BlackSox13

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Jan 20, 2014 -> 01:48 PM) No problem. I won't post any more conjecture. Please, go back to talking about star wars and erections. Keep posting the conjecture dude as its better discussions than star wars etc. This coming from one of the posters involved in that madness. At least the conjecture alleviates the boredom thus no star wars s***.

QUOTE (southside hitman @ Jan 20, 2014 -> 01:32 PM) It's all speculation at this point. This isn't an American free agent who could potentially be surrounded by guys who could leak information. He is in Japan and has a tight inner circle that has no motivation or incentive to give "favorites" or "front runners." I am confident that Hahn submitted a competitive offer and I hope that the meeting was compelling. That's pretty much all you can ask for now. This is exactly it right, good post. All I can say is consider the source. More useful info will come along as the week progresses towards the deadline.

Denver 31-20

This is starting to look more like a 4 team race between AZ, LA, Sox and yanks. I just cannot believe the cubs have the money to go long term on Tanaka.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 08:58 PM) Got a few pheasants this year. No luck with deer. Good, that means you have a gun so you know to do with this thread then. I'll go ahead and say that I am a contributor to the mayhem so you might want to shoot me too. QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 09:06 PM) Whatever happened to El Caballo anyway? Ptatc took him out back and shot him, his name is now Elmers.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 08:07 PM) I think Jango Fett is looking for some work. Let's do it. Boba could probably help too, maybe Nugent as well.

This thread has become an deteriorating aging horse, any hunters around?

Here's what wiki had to say about the top cities in the US for Japanese communities. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American I pointed out somewhere in this thread yesterday that there is a Mitsuwa Japanese market place in Arlington Heights along with communities in Arlington Heights, Schaumburg and Elk Grove. Pretty sure Iguchi lived in Schaumburg while playing for the Sox. No idea if this will matter to Tanaka but ya never know.

QUOTE (timbo @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 06:07 PM) that his opion anyway he a cubs reporter so don't listen to him I agree, he's just trying to narrow things down but in the end he doesn't know anymore than posters on this board. Who knows, Tanaka might like the Sox potential upside with what they have and the moves they've made so far. I still think he signs with AZ or the Sox with AZ being out in front, just my opinion.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 05:37 PM) I can play along no more and hence forth concede from this battle of self directed witty stupidity. In other words, you win. Were all winners. OK, back on topic. Kaplan tweeted the Sox are longshots like the cubs. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/chicago_white_sox/index.html

QUOTE (hi8is @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 03:59 PM) That toy is AMAZING. Such a key part to any true collection. Without a doubt worth every penny of 120 million! I think 120M is kind of selling the holly hobby a bit short. In fact if the Sox included the holly hobby in the contract offer in the first place we would already be wearing Tanaka Sox jerseys. QUOTE (hi8is @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 05:00 PM) Yes! Only 24 hours left to discuss ponies, cox, geshia dolls, and dragon ball z! Welcome home tanaka! Mind if I add strawberry shortcake ( she's soooo HOT!) to the mix? Rainbow bright is total spank bank material too.

My little pony? Well s***,I'm going to fire up the ole holly hobby easy bake oven to bake some majical brownies to eat while watching some my little pony! To hell with Foosball! Its the devils game anyway. If Tanaka signs with the Sox I might invite him over for majical brownies and my little pony, good time we will have.

QUOTE (CWSpalehoseCWS @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 01:09 AM) You mean their Justin Ruggiano and their new mascot isn't enough for them this offseason? I didn't think the Sox were even going to be considering Tanaka especially after Abreu, but this offseason has been just one surprise after another. I hope they sign him, or at least put up a really good fight. That would be pretty bad ass if they announced him at Soxfest. Hey now, be nice to Clark,he's just cub living half naked is all. My guess is the cubs were the team at 4/100. They are so far in debt they might not be able to do more than 100M overall so they offer him less years and more annually. If the Sox rumor about not going more than 20M annually is true then the Sox weren't the team offering 4/100. The DBacks are rumored to be at 6/120 so the 4/100 isn't them either. If teams like LA and NY are seriously in this I'm thinking they would offer more than 4/100 so I doubt that offer was from them.

OK, Cox aside. I was reading comments made by cub fans at mlbtraderumors and I think there could be mass suicides if the cubs don't sign Tanaka. Holy s*** the way some of them talk its like Tanaka is signed sealed and delivered. I have my hopes for the Sox but if they don't sign this guy life goes on.

Yes, because there's nothing better than packing up the wife, kids, and driving to the cell to watch the Sox play with Cox. After all its fun for the whole family!

Yeah, I think with the sox in the running still, were just getting more anxious and bored while waiting for Tanaka to decide. If Tanaka waits til Thursday or Friday I'm curious as to how many more pages of madness there will be by then. Then factor in the additional pages if the Sox actual sign Tanaka. This could end up being the john holmes of threads.

