HeGetzUs

My question would be and this is my biggest concern about the Cubs sweeping him out from under us is.....would Harper agree to a backloaded contract though to give the Cubs flexibility to make the signing a possibility with opts outs starting say 3 years down the road so he can win now, play awhile with Bryant and still collect his big pay day at age 29-30 after trout re ups.

No I don’t think they would sign something significantly under market either, but what I was saying is if the contracts are relatively similar we don’t stand a chance.

Dude, we LITERALLY just witnessed this scenario play out 6 months ago with Lebron James, the most recognized basketball player in the NBA today. He went to LA not because he had a better chance to win but because it was best for his brand i.e. endorsements etc, and oh by the way Boras has already called Harper the Lebron of MLB. So once again, is your brand bigger on arguably one the most recognized sports franchises in the world, let alone MLB or with a team that is only second best in the same city?

It doesn’t take much to put two and two together on what a company would like as their spokesman, someone who is nationally known and one of the faces of one of the most historic franchises in baseball or someone from that other team in Chicago. The endorsement have as much to do with the Jersey they play for as it does the individual. Therefore, a company is more than likely to bring you in if you can essentially sell the product to the fan base it plays for.....big difference in national appeal. We get forgotten about in our own sport, let alone other companies that have zero to do with baseball.

Being the image of products, endorsements, opportunities, etc. Hands down he will get more opportunities being on the Cubs than he would with the Whitesox

I think people are underestimating the bigger picture for Harper. If the contracts sizes are anywhere close to one another (Sox, Cubs, and Nationals) Marketing alone, maybe not in Chicago it might not be a big difference opportunity wise but nationwide it will easily make up the difference in contract size by signing with the Cubs. Unlike the White Sox, the Cubs are set up to win now and have his best friend there on the roster.

Wasn’t he essentially playing the mentor roll with the rest of the staff last year? I don’t think it would be a terrible idea to bring him back and have him continue to do that and keep the seat warm for it and when the decide to bring up a Cease

I don’t believe you would have to worry about insulting our paying customers, if they lose out on both Machado and Harper I think that will top any James Shield signing, besides he’s a veteran who you could flip for a prospect possibly at the deadline as well. Besides a move like this is so whitesox it’s laughable

If we are continuing the tank, why not?

Love the optimism man but what about all of the other reports? You continue to take shots at Dan Clark but there has been others as well that have said he’s all but a done deal to NYY?

Damn.....just when I started to believe again ?

After reading more this morning I tend to be on this side of the fence. He was wrong about Markakis, JD Martinez and a Santana move as well. He seems to be just throwing the obvious at the wall hoping it sticks.

Cannot speak for shipps, but for myself I think the guy has a legit source, could be / probably is right, I just hope like hell the dude has been fed some bad info.

It’s simple, they executed their three year plan versus failing it. They wouldn’t be out of the woods just yet though because they need more than just one of these two, they need the continued development of their prospects to pan out for once.

So are you saying we offered the same or less than what the Yankees are?

Yes, I would have them rather sat out, used their time and efforts elsewhere rather than coming in second if they knew in advance they didn’t have the approval to throw the necessary money out to land him ahead of time. It was no secret Machado has love for the NYY and a record breaking offer was needed to sway him elsewhere.

That would be the only way I would trade for him is if you could do an agreement to sign and trade. I wouldn’t hope and pray for a Goldschmidt situation to where he could just walk the next offseason.

I believe it was said at this winter meeting by both Hahn and KW was that this wasn’t a thought up process over night, that they had been planning for this specific offseason/winter meeting for 3 years now and to strike out swinging while applaudable at trying, it just isn’t good enough when you come out saying that this plan was in motion for 3 years now.

Hopes of the front office getting shaken up is about as likely to happen as the Sox landing Mike Trout tomorrow. Reinsdorf does not do these type of things, hence why GarPax have been in charge for so long with the Bulls and why KW/Hahn has been there for so long for the Sox. If these were any other organization that actually cared about winning instead of making a dollar I would agree about the shake up, I just don’t see that changing here anytime soon

That would be nice as long as there is years of control behind the player, if it’s a trade that you only get one or two years of control and then they are a free agent that would be insane/bad, I don’t believe we are in a position to ship out the prospects required for a future core piece right now unfortunately

Yeah I think some people thought that if they didn’t land one of these two that the Sox were going to try and pull off a trade of some sort to land someone or anyone of any kind to help save face. This however would be a mistake in my eyes

Their plan B this whole time has been to stay the course in the rebuild.

Are you so sure the team that has notoriously been known to be stingy with money was really willing to sign him to a record breaking deal? Even if they did, being able to convince fans otherwise of this will be hard to do because of the continuous years of Reinsdorf not wanting to pay players. Ownership has used payroll for this team like it’s living in a small market city such as Oklahoma City.

See what fathom said above. There is no reason to leak it, they will be roasted in the meantime and lose all leverage in any trade they may or may not be working on.

If this dude knows, there is no way the teams haven’t been informed in one way or form. There just is 0 incentive on the Sox behalf to leak that to the media