1 minute ago, caulfield12 said:

The Indians were still going to be desperate to trade him, next week, next month or next March 1st.

And you still don't get it lmao

1 minute ago, daggins said:

I don't think there's any back channel communication here, I just think they brought him in because it might boost their chances from like 5% to 7%.

if Theo or Cashman made a similar move, would you think the same?

1 minute ago, fathom said:

I'm thinking Pollock

Oh wait it’s kikuchi

7 minutes ago, whitesoxwinner said:

I wish but I really don't think they'd like to play with each other. Harper wants to build his brand and be "the guy". 

Reinsdorf is supposedly selling Harper on being the next Jordan. Jordan wouldn't be Jordan without having a Pippen to help him win those titles.

1 minute ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Dude, you have no fucking clue if that’s true.

So it’s more logical to assume that this move guarantees Machado?

Then the Indians would have figured that out first...and traded Kluber to the Dodgers last week to free up just enough money to fit Machado in for the 2019-21 seasons.

Just now, fathom said:

if Theo or Cashman made a similar move, would you think the same?

Yeah, absolutely. I don't see why that would make a difference? Aside from the Cubs and Yankees being traditionally strong teams, so maybe boosting their odds from like 25% to 30%. 

Who is Eddie Robinson?

Just now, caulfield12 said:

So it’s more logical to assume that this move guarantees Machado?

Then the Indians would have figured that out first...and traded Kluber to the Dodgers last week to free up just enough money to fit Machado in for the 2019-21 seasons.

my god, you're better than this.  Indians can't afford Machado while also having to eventually extend Lindor.  No one has said it guarantees Machado, but you have to be purposefully naive to not see what's going on.

2 minutes ago, daggins said:

I don't think there's any back channel communication here, I just think they brought him in because it might boost their chances from like 5% to 7%.

I highly doubt that quote from Hahn yesterday was coincidental and then bam they did exactly what he said. Either way it’s worth the shot of helping your odds 

6 minutes ago, The Sir said:

I'll join the pessimist train.

First, Alonso sucks. Look at bWAR and OPS- he's basically Davidson.

Second, I don't buy the BIL thing at all. A soon-to-be gazillionaire is going to determine where he plays for a good portion of the rest of his career based on his journeyman brother-in-law? No f'in way. Ever heard of this thing called a "jet"?

Third, this another of Rick Hahn's hedges. Fail on Harper, fail on Machado, but, "after much analysis and heartache, we determined that a major signing was not right for this franchise at this time, and decided to stay the course with the long-term development of our prospects." Our decision to trade for two other scrubs and sign one backs me up here. We're hedging and acquiring the second rate guys so management can shrug and say we tried.

I'll be happy to eat crow.

I hate this thinking. We are clearly going after Harper/Machado and if the players don't choose to sign with us I am not sure how that is Hahn's fault unless it comes out they offered less than everyone else. Only thing Hahn and company can do is put everything out on the table to these guys and try to offer the best contract. 

i wouldn’t choose a job just because my best friend worked there.  But if they paid me 25 million more and hired my best friend to show me how much the value me as an employee...

1 minute ago, The Sir said:

Who is Eddie Robinson?

someone Bulls paid a fortune for in free agency (and he was awful) after they missed out on all the big guys (want to say Duncan and Hill maybe)

Edited December 15, 20187 yr by fathom

1 minute ago, caulfield12 said:

So it’s more logical to assume that this move guarantees Machado?

Then the Indians would have figured that out first...and traded Kluber to the Dodgers last week to free up just enough money to fit Machado in for the 2019-21 seasons.

There is just so much stupid in this post that’s it’s not even worth responding to with a rational response.

1 minute ago, 103 mph screwball said:

i wouldn’t choose a job just because my best friend worked there.  But if they paid me 25 million more and hired my best friend to show me how much the value me as an employee...

Yep. If he's considering taking $25m less to play for the Yanks, this additional stuff helps. 

Edited December 15, 20187 yr by soxfan2014

4 minutes ago, The Sir said:

I'll join the pessimist train.

First, Alonso sucks. Look at bWAR and OPS- he's basically Davidson.

Second, I don't buy the BIL thing at all. A soon-to-be gazillionaire is going to determine where he plays for a good portion of the rest of his career based on his journeyman brother-in-law? No f'in way. Ever heard of this thing called a "jet"?

