see anything in his twitter feed.

Where did he say this?

Alright, I just powered through 30 pages or so of this shit and am now convinced the Machado sweepstakes are nearing an end. The Yankees are officially out at the same time a mystery team conveniently enters the fray. I don’t care what anyone says, this is a two horse race between us and the Phillies. Also, I still maintain that 8/$280M is the magic number. Give Machado at least 8 years and a record breaking AAV (Balta - I’ve had a bit too many White Claws so check my math) and I think he signs. And like raBBit said, I trully believe this ends by Wednesday if not sooner. Unlike Harper, Machado is not going to be a game changer off the field which is greatly restricting the size of his market. With the Phillies meeting with Harper tomorrow, now is the time for the Sox and Machado’s camp to get this thing done and I really think it happens soon. But the fun doesn’t stop there. I actually believe Jon Morosi wasn’t kidding when he said the Sox might be interesting in Machado & Harper months ago. Despite my pivot towards Manny in the past week, there is zero doubt in my mind that Harper is the player this franchise truly needs. And I 100% believe that our ownership group & front office also agree with that sediment, especially with a new TV deal in which they own an even larger stake in and which relies solely on White Sox baseball for a big chunk of the year. No longer can they cake off those fat Cubs ratings during the summer and their partners aren’t exactly providing riveting products at the moment. NBCSportsChicago needs a star and as talented as Manny Machado is he simply doesn’t fit the billing. Now, the question is can the Sox actually pull off two whales? I posted some numbers in the “Harper + Machado?” thread that IMO proves it’s most definitely possible to sign both of them and still field a quality team. To me, it all comes down to whether or not there is another team out there that is going to do something stupid. If someone is prepared to go 10/$400M, then we simply have no chance after adding Machado. But what teams are there? This Nationals talk is complete BS IMO. This is the same ownership group that has killed multiple trades over money, including a Robertson trade involving us. All of sudden they’re going to blow the luxury tax out of water and enter unprecedented territory as a three time offender? No way that fucking happens and they are nothing more than a name mystery team. Who else does that leave? The Yankees have already said they’re out. he Dodgers just don’t make sense to me. He’s not a great fit based on their current needs, they can’t realize the full value of the intangibles he brings to the table, and the contract he’ll demand certainly doesn’t fit Friedman’s MO. The Cubs? Yeah fucking right. I’ve been screaming all winter they don’t have the budget to pull this off and that they’d need to move significant salary (i.e. Heyward) to pull this off and that’s not happening. Maybe some teams like the Padres & Braves are poking around, but I do not see either prepared to go 10 years AND $300M+. So after eliminating all the other rumored teams, I truly believe the Phillies are the only real threat for him. They are a tough read for me, but I do question if they’d go 10 years for Bryce. I just view a MacPhail led organization to be somewhat conservative and based on the fact they were outbid for Corbin after some tough talk I have reason to be skeptical. Honestly, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Phillies capped out at 8/$280M for Harper. If so, that would allow the Sox to jump in with something around 10/$330M and provide Boras with the record breaking contract that will be needed to get him to say yes. It also allows Machado retain his record breaking deal, which should keep both guys happy. Look, I’m not making any guarantees here, but I don’t think the stop pursuing Harper if they land Machado and I honestly believe the stars have aligned so perfectly that we have a legit chance to pull off something that would be nearly impossible any other offseason. I truly believe both whales is a legit possibly. Feel free to flame away!!

Today has got to be the day. Machado’s agent doesn’t want to risk losing the Phillies to Harper, because then their market is suddenly the Sox and a “on our terms only” Yankees. While the Phillies signing him tomorrow is incredibly unlikely, it’s within the realm of possibility they find a rough framework that creates optimism and causes them to shift their efforts to Harper. Even that would be bad news for the Machado. It really is time for Machado’s camp to put their cards on the table and say “first one to x” wins the race. They really can’t afford to dick around much longer.

Playing three guys out of position just seems crazy to me. I really don’t believe the SS issue is really even a thing.

Lol...no one is picking a team based on how interesting the other teams in their league are.