MiddleCoastBias

I think it's only fair to be noted that 2+ years of that list we weren't even pretending to compete. We took a look on a lot of lotto ticket guys in recent years, but that's no defense of those early swings and misses.

And we need to forward this thread to at least ten people in the next 24 hours or be cursed with bad luck forever. Can't run the risk, you guys.

Yesterday my girlfriend took a photo of the two of us, and in the reflection of my glasses you can clearly see I'm holding my phone with Soxtalk's page open.

"if"? IF?? What happened to WHEN, Dan?

The answer to that was that it would make the Phillies drive up the price for Harper if they knew we were in on both. But that raises the better question - if we know that would drive up the price on Harper, why the hell would Harper and Boras want to keep this quiet? Facts is facts - this has to be bullshit.

He may not be as direct with his certainty, but Hector sure seems to latch onto any Machado/Sox nugget and have a "hey look at this *wink wink*" comment on it. I get the impression that he's really hooked into the idea that Machado is going to the Sox and everything he tweets about is a soft effort to say "look at my info, I'm right".

I'm curious, has anyone seen if Yankees fans are giving Hector the same treatment that we have Dan Clark?

No one likes a show-off.

Is this separate from the locker photo from yesterday? I don't have instagram so I depend on screengrabs here.

I've got cub friends that retweet Charles as gospel and truly believe they're getting Harper. They're getting all riled up like it's only a matter of time. My schadenfreude is strong on this one. I say keep it going, Mr. Cat!

col·ly·wob·bles /ˈkälēˌwäb(ə)lz/ noun INFORMAL•HUMOROUS stomach pain or queasiness. "an attack of collywobbles" intense anxiety or nervousness, especially with stomach queasiness. "such organizations give him the collywobbles"

Absolutely - I like that his line "a team with stupid $ (plus others)" is a barely-veiled code for "Phillies (plus others)".

Other side of the coin says the White Sox have had so few marketable players in recent years that Majestic just stopped making jerseys for us.

*wakes up* *see two pages of haikus* *goes back to bed forever*

That whole Machado/Red Sox episode was something. I was at the Sale game at Fenway in the CF bleachers wearing my Sox stuff, laughing my ass off when Sale gave up the dinger. The Orioles and Red Sox have (not-so)-quietly had some real bad blood brewing in recent years (Adam Jones dealing with jackwagon fans, Machado & Pedroia are just a couple), and I do believe it's primarily coming from the Boston side of things.

The Reds seem to have a glut of skilled infield prospects that can be moved for upgrades elsewhere. With Senzel at the #5 overall prospect looking to be penciled in at 3B, seems like India is a great trade piece. I imagine we'll be doing something similar with our outfield prospects once they're all hitting the show around the same time.

I think it could be a matter of perspective - I'd imagine New York fans are probably saying the Sox are just being used to up the price for the Yankees. They think they're bigger and better than us so they think we can't be serious. We think we're bigger and better than the Reds and Padres and so we think THEY can't be serious.

Because according to Soxtalk's understanding of how timezones work, it's still yesterday in Los Angeles and they won't be waking up until around when the first event begins this afternoon.

Keep the presidential debates in the 'buster, please.

Maybe ESPN will even remember us!

People talking about how Machado or Harper might reject all offers and take a 1-year contract to maximize their money next year should remember what Ian Desmond did with the Nationals. Has a huge year, declines a 7/$107M contract extension because he thinks he's worth more, than craters out and never gets anywhere near the contract that he could've. Not to say Machado and Harper will fall off and not be worth money, but it's MIGHTY risky to eschew big contracts now for the chance of a big(ger) contract tomorrow. They would be betting on sustained production and health, and gambling that next year's market will be more favorable - no guarantees.

You'll be back. They always come back.

I want to make sure we have Manny locked up before we trade for Joc. If a Joc/Hill trade frees up space for the Dodgers to make a run at Harper, thereby giving the Phillies more competition, I want to make sure the Phillies can't backtrack and make a bigger push for Machado.

I feel like this fake mystery team can let everyone save face - -White Sox have to 'up their bid' to beat this so-called mystery team (aka the $170M initial bid gets bumped up to say $250M where we may have always intended to sign him) -Lozano gets a 'win' by being able to say he brought more bidders in and was able to drive the price up for his agent -national media guys can all say their numbers were right *at one point* but the mystery team changed things