Chicago White Sox

It would be devastating. And in all reality, we should be prepared to bid significantly higher than them to prevent it from happening.

Well the good news is they probably like Chicago food and boatloads of money.

The Cubs have no chance bro. Their ownership literally had to sell equity to support their debt load. Those trust fund kids don’t have endless pockets.

There is realistically no amount of money that would cause me to flip sides. I want a god damn whale.

Lol...right? I mean I was expecting the Phillies to be aggressive, but to come out and say they plan to be “stupid” is kind of a kick to the balls TBH. That being said, we just got to hope Jerry’s old age causes him to do something dumb as well.

Our #1 goal this offseason should be to land a whale. Therefore, we should not do anything that helps the Phillies or Yankees improve their chances. Now, if we fail to land a whale and the Phillies would give up a young player to absorb Santana’s contract, I’d be totally open for that, but I think they’d much rather just eat $10M and call it a day.

God damn Phillies. Hopefully they land Machado and then use the rest of their money on pitching.

Where are you getting these numbers from? MLB teams were splitting about $1.5B/year in national TV money before this Fox re-up. That’s $50M/year per club and it just increased. I have no idea what our local TV revenue currently is, but we were getting $450K/game on CSN, so I’d wager close to $40M. I’d say right now all in, we’re around $100M in media revenue alone. Hopefully that increases with our next TV deal, but no idea how you came up with a $50M to $75M increase due to Harper alone.

I just can’t see which teams would actually spend $400M on Harper other than us & the Phillies. No one in the AL Central other than us. The Yankees & Red Sox out, so no one in the AL East. I don’t see any of the AL West teams spending that kind of money. The NL East has the Phillies & Nationals, but I see Washington spreading that money around to fill multiple holes. I don’t see the Braves as a legit option either. The only team in the NL Central is maybe the Cardinals, but Machado would be the better fit. That leaves the NL West and adding a $400M contract goes against everything Friedman stands for. And outside of LAD, none of those teams appear to be legitimate options. So in summary, the market for Harper really comes down to the Phillies, White Sox, Nationals, & maybe the Cardinals. I think we have a real shot there.

I’ve been a huge fan of Grandal for years, but now just doesn’t seem like the right time to sign him.

Sorry Ofman, but the Sox aren’t giving up their 2nd round pick for an over 30 year old catcher.

100% agree with this. He’s just got to carry over the momentum to the regular season now.

And Robert has a 16.5% K rate against much more advanced competition, seems like a pretty positive development if you ask me.

Lol...have you ever posted something positive about one of our players?

I’d put Harper’s odds at: Phillies = 50% White Sox = 30% Field = 20% I’d put Machado’s odds at: Phillies = 40% Yankees = 30% White Sox = 20% Field = 10%

Harper just looks like a natural fit in a Sox uniform. At this point, I’m hoping the Phillies prioritize Machado and leave us as the favorites for Bryce. Outside of Philly, I’m not sure there is a bigger threat to sign him than us.

Are we seriously defining stars by which guys perform in dancing competitions post retirement?

David Ross?

We should be able to produce a $150M payroll with ease after all this national TV money.

I don’t disagree with that statement, but that has more to do with Abreu being a low profile star than being a member of the White Sox IMO. I think Machado would have much stronger endorsement earning potential on the Sox than the Yankees. I think the national media will use Manny Machado as the face for all their White Sox coverage. He can honestly own Chicago (at least the south side) if he brings the Sox back to the playoffs. I guess I see a difference between marketability and being famous. There is value being the name associated with a major league baseball club.

Other than the first item, I’m not sure the rest of this is true. The Sox can offer as much money as anyone. As for marketability, being the face of the Chicago White Sox is probably better for him than just being another Yankee. The biggest concern outside of the win now factor is the rumor he simply wants to be a Yankee. If he’s determined to play there, then there isn’t much we can do win the sweepstakes.

I may be in the minority, but I like me some Farmer. Glad he’s doing ok.

I didn’t bring up the comment, I’m just denying that it was taken out of context because that isn’t true. I’ve said plenty of dumb things on this board, but I’m not going to outright deny them if called out. That’s the risk you take when putting an option on the internet.

I guess I don’t see why the strategies are mutually exclusive. Adding bridge guys shouldn’t prevent us from adding a whale and there are only so many spots we can give to veterans anyway. For example, if I can add Harper, I’d like to see the following: Donaldson, 3B - 2/$40M Cruz, DH - 1/$13M Lynn - 2/$25M Pomeranz - 1/$8M Allen - 1/$10M We’d have to non-tender Avi and trade Yolmer to get the payroll around $140M, but that team would have a playoff caliber offense with a high variance pitching staff that could be interesting if enough things went right. If not, all those guys would be tradable and/or potentially part of the 2020 team. What I don’t want to do is sign guys like Corbin, Keuchel, & Pollack to big, multi-year contracts that could easily blow up in our face. Keep things short term, especially on the pitching side, and I’m all for spending to improve the 2019 product and give us a non-zero chance at a playoff spot.

They’re not accepting those deals, not unless they come with another 5 to 6 years (with opt-outs) to serve as an insurance policy. Now is not the time to be afraid to pay market (or above) for a star.