Third, this another of Rick Hahn's hedges. Fail on Harper, fail on Machado, but, "after much analysis and heartache, we determined that a major signing was not right for this franchise at this time, and decided to stay the course with the long-term development of our prospects." Our decision to trade for two other scrubs and sign one backs me up here. We're hedging and acquiring the second rate guys so management can shrug and say we tried.

I'll be happy to eat crow.

To me, the angle with the BIL thing isn't so much that he would want to be around his BIL so much, but that his wife might be happier if she got to live in the same city as her brother. You know what they say: happy wife, happy life. If money is equal and he can make his wife happy by playing the next few years in the same city as his BIL, maybe that is enough to sway him. 

And the reason I like this too is that there is an easy backup plan with this if we miss out on Machado and Harper. If we get neither and want to punt this season, we can trade Abreu and his one season of control and still have someone for first base who is actually cheaper. So we would potentially get a better return than what we gave up while also saving money. 

So the way I see it right now, this really is a net gain no matter how we spin it. The only way I'll end up being mad about this is if it comes out we did this to try to make up for the money we weren't willing to spend compared to other teams, but since that hasn't been indicated so far I won't worry about it yet. 

2 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

So it’s more logical to assume that this move guarantees Machado?

Then the Indians would have figured that out first...and traded Kluber to the Dodgers last week to free up just enough money to fit Machado in for the 2019-21 seasons.

No one here thinks this guarantees Machado.  And why the hell do you keep bringing up a cash strapped team to sign Machado?  What in the world is with you tonight?  Not one of your better efforts.

27 minutes ago, BigHurt3515 said:

Now we wait for Monday......

With Alonso here and his deal officially announced on Saturday we'll probably have the Machado deal done on Sunday! Then Hahn can work on the Harper deal next week. 

Edited December 15, 20187 yr by Saufley
wrong info

1 minute ago, fathom said:

my god, you're better than this.  Indians can't afford Machado while also having to eventually extend Lindor.  No one has said it guarantees Machado, but you have to be purposefully naive to not see what's going on.

And your position on Hahn if this backfires?  He gave it the ‘ol college try, that’s the best we could do, let’s just move move on?

1 minute ago, fathom said:

my god, you're better than this.  Indians can't afford Machado while also having to eventually extend Lindor.  No one has said it guarantees Machado, but you have to be purposefully naive to not see what's going on.

You’re a better man than me fathom, I can’t deal with Caulfield when he’s on one of his irrational Negative Nancy rolls.

1 minute ago, fathom said:

my god, you're better than this.  Indians can't afford Machado while also having to eventually extend Lindor.  No one has said it guarantees Machado, but you have to be purposefully naive to not see what's going on.

And your position on Hahn if this backfires?  He gave it the ‘ol college try, that’s the best we could do, let’s just move move on?

10 minutes ago, fathom said:

Like has there even been a case before where a player (making 9 million dollars)was acquired just to try and help recruit someone?  That's the type of stuff that SHOULD get a GM fired immediately if it doesn't pan out.  Also, have we ever figured out who Eddie Robinson in this FA class is?  I know Grandal was Boozer.

It's a low risk move though. We traded a prospect who's not going to pan out, for a major leaguer

5 minutes ago, fathom said:

someone Bulls paid a fortune for in free agency (and he was awful) after they missed out on all the big guys (want to say Duncan and Hill maybe)

Ah, thanks. My following of the NBA died instantly when I was 11, moved to another continent, and heard the Bulls lost Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman all at once.

1 minute ago, caulfield12 said:

And your position on Hahn if this backfires?  He gave it the ‘ol college try, that’s the best we could do, let’s just move move on?

Eh. Didn't cost anything. Can always trade him somewhere else too.

1 minute ago, caulfield12 said:

And your position on Hahn if this backfires?  He gave it the ‘ol college try, that’s the best we could do, let’s just move move on?

Fathom has made his point beyond clear on this too.

Just now, caulfield12 said:

And your position on Hahn if this backfires?  He gave it the ‘ol college try, that’s the best we could do, let’s just move move on?

How does this backfire? What’s the worst that comes from this trade? We don’t land Machado and let Alonso go after the season? Either way it’s worth the try.