Chicago White Sox

Lol...the TV deal was not impacted by the potential of a Machado deal and the few tickets that were sold as a result were completely offset by the sheer anger & resentment created amongst the fanbase due to the miss.

Gives the impression the Sox are trying? The only impression Sox fans have of management when it comes to free agents is we always come in second place. And somehow, you actually think putting on some great big spectacle but with the intentions of coming in second place would help their image. Please don’t try getting a job in public relations, because you clearly don’t get how this shit works.

(1) without question because he made that exact offer in hopes of landing him?

What in the world do you think this PR stunt was supposed to accomplish?

It’s one of the craziest takes I have ever seen on this site.

What in the world are you talking about? Take off the tin foil hat and read what you’re actually writing. It’s complete utter nonsense. This wasn’t a PR stunt as missing out on Manny completely blew up in their faces. The fanbase is still enraged about this and even skeptical than ever before (for god’s sake read your posts). They simply botched the process and refused to go the distance with years 9 & 10.

What do you mean by “debasing your franchise”?

No offense man, but you sound legit nuts here. The Sox front office is not actively engaging in some conspiracy against their fanbase. The Sox did not add Alonso & Jay to trick you and other fans into thinking they were pursuing marque free agents when they really weren’t. They added those two because they honesty thought it would help them land Machado. And they really wanted to sign Manny and legit made a $250M offer to him. They ultimately lost out and failed because they wouldn’t guarantee years 9 & 10. Rip them all you like for that because it’s idiotic they thought 8/$250M would get it done, but please stop with the conspiracy angles.

Are you actually suggesting the 8/$250M offer with vesting options for years 9 & 10 based on plate appearances and other incentives that could have pushed it up to $350M in total value is a lie that both baseball insiders and our front office have conjured up to “improve their standing their fan base”?

I mean, they just offered an 8/$250M contract last contract. The evidence is pretty concrete Jerry is willing to commit over $150M to a single player. The real question is he willing to step outside his comfort zone risk-wise and actually pay market for said player. We lost out on Machado because Jerry was afraid to pay a potentially unproductive Machado $30M/per in years 9 & 10 of said deal and demanded options, not because of the lucrativeness of the first eight years of the offer.

I’m all for making a serious pursuit of Cole, but all insurance covers for is extensive time missed. If Cole were to get injured and then never be the same or simply rapidly deteriorates with age, we’d be on the hook and totally fucked. It’s a risk I think is worth taking, but a big risk nonetheless.

Well put, just doesn’t make any sense.

I think it’s pretty clear at this point Cole is not happening as much as we’d all love to see it.

Childish Cubs/White Sox thing? I just think it would completely idiotic to trade anything of value (let alone Bummer & Lopez) for two years of Kyle Schwarber when someone like Corey Dickerson or Mike Moustakas can be had for just cash. He simply isn’t that good.

But they’re not 27!?! Therefore, we better trade our best reliever and a two win starter for the BABE!!!

Schwarber may be the most overrated player in all of baseball. I’m shocked at how many Sox fans are infatuated with him for whatever reason.

Why trade for one of those three guys when Wheeler is just as good / better and will only cost a draft pick?

He’s missed a ton of time though. Next year will be huge for him and he really needs to make some progress in the swing & miss department.

Pretty sure the initial beef between us and Boras was the Bobby Seay situation.

Honestly, I’m betting Herrera has the better season in 2020. He was actually pretty good down the stretch.

Well yeah, that would be totally fine (depending on the health of Ozuna’s arm) but need to make sure land one or two high impact players.

His BABIP against was .215, he got very lucky last year and his K rate is trending in the wrong direction.

Not seeing it in there, but hopefully he’s just speculating. Honestly, I don’t see why the front office would actually share that information unless they’re planning to negotiate through the media again and I really hope they learned their lesson after last offseason’s failures.

Not doubting you, but where did he say this? I’m just ying to understand the context.

Really? I haven’t seen any speculation on our payroll, but if $110M is the target (which is less than what our payroll would have been last year with Machado), then the rebuild is going to fail because Jerry isn’t serious about winning.