Jose Abreu

I think it would be a complementary move to a Machado or Harper

That's what I meant (to your first thought). In the event that Cleveland sells, we do indeed land one of Machado/Harper, but it would still leave Abreu at 1B, Eloy in LF, and Cruz/Palka at DH

The division, in the event that Cleveland sells and we land a big fish

I would put this in the catch-all but I can't find it

As they should be. Would be a huge short-term upgrade over Palka if we're really going for it next year.

The link provided shows that he was awful at both positions

I'm not "turning him away" but his defense is WAY worse than mediocre. https://sportsinfosolutionsblog.com/2018/09/20/why-does-bryce-harper-have-25-defensive-runs-saved/

I can't wait for Anderson and Moncada to be benched for no reason while guys who actually aren't hustling get rewarded. I would be fine with his system if he were consistent, but he tends to bench his better players for crimes that are far less egregious than what the rest of the team does.

He doesn't usually talk like this, interesting. His comments like this generally are more hypothetical and future-oriented rather than being in the present.

I love Harper but signing one of the worst defensive RF in baseball does not solidify RF long-term. It does, however, solidify 1B/DH long-term.

Hutchison needs more minutes, Parker needs fewer. And LaVine needs to stop being so passive early in games.

Cowboys/Titans tonight and Giants/49ers last night. The Monday Night Football game selection crew really treated us! And even if Jimmy were healthy, 49ers/Giants would still be a bad MNF matchup.

In which Morosi estimates a 30% probability of the Sox landing one of Harper/Machado

Is there a video or link to this anywhere?

Can’t tell if he’s excited or if he thinks Machado is a SS

FWIW I believe Eloy is already mostly playing LF in the minors. I don't think he's an MLB right fielder.

That's fair, I can see the argument for that and it would limit us to an extent. I just disagree with your original idea that we'd have no long-term flexibility if we signed both. It cannot be stressed enough how few long-term commitments the team has right now. I'm sure this is all moot anyway as the chances of signing both are less than 1%.

This is pretty far from the truth

My point is that we don't need to push that threshold like some seem to think

It's a correct assumption... payroll currently projects at 50-60 mil, so adding both in this hypothetical leads to 130 or so. Obviously arbitration salaries will increase over time, but probably not to the extent that we'll have no long term flexibility.

This isn't really true, our payroll would be around $130 million, still about $70 million below the luxury tax for now. Even with increasing arbitration salaries, I don't think it would be hampering

Harper is the better offensive player, yes. But Machado's defense at 3B is nothing short of elite- he's firmly in the Arenado/Chapman tier over there. The slight difference in their offensive prowess is outweighed, in my opinion, by their stark differences defensively. This is all assuming Machado is playing 3B.