I'm still not buying into the cubs. IF they did offer 160M+, with their financial debt how could they afford to field a team around him to be competitive? This is PR bulls*** by their front office because their fans are pissed and the front office knows it. This way when Tanaka signs elsewhere they can say they tried because there are media "reports" saying they did. Its cubs propaganda by the front office. In the end I'd say it comes down to AZ and the Sox. I'm not sold on the Yanks or Dodgers either because of their payrolls.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 18, 2014 -> 04:21 PM) If you want an accounting of every dollar a company takes in and spends, then buy stock. Otherwise, it's really none of your f***ing business. The team is going to allocate its resources the best way it sees fit, and if that makes you miserable, then that's your problem and please don't whine about it to me. Agreed. Don't like it, well the fan has options; they can find a new team to follow, they can abstain from spending their money on tickets merchandise etc or they can simply accept the fact that the team is not their business to run since they are not one of the owners.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jan 18, 2014 -> 04:07 PM) It's a simple negotiation tactic. You don't want to tell people you have all the money in the world so that they can attempt to fleece you for more. You say, "Hey, this is my budget and what I am willing to spend. I can't really exceed this." This and let me add that if you say you have the money and don't spend you run the risk of pissing off your fan base and potentially hurting ticket sales for the upcoming season.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 18, 2014 -> 02:22 PM) I disagree, a little. Most of the time if both teams are good or both a bad this is true. However, with the losing and complaints of the Cub fans in the past year, I think the season tickets are significantly down, it's a good time to "steal" some fans. This can only help the Sox for budget reasons. I see what you mean. I just feel the Sox really just need to focus on the Sox and winning ballgames and the cub fans that can be swayed will naturally gravitate towards watching a winner on the south side. By all means if we can swoop in and crush cub fans dreams by signing Tanaka that's just a cherry on the cake, but the important thing is Tanaka's potential to help bring a winner to the south side. All else will fall into place.

Its a clue given by the Illuminati! I have no explanation for this outside of a possible impending trade. Just doesn't make sense.

The cross town rival should never be the motivation. Put a competitive team on the field and fans will begin to show up, win some games and more fans will show up, so on and so on. Prove to the fans the team is a legit contender and they will come out to watch regardless of what the other team is doing.

Castro being in that mix is rather perplexing?! Possible impending trade with Houston? Hahn did say they won't do anything else until after Tanaka has made a decision.

Some interesting tidbits here... http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/chicago_white_sox/index.html "Let's round up the day's rumblings on Masahiro Tanaka, who will have chosen his new club by this time next week: Both Chicago organizations are real contenders for Tanaka, Dan Martin and Ken Davidoff of the New York Post wrote yesterday. An industry source says that the Cubs and White Sox have serious interest in the Japanese ace. Seven teams met with Tanaka during his trip to the U.S., the pair notes, though the Sox are the only ones to have publicly acknowledged a face-to-face. Those meetings have not yet resulted in feedback, according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com (via Twitter). Teams had around an hour to pitch Tanaka, but have not heard back. "Nobody knows where they stand," says Sanchez. The Cubs have withheld cash thus far in order to keep a sufficient war chest to make a real run at Tanaka, says Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. But with a "debt-strung, skittish-to-spend ownership," in Wittenmyer's words, the club may not be a real player in the sweepstakes. The Dodgers are actively involved in talks with Tanaka, reports Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. This report confirms what many had suspected (and the front office had indicated): the club will not be precluded from another massive investment after extending Clayton Kershaw. As Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com further reports, GM Ned Colletti has had discussions with Tanaka's reps at Excel Sports Management all week long. "We're still, first and foremost, concerned with the quality of the team we can put together, and adding it up comes second," said president Stan Kasten. "This is a long-term strategy of ours. After five or six or seven years, it will make a lot more sense than it does to people looking at today's snapshot." For his part, MLB.com's Ken Gurnick is not so sure that Los Angeles will go all out for Tanaka, though it is interested if he values the chance to play on the West Coast and is "willing to make his decision on factors other than total financial package." But with interest that has been only "lukewarm at best," says Gurnick, the Dodgers would probably not look to win a bidding war absent intervention from the ownership group. A Hanley Ramirez extension is, in Gurnick's estimation, a higher priority for the L.A. brass." One thing to consider about Chicago is they must have a respectable level in the Japanese community since there is a Mitsuwa Japanese Market Place in Arlington Heights and there's only 4 of these grocery stores throughout the US. Didn't Iguchi live in Schaumburg while playing with Sox? Point is, Tanaka doesnt have to live in Chicago, he can stay in the burbs like Arlington heights, Schaumburg and Elk Grove where there are Japanese communities and a stones throw from the Mitsuwa market place.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jan 18, 2014 -> 10:57 AM) I find it interesting how MLB teams tends to place high value on Japanese players. Most tend to burn out after a few seasons of MLB. How fortunate for the Sox that one dude (I can't remember his name) signed for less money to play Wrigley. Fukudome