Chicago White Sox

When you leak information, you only control the message, not how it’s disseminated. The Sox don’t get to tell Levine where to go share this information. They simply want it out there somewhere and let happen organically at Bruce and others’ disposal. Again, I’m not arguing it’s effective. Personally I think it’s kind of dumb. But we were all there for the Machado negotiations and saw first hand both sides leaking stuff back & forth. And Boras uses leaks all the time. Just follow Jon Heyman’s Twitter account if you don’t believe me. Also, front office leaks aren’t always trying to mislead an agent, but oftentimes opposing front offices. Blind bidding processes aren’t easy and downplaying a need can theoretically help other teams feel like they are bidding against themselves.

Sure, but spending at the top of the market and giving two guys multi year deals (which only a handful of relievers received this offseason) is not the inefficiency.

All fair points…I just don’t think Conforto on a 4/$80M deal constitutes a huge contract. It may be big for us, but it’s not giant for most clubs.

No one wants you to leave Soxtalk, but when you make silly arguments you will be called out for them. Works that way for all of us.

Agents and front offices both negotiate through the media all the time. Are you actually suggesting otherwise? Whether it’s an effective strategy is an entirely different debate. And no, I don’t think Hahn leaked something to Bruce to specifically go on air today to get Scott Boras to pump his fist in the air. I think the Sox want it to appear throughout all media outlets that they are content with Andrew Vaughn as their primary RF and don’t need an expensive, multi-year upgrade. It’s really that simple. Also, I find it somewhat amusing that half the board now believes we are out on Conforto because fathom found two random accounts on Twitter that claim they have inside access to payroll budget. I love fathom and perhaps he’s ultimately right here, but right now this seems like Charles the Cat all over again with the Cubs signing Bryce Harper.

Then you better hope Jerry isn’t the owner by then, because no way he gives Giolito the contract you’re hoping for.

100% agree.

This is absolutely hilarious. You think Hahn is pursuing relief pitching because he thinks it’s a market inefficiency? ???. At least we finally found Rick Hahn’s Soxtalk account.

Is your argument let’s never sign expensive free agents because there is some chance they don’t work out?

Ray and Winkler is shit?

Your view on the farm system is very, very wrong. Most teams have a lot more players like the ones you cited above than we do.

Where?

Which is absolutely disgusting.

I think we need to accept the fact the Tainted Glove rumor was BS at this point.

Wouldn’t the default assumption be they were maintained if we didn’t hear anything about them?

Can’t take that challenge until another year as you’d be selling low. If Eloy has a monster year, his value will skyrocket from where it is now.

Just depends if they’re willing to go into the tax. They were a tax offender last season, but I believe there are additional penalties for being a multi-time defender which teams typically try to avoid.

Yeah, the possible need for Texas to go over slot in the next draft is something not discussed much, but was something Rangers’ beat writers & fans were discussing pretty confidently. I don’t see Texas giving up that bonus pool for Conforto when they can wait a year and avoid any QO impacts. At this point, I’m really struggling to see much of a market for Conforto. Obviously all I takes is one team to do something stupid, but Sox should be a decent position assuming they are still interested.

Why is a rebuilding team trading for Kimbrel?

I really don’t see how they need him more than us

Probably that dick Preller too.

So after reading through a Rangers message a bit, it really doesn’t seem like they are going to be a big player for Conforto. Most fans would rather wait until next offseason before adding anymore payroll of significance since they’re unlikely to compete this year. And several beat writers believe they are more or less done for the offseason, with Jamey Newberg of The Athletic specifically pointing out that the QO would be a deterrent to signing Conforto and fans also mentioning it would prevent them from being able to go over slot in the 1st round of next year’s draft given the picks they’ve already lost. Point is, there are some valid reasons why it doesn’t make sense for the Rangers to sign Conforto. I really think this comes down to the Sox and Padres. Will San Diego fuck us over for a third time? It’s possible, but hopefully Hahn can stop fucking around and land the left handed bat we desperately need.

You don’t have any idea what Hahn is asking for him right now. Let’s wait and see what kind of trade actually materializes before we keep making these declarations.

2019 + 2020 represent less than 60% of a regular season for him. And why start at 2018 and not 2017 when he posted a 1.42 FIP with Boston? And regardless, is the 3.13 FIP he posted in 2018 really “slightly above average”? For the millionth time you’re overreacting to one horrible partial season (~20 innings) in which he didn’t get a spring training. Yes, he is inconsistent, but he’s ranged between good and great in every single full season. He is much better than a “slightly above average reliever” even if he wasn’t one for the Sox over his two month stint with us.

“Slightly above average reliever” who posted the 6th best FIP amongst 144 qualified relievers and only 0.09 points below Liam Hendriks for 5th place.