2 minutes ago, raBBit said:

You're not wrong about a lot of this but the Sox internally don't like their chances. That's more than just mediaplay. 

Maybe it's just be Rabbit. But I don't think the Sox will make that "Phillies ridiculous" offer that may be needed to sign one of these guys. What do you think? 

Just now, fathom said:

I could easily be wrong, but I’ve never thought Harper was considering the WSox. Always felt they were being used to set a market for him.

For who though?

Just now, fathom said:

I could easily be wrong, but I’ve never thought Harper was considering the WSox. Always felt they were being used to set a market for him.

It's pretty obvious Boras used them as a pawn. I was pretty pissed about it but I guess I am just "negative." That whole presser he did at the WM where he used hypothetical that all applied to Sox was such a coordinated crock of shit. The guy's incredible at his job for a reason but it still stings. 

Just now, Baron said:

Maybe it's just be Rabbit. But I don't think the Sox will make that "Phillies ridiculous" offer that may be needed to sign one of these guys. What do you think? 

They wouldn’t be wasting their time if they weren’t prepared to make a ridiculous offer, not when the Yankees are involved.

1 minute ago, Baron said:

Maybe it's just be Rabbit. But I don't think the Sox will make that "Phillies ridiculous" offer that may be needed to sign one of these guys. What do you think? 

I disagree with you because I know how much money they are offering. The Sox aren't being cheap. They are offering both players top of the market contracts. Will they land either one? I have no idea 

Just now, Chicago White Sox said:

They wouldn’t be wasting their time if they weren’t prepared to make a ridiculous offer, not when the Yankees are involved.

I think ridiculous in the White Sox mind and more specifically in Jerry's mind could be different than what the Phillies are thinking. 

1 minute ago, raBBit said:

It's pretty obvious Boras used them as a pawn. I was pretty pissed about it but I guess I am just "negative." That whole presser he did at the WM where he used hypothetical that all applied to Sox was such a coordinated crock of shit. The guy's incredible at his job for a reason but it still stings. 

It's still nuts to me he would eliminate such a big option internally though. 

Just now, Y2Jimmy0 said:

I disagree with you because I know how much money they are offering. The Sox aren't being cheap. They are offering both players top of the market contracts. Will they land either one? I have no idea 

Who said they were being cheap? 

1 minute ago, raBBit said:

It's pretty obvious Boras used them as a pawn. I was pretty pissed about it but I guess I am just "negative." That whole presser he did at the WM where he used hypothetical that all applied to Sox was such a coordinated crock of shit. The guy's incredible at his job for a reason but it still stings. 

This is probably true but if the Sox are offering the $$ that I've heard they're offering and he doesn't want to play in Philly, then they are accepting less from someone else. That isn't something Boras typically does. 

27 minutes ago, fathom said:

Would love to see him on Braves if he doesn’t sign with Sox 

I don’t think Anthopolous has any interest in 10 years on anyone.

I'm putting the odds of the sox landing Manny at 40% and the odds of landing both Manny & Harper at 15%. There has been no movement from the cubs or dodgers to create space and payroll flexibility and the only reason Bryce hasn't signed is they're waiting on Manny to set the market.

My best guess

Manny 10/280
Harper 10/320

2 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

For who though?

Dodgers and Cubs all along were the 2 I thought were the only contenders.  What better way to try to motivate the Cubs to offer Harper than to say the Sox are the front runners?  

2 minutes ago, Baron said:

Maybe it's just be Rabbit. But I don't think the Sox will make that "Phillies ridiculous" offer that may be needed to sign one of these guys. What do you think? 

I think if the Phillies stayed out of all this the Sox would set the market on both players. I have no idea what the Phillies idea of crazy is though. I think the Sox would be under them but likely a more desirable location as well. Phillies had such a chip on their shoulder coming into the offseason and the bar was set so high. Coming home without either of them would be a pretty big letdown. 

The Sox internally have had the same plan as Phili for over a year. They just didn't get all the media hullabaloo that Phili did because of their past spending history (and rightfully so.). This jump into the pursuit of the top free agents wasn't some sudden foray. They've been planning for this for some time.

25 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Bowden did put that quote in his Athletic article last night about where the top 15 remaining free agents would go.  How Jim Bowden has connections to Manny’s friends and whether there is any truth to those statements remain to be seen.  My guess is this is simply a game of telephone ad Bowden is taking what someone else “heard” and acting like it’s first hand knowledge.

Thanks. Whenever these tweets with supposed quotes pop up instead of the actual source of the quotes, I'm skeptical.

1 minute ago, raBBit said:

It's pretty obvious Boras used them as a pawn. I was pretty pissed about it but I guess I am just "negative." That whole presser he did at the WM where he used hypothetical that all applied to Sox was such a coordinated crock of shit. The guy's incredible at his job for a reason but it still stings. 

This is all true and I’m guessing he’d rather go elsewhere, but who else would offer as much as the Sox, especially if the Phillies are out?  To me, it almost seems like we’re destined for an arranged marriage if he’s looking for top dollar.

1 minute ago, fathom said:

I could easily be wrong, but I’ve never thought Harper was considering the WSox. Always felt they were being used to set a market for him.

I agree with all of this but I also have to think that the Sox feel this way as well but maybe there really is no market out there for crazy money except for the White Sox and Phillies.

If Harper turned down the Nats deal the Sox knwo what it will take.

These deals are not a jump in because of a depressed market.  The Padres may hop in for a $200M deal but if it's over $250M you don't just then join in because it's a deal.      

 

 

1 minute ago, raBBit said:

I think if the Phillies stayed out of all this the Sox would set the market on both players. I have no idea what the Phillies idea of crazy is though. I think the Sox would be under them but likely a more desirable location as well. Phillies had such a chip on their shoulder coming into the offseason and the bar was set so high. Coming home without either of them would be a pretty big letdown. 

The Sox internally have had the same plan as Phili for over a year. They just didn't get all the media hullabaloo that Phili did because of their past spending history (and rightfully so.). This jump into the pursuit of the top free agents wasn't some sudden foray. They've been planning for this for some time.

Cool thanks Rabbit 

2 minutes ago, TheTruth05 said:

It's still nuts to me he would eliminate such a big option internally though. 

He didn't eliminate the Sox. Have you seen anyone say that in the media? The Sox aren't going to say "we're out on Harper" because they technically aren't but more importantly, they don't want to affect the Machado pursuit or make them seem desperate. Neither the Sox nor Boras Corp benefit from the the idea that the Sox are out on Harper. That's why there's just been silence ever since late last week. 

3 minutes ago, raBBit said:

It's pretty obvious Boras used them as a pawn. I was pretty pissed about it but I guess I am just "negative." That whole presser he did at the WM where he used hypothetical that all applied to Sox was such a coordinated crock of shit. The guy's incredible at his job for a reason but it still stings. 

Boras has a major problem right now, he needs to get Harper $300mil. Anything less and his mystique is gone. The teams he thought were going to be players, havent really stepped up. I know he loves the spotlight, but that press conference (to me) showed weakness. IMO the offers arent there right now.

5 minutes ago, Baron said:

I think ridiculous in the White Sox mind and more specifically in Jerry's mind could be different than what the Phillies are thinking. 

The Phillies got outbid for Corbin & Happ, maybe you need to rethink what “Philly ridiculous” means.

2 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

I agree with all of this but I also have to think that the Sox feel this way as well but maybe there really is no market out there for crazy money except for the White Sox and Phillies