Special K

Yes, I mean, as laypersons, we have easily flagged all the reasons this deal was subpar. For the Sox to come out and claim their deal was superior, it's just straight lying to our faces. But i guess they're trying to fool the masses, which, unfortunately is probably what they accomplished with all their mouthpieces in the media.

The incentives were not easily attainable. He had to have 550 plate appearances in each of his last two seasons for each final $25 million year to kick in. The way the Sox play games, they would’ve sat him if they didn’t want to pay that money. No doubt. He took a guaranteed $50 million. Can’t blame the guy and I would advise my client the same. It’s $50 million dollars.

While the Cubs will miss those guys, they’ll be just fine. They’ve went to the playoffs 4 straight years and the NLCS 3 out of 4. The cubs will have money again. Free Agents want to play for the Cubs. Harper wanted to go there, cubs just wouldn’t spend. Sox on the other hand may not recover from this. Theyre the laughing stock of not only their own city but all of baseball. I seriously think they may not recover from this. The fans are done. It may lead to them moving which could be best. Get this team away from the Reinsdorfs. They find it more profitable to run garbage out their which is very perverse for sports in general that that is a good business method. Both teams Reinsdorf runs are just absolute trash and yet he turns a handsome profit. Time to boycott. I’m done with the bulls, but it may be time for the Sox too until they get new ownership. Seriously ask yourselves, if Bulls didn’t luck into Jordan, where is Reinsdorf as an owner for these two teams. Sox have been to the playoffs twice in 15 years (never back to back) and it will likely be another 3-4 years if all goes “well” with the rebuild, which believe me, it isn’t. We have Eloy as the only bright spot.

If you google Hahn, his profile sums him up perfectly, “Since his promotion before the 2013 season, his teams have a 419–553 record and no postseason appearances.” more than 100 games below .500 and never even sniffing a playoff appearance and were not close to competing. We won’t be competing next year either. the only fact missing from his profile is “Embarrassingly traded for and signed Machado’s brother in law and friend in an attempt to pay him $50 million less than his market value and ironically spent that same amount of money in that offseason on sub-par players.”

Frankly, if they weren’t 100% sure they were going to sign -Machado, I’m confused why they made any moves that would add to the payroll like they did whether it be through trades or signing FAs. It makes no sense. None of the moves they made are going to move the needle one iota and it’s a complete waste of cash. It just shows how inept this FO truly is. None of them are business savvy and none of the are baseball savvy. I’ll just assume any money spent is likely a much needed excuse for the FO as to why they won’t be able to spend in the future.

Yes - they blew an opportunity of a lifetime. For rebuilds to work, you need to develop players just right and add the right FA talent. This was the perfect FA talent for a position that’s been an absolute black hole for the past decade. Not to mention a premier middle order of the bat. What a shame.

I have absolutely no faith guys will live up to expectations. Aside from bombing miserably in the FA market, this FO has an unusual knack for drafting terribly and being unable to develop players. Even the Sale trade - one of the most valuable assets in all of baseball over the last 10 years given talent and contract - is looking like a bomb. Kopech did get hurt, but Moncada hasn’t shown me anything. There’s a reason Boston let him go. Most FOs outfox our FO.

Honest question. With the Sox having missed out on Machado after trading for his brother in law and signing his best friend - two moves that just look horrible now - is this organization the biggest laughing stock in baseball? I think it has to be. What player would ever want to come play for this team? We’re not a desirable location, and were the second team in our city. Plus, aside from the Padres, what team has been worse than the Sox over the past two decades in terms of competitiveness? I can’t think of anyone.

So we’ve now traded away a hall of famer in his prime (Sale) for nothing of substance (nobody has produced thus far), and passed on signing another hall of famer in his prime at a very reasonable price. This is the stuff dynasties are made of. Honestly, if Reindsorf didn’t luck into Jordan and Pippen, he may be the worst owner in professional sports.

They lost out on what will be their best chance in likely what will end up being their past chance to sign a premier free agent in the past 50 years. All of the stars aligned for the Sox to sign Machado and they still lost because their offer was mediocre at best - they were $50 million less than the next highest bid. So yeah, Sox front office is trash and deserves to be ridiculed. Just wait til they try to make it up to the fans with garbage tier 2 and 3 FAs next year and likely trading for some bad contracts.

