Chicago White Sox

I envy you right now. Have to decide if it’s worth getting less than six hours of sleep on the off-chance something breaks tonight. Giving it another 30 minutes at least.

Tomorrow is 15 whole minutes away, I want this shit today bro!

Yup, that’s exactly it. I did see the second tweet, but let’s be honest guys, Merkin isn’t sending out that first tweet at 11pm at night if there isn’t some serious smoke.

Why does that sound like something has already happened and he knows??

Stagger without a doubt if it’s possible.

Passan + Gomez = serious fucking heat. I’m starting to believe this goes down tomorrow and believe 8/$280M will be the final number when all said & done.

Every team has two former top 5 overall prospects under the age of 24 in their lineup?

Need legit breakouts from two of Rodon/Lopez/Giolito plus #3 & #4 type performances from Gio & Nova respectively. I know Balta thinks you need four Cy Young finalists to make the playoffs, but look at the Brewers last year. A strong lineup and bullpen can help make up for that. Machado & Pollock could be poor man version’s of Yelich & Cain for us. Still a long-shot we make the playoffs, but I’d be rolling the dice on that roster next year knowing I still have a boatload or prospects arriving in the coming years.

We ain’t trading with the Indians on a deal of that magnitude.

4th OF.

If he comes dirt cheap the fuck not?

Pollack, CF Moncada, 2B Machado, 3B Abreu, DH Jimenez, LF Alonso, 1B Castillo, C Palka, RF Anderson That could be a pretty fucking good lineup, although if you add Machado & Pollack, it’s hard to imagine rolling with Palka in RF.

Some douche from Boston apparently.

Good call, or maybe they want the Phillies to know they’re not fucking around when it comes to Machado.

I’m hoping they still go for Harper, but was mostly kidding about the other two. But if they want to compete next year and are willing to spend $180M that’s probably what it’s going to take.

Why Wade Miley? I’m not overly familiar with him, but man that strikeout rate last year was ugly AF. Would probably rather have Pomeranz.

Harper, Keuchel, Ottavino.

I think it would be a huge mistake for Machado to wait on Harper. I just don’t see what the upside is for him there.

I think so. IMO, Machado’s camp wants to get this done before one of the two teams moves to Harper. And it really seems like Philadelphia is getting ready to shift to Harper.

Tell him he can have 8/$280M (the AAV record) or 9/$300M (the sexy number) and get this thing done tomorrow.

Yup, this is very positive news. Glad to hear we’re at 8 years now because that hopefully means we’re one step closer to resolution.

That would totally work for me, although I agree it creates conflicts of interest.

Oh gotcha. That to me would be risky, because all it takes is one more crazy contract after Trout & Betts and we could be looking at some reallly ugly years at the end of the deal. At least with the Belle framework, the club has some level of control.

That’s kind of how Albert Belle’s contract worked. Basically gave him the right to opt-out if not one of the three highest paid players. I’d be game for something that for sure (after year 3) although I’d probably want it to be top 5 given Trout & Harper at minimum could surpass it in a couple of years.

It definitely would be preferred by Machado’s camp, but if I’m the Sox I’m pushing for after year 4. And if that’s a no go, I’m definitely trying for some sort of mechanism that allows for it. For example, I’d offer up a condition that allows the club to push back the opt-out a year at some point in the future, but requires we add additional guaranteed year to the end of the deal if exercised.