SCCWS

Maybe the Russians

I am sure there are sleazy agents. But remember for an agent this is not a one and done. Teams are not going to get their info from the media. They are going to call the agent directly and get a feel or range where the bidding is. If Manny's agent tells Philly the White Sox offered $250 and they drop out and Manny signs for $175 that agent will have a hard time the next time he has a player up for a new contract. Agents want the most for their clients but I doubt they will lie as to actual offers they have. I am sure some of our posters have been involved in bidding in the workplace. There are ways to work the price up or down while maintaining your reputation.

Also if the Harper Vegas meeting went so well, he also would have signed. ,

I am waiting for the Manny to Japan rumor to start up................

Agree that 99% of the "news" is just opinions.

The way this process is going, some network is going to come in and ,make a reality TV show out of it. It has become a twitter soap opera. Tomorrow we will hear Harper goes back to Nats and Machado goes back to Dodgers. Then Machado and Machado will enter the NFL Draft.

White Sox fans have been on a roller coaster ride for weeks now. But imagine Moncada and Anderson this past week since their future could change drastically depending on what Machado decides.

Supposedly his source is the executive buyer of urinal cakes for a ML team on the West Coast.

I would agree other than I would change the players to the agents. I am sure the agents have a framework from the players as to teams and money. Then the players wait till the agent says he has the best deal for them. Supposedly these agents are also big rivals. There is so much "fodder" out there but I don't think we have seen any comments/quotes from either player in a while.

FWIW--I would say Tuesday or Wednesday. Tomorrow will still be NFL talk on Today's games and next week's match-ups.

Maybe the mystery team is in Japan.

I would think Tuesday/Wednesday would be optimal considering the attention the NFL Playoffs get.

But Soxtalk is terrible framing pitches.

Eagles are in the Playoffs. Not sure about Machado and his agent. But Boras waited to announce JD Martinez last year until the bulk of the media had descended on Florida for ST.

I think the Tuesday/Wednesday window seems more likely. Boras for one will want full attention, not the big story after the NFL Playoffs.

There are media people everywhere voicing there opinions ( most probably just hunches). But the ESPN FA update article on Sunday/Monday had the Nats as the favorite for Harper.

Nice analysis. One note is that there is probably a lot of BS that has been floated. But Jon Heyman posted when this all started, that Manny said he wanted to return to a team the East Coast. Like the demand to play SS, we don't know how high that is on his wish list.

I think we have to let this play out before we judge Manny. This is the age of the athlete calling the shots if they have enough status. Lebron, Antonio Brown and Jimmy Butler are a few examples where the team did not come first. If Manny is upfront and says SS is his desire, then the GM needs to determine if he is worth the disruption. If the Phillies and Sox are the finalists and both say 3B or nothing, then Manny may have to fins another "cheaper" option

Agree. Often a SS is the best overall athlete on a team.

I think he would increase attendance by 4-5,000 because the team would be more competitive and stay in WC race till late summer.

These are two great opportunities but if they lose out this year, then hopefully next year they can get a few sharks instead of a whale. If we don't get either Machado or Harper, maybe Eloy turns out to be a whale and Hahn spends the money next year filling holes. But fire Kenny now and if the roster is no better after 2019, fire Hahn.

Not sure where you heard those rumblings but I haven't seen any. Chris Sale really seems to stays out of the spotlight in New England. This article popped up last month: Sale is open to extension talks, sources told NBC Sports Boston, with indications that he is more open to those talks than most players of his caliber would be when sitting just a year away from free agency. It’s unclear if there’s any movement on that front yet, with one team source noting that extensions generally brew later in the offseason. Now there are rumblings Betts will eventually test the open market. https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/could-healthy-chris-sale-be-candidate-contract-extension

Saw a piece yesterday that the two agents are also rivals and neither wants to give in first. Not exactly the best thing for their clients it would seem.

I am not looking at the defensive side. He was switched to 3B in AA for the last 10 games and he struggled. He then struggled in the field, w the bat and even had a couple of big mental mistakes when he was called up. Immediately after the trade, Hahn came out and said he was moving him back to 2B. You can guess why. Then after this season, Moncada said he hopes to stay at 2B and Hahn said he finally looks comfortable playing the position. If he did not have offensive issues, a move to 3B makes sense to me. But until he seems comfortable at the plate, I think another change in position may have a negative impact on his overall mental approach.

I don't like to jump too far ahead, but is it a given Moncada is the better choice over Anderson to move to 3B. Moncada's brief stint in Boston at 3B was not successful.