If the Sox couldn’t sign a future hall of famer in his absolute prime years when the market is probably as depressed as it will ever be with none of the big boys involved, they will never NEVER be players for real free agents nor will this organization ever be consistently competitive. They might get lucky like they did in 2005, but never perennial contenders. Manny is a top 3 player in the game, and they couldn’t even offer him a deal that most consider to be reasonable. Not even an overpay. Sad day for the fans.

I may become a Padres fan. Going to be awesome watching Manny and Tatis in a lineup soon. But hey... we got Jay, Alonso and Shields.

I said a long time ago, pay the man his money. Many economists on this board said that was stupid and not how supply and demand works. How’s this for supply and demand - Padres have manny and we want him.

Wait a minute... why would we pay up now? I thought the consensus was that we should be shrewd negotiators and insist on a discount since no other suitors were out there? Why $300 when you can pay $200? Shouldve paid up a long time ago.... Sox have never been in a position to be shrewd in these negotiations. We’re not a desorable place to play...

All I can tell from this is that WSD seems like a good dude just giving his best information. Appreciate it. We all need to relax. Seems like we’re still in a great spot to land MM and we all have the right to go nuts if we don’t

Didn't follow what your sentence above. Can you please clarify?

Exactly. Jay and Alonso moves will be enough monstrosities if they don’t sign machado. Plus joc will be there.no need to pursue that until he signs. just pay the man his money. If they’re trying to get him on a bargain by waiting out (and I don’t know that to be the case) that’s just awful. Sox not in a position to play hardball. Others will swoop in. Give him his $325 or $350 and make it an ultimatum.

Your assumption is based on the belief that all buyers are equal. We are not a destination players want to go play at. We lost 100 games last year and are irrelevant in our own city. If the money is close, we will lose regardless of whether we have his brother-in-law. We have to outbid by a lot to win. It's not letting the market dictate. And if we don't have an open checkbook, why is our payroll at like $18 million next year.

That's exactly why the Sox should pay up. Every report we've seen suggests the max offer the Sox have made is $250... and even this number has been strongly contested and its been suggested the Sox offer is closer $175. Just pay the man his $300 and get it done. The difference in money saved is not even comparable to the difference his presence will make to our franchise and rebuild.

It's a bad thing. If nobody is showing strong interest but for the Sox, now is the time to pounce. They need to up the ante and get Manny while there is no competition. The fact that he remains unsigned simply tells me the Sox haven't made a lucrative enough offer to get him. The longer this drags on, the more likely it is a mystery team jumps in or he takes a shorter deal to play with the Yankees or some other better team. The Sox do not have room to "stand tough" in negotiations to try and get him on a bargain simply because no other team is interested. From Manny's eyes, the Sox are a terrible 100 loss team that is basically irrelevant in their own City. There's no rush to take a mediocre offer -- even if it's the best offer out there. If it turns out the Sox were only offering $200 million, the FO is a complete joke. That was never going to be enough for him -- just enough to say we were in contention. And we will have blown a major opportunity. All this other garbage about signing his friends will have been a bigger joke too.

Harper to Cubs picking up steam. Machado to Yanks also picking up lots of steam. HOWEVER, Sox apparently are firmly in the hunt for several declining overpaid veterans - Encarnacion being one of them.

If it were legal, those are the lengths to which I would go. Assuming the Sox were the highest bid and still can’t sign a big FA because of lack of desirability to play for us, then FO needs to think outside the box and be willing to do stuff like that if they really care about future of Team. Once you net one big FA, then that perception goes away. Alternatively, they better figure out how to develop superstars in house. Something they haven’t been able to do offensively since Frank Thomas (or maybe Magglio if he counts)?

If it would get him (Harper) to sign, I’d seriously offer him some kind of ownership interest contingent on him being a lifer with the Sox (with Sox right to buy it back or something). He’d be invested and likely recruit other players as well. It would be the best investment for this team ever it made them relevant again.

Exactly. A rebuild on the fly again. It would be trash. If we dont land ine one of the whales, I’ll be much happier with Hahn if we stand pat and don’t make a move and just stay the course of acquiring talent. Anything else would look like panic.

The Encarnacion rumors start to make a little more sense if this is true... But that would be a horrible move, a la 2014 Sox. Rebuilding with crap. And Yonder would also be garbage move too if this is the case