Chicago White Sox

So based on Shack’s tweet, I’m assuming we hear he’s agreed to a contract with the Sox by tomorrow and a press conference takes place this Friday.

You’re probably right, but I simply don’t see that happening. If I were the Sox, I’d still happily do that but, I honestly think 10/$330M might just get this thing done.

100% agree. There is an ego element to this and giving the guy a sexy / record setting contract is more important than anything else (within reason). If I had to gues, Bryce wants 10/$326M at a minimum and will hold out until someone brings that to the table. Zero reason that team shouldn’t be us if we can stop playing games and just offer up straight guaranteed money.

Money is all that matters, let’s not pretend Harper cares about anything else at the moment.

I honestly have no idea how to interpret his tweet, but if he’s suggesting we’re in this then I trust him.

I’ve been saying this all offseason, but the Phillies front office is somewhat conservative. Yes they will spend and support a large payroll, but on an individual basis they come up with valuations and set their limits. If the Phillies are still below $300M, I’m 100% all in on the Sox getting him. Just offer 10/$310M (all guaranteed) and get this thing done.

Couple reactions from that article: I hate the idea of Steele Walker starting the season in low A; a 2nd round pick out of college who turns 23 in July and has a strong hit tool should start at High A if we want him on a normal timeline Pilkington sounds like a horrible 3rd round pick based on that write-up; no plus offerings and a limited chance a starting long-term; hopefully Matt’s assessment is closer to the mark and the Sox are expecting a return to form The infield should be loaded with interesting prospects; my guess is we see Zangari at 1B, Nunez at 2B, Sosa at SS, & Curbelo at 3B to start the season; I expect Bush to start in extended but to be called up at some point (likely after a Curbelo promotion) It’s too bad not one of the many J2 OF signings from the 2016 classe has hit the ground running and was able to snag one of these job; other than Walker the rest of the OFs are likely org filler; hopefully we see or two of those guys by 2020

Yup, pretty sad our front office blew it and that we’ll never have a six WAR player unless we develop our own. The rebuild’s best-case outcome is now reduced as a result of these misses.

Seems like the Harper derby will end this week. Assuming Bryce signs with someone else, I hope Hahn never again uses the terms “unprecedented financial flexibility” or “economic might” while pretending we’re actually going to pursue impact talent. Just be honest and tell us you plan on adding a boatload of past-their prime B tier free agents and that we can all expect to relive the glory that was the 2014/15 offseason.

Gotcha, misinterpreted what you guys were getting at.

I don’t think Moose was ever in the cards for us, it was Machado or bust in terms of 3B options.

If the Padres sign both guys, it will make Hahn, KW, & Jerry look like the biggest jokes ever. Machado was already bad enough, but getting Harper would have to be those guys’ personal nightmare. How can you even pretend your were serious when baby San Diego came in stole both of these guys from under you? Hopefully our front office & Jerry wake the fuck up and do what’s right for the franchise.

Who would these other teams be? Seems like Boras is going all in on multiple mystery teams.

I’m lower than most on Rutherford, but let’s give Lisle some time to actually work with him on adding loft. If he has beefed as was suggested at SoxFest, he’s already solved part of the power problem.

Obviously Boras is going to push for 10/$350M, but it’s not happening in this market IMO. Will be interesting to see how high the Phillies are willing to go if 10/$300M was above their comfort level for Machado.

I honestly believe there’s a non zero chance we get him, but that requires three things: Reinsdorf preferring Harper over Machado and open to a larger contract for him Jerry seeing all the bad press / outrage over the Manny miss and willing to go a bit bigger The Phillies having a strict valuation range and not comfortable going beyond it I truly believe #1 & #3 could be real things, just remain skeptical the Machado miss would have an impact on Jerry’s decision making. But honestly who the fuck knows. If the Padres could steal Machado from us, it’s possible we could steal Harper from the Phillies.

Any other billionaire owner with the smallest sense of dignity / ego would probably respond by making a fat offer to Harper right now. Not old man Reinsdorf, he’s probably smoking a cigar while reliving the glory days through his 2005 World Series box set.

In case Bryce hates Philly so much that he’s willing to give us a $50M discount? ?‍♂️

I still think something around 10/$300M could get this done, but cheap Uncle Jerry ain’t gonna pony up unfortunately.

I’ll keep saying it, but if these prices are beyond their comfort level there is simply no hope to ever land a stud free agent. How old is Reinsdorf again?

I went back and forth on that, but ultimately I think Alonso is a potentially useful player who is grossly overpaid whereas McCann is just bad. That being said, I should have probably given the Alsono move an F as well purely based on the logistics behind it.

Like I said, if they were going for it then I could totally see it happening. But even they know next year is a lost season (especially without Machado or Harper) and will want to give some playing time to younger guys.

We did that in our half-assed attempts at competing. Adding Span right now would be so fucking stupid and I don’t believe our front office would be that dumb. For better or worse, Jay is the veteran OF and there is simply no room for another one.

Here’s my honest assessment of each major move Hahn has made this offseason ranked from best to worst: Banuelos / B / The only true rebuilding move made this offseason; added a guy who is out of options but who our scouts identified as someone with upside; probably ends up being nothing but we have innings to give and he’s a better use of them than a lot of other guys Herrera / B / Like the idea of adding a back-end arm to a flippable contract; he probably gets more if not for his foot injury and we can afford to roll the dice on him given 2019 is a lost season Colome / B- / Similar to above, I like adding a back-end arm that can be flipped; this one I downgrade slightly because we could have signed someone similar for a little bit more money and traded Omar for something else Nova / C / An unexciting addition that adds some stability but very little upside; seems like Hahn misread the market and could have gotten a similar starter (with more risk but also more upside) for a little bit less in free agency Santana / C / In isolation it’s a perfectly fine move to add some pitching depth; I do have concerns they’ll just hand him the 5th starters job regardless of he looks in spring but I can’t preemptively downgrade the score for that Jay / C- / I’d give this a C+ if Manny would have signed, but without him it makes far less sense; given how bad our OF is he can still have a role and be a veteran influence Alonso / D / Don’t actually hate the player and think he has the ability to rebound to some extent, but he is way overpaid and we helped out a division rival to get him; without Manny the move looks plain stupid McCann / F / I literally hate this move with a passion as the player is is pure garbage; also the organization continues to show it does not value framing the least bit which is unfortunate with the pitching we’re trying to develop Overall it’s a pretty disappointing set of moves and all but the top three offer little to no long-term benefit. Obviously some of these were tied to Machado, but that doesn’t change the fact that a rebuilding team will be wasting money and playing time on a bunch of low upside guys on short-term deals. Hahn gets a big fat F for the overall offseason.

I totally get minor league deals have no downside, but this one just seems plain stupid. Like why the fuck do we need another shitty OF in camp? Just give the reps to fringe guys like Palka & Nicky who are already on the 40 man roster.