Jose Abreu

Don't know if you saw but I PM'd

The source was a guy who claims to know a close friend of Harper. I initially wrote it off as BS but looked into it some more and found that the guy actually knows the people he claims to know. That's as specific as I can be

FWIW I have reason to believe that the source Peavy44 posted earlier is actually legitimate, in the sense that he would indeed be able to hear rumors and whatnot from Harper's camp

If the Sox do love their chances at signing him, then perhaps we have some sort of framework that Bryce/Boras have already expressed some interest in. Maybe it's the Albert Belle top 3 paid player no matter what thing

As long as it’s not Engel, it’s fine with me

In that scenario, Cutch would play CF. I couldn't think of a better mid-range option (Pollock isn't mid-range). If we sign Bryce, I'd be surprised if we then give Engel 100+ games in center next year.

I would imagine signing Harper would also lead to a chain reaction of Nelson Cruz, Andrew McCutchen, etc. type signings too

If we go into 2019 with no notable free agents and having sold off vets for (presumably) weak returns, I'd be perfectly fine with somebody other than Hahn being the one to answer questions at Soxfest, and this is coming from one of the bigger Hahn supporters here

Because he would be our best offensive player and can be had for pretty cheap (in terms of trade value)

This is exactly what I was going to post. While luck is a major factor in BABIP, oftentimes, better hitters just have better BABIPs (consistently, over multi-year periods). I think a more effective method would be to look at quality of contact, hard hit percentage, line drive percentage, relative to soft hit percentage, pop up percentage, etc. coming up with a function and finding a way to factor that in. Doing that might help normalize some of the problems you outlined such as overrating low BABIP guys like Gallo

Agreed, I've never seen Lauri so adamant about hoisting up shots. And that's a good thing, because he's good enough to justify that mindset.

I'd be pissed if I were a Phillies fan. The owner pretty much flat out lied to them, unless they did outbid the Nats and Corbin declined anyway

The same Bob who reported that Corbin signed with the Yankees a month ago

The Phillies will not be outbid!!!!!!

I agree with this. The White Sox were a better second half team than the Phillies by record, for example, so the idea that they're some lock for the playoffs and we're stagnant in last place is just flat-out wrong. And while they have plenty of money to spend, we have more of it. Not to mention Chicago > Philadelphia. Obviously, it's unknown whether we're actually going to spend the money, but it sure is there

The White Sox signing Machado, McCutchen, and Corbin yet still trotting out Adam Engel as the every day center fielder would be a travesty

It sounds like that's exactly what happened

The same reason they're trying to trade Swarzak right after acquiring him

I don't see why that's so bad. Would people rather have him be fired via text or phone call?

Tomorrow, to be exact

The report from Jay Glazer this morning said he was "good enough to play"

By starting Daniel over a (reportedly) healthy Trubisky, the Bears pretty much were signaling that they were fine losing that game. I warned earlier in the week that it was a bad move but most were underrating the Giants. Now the Bears have very little room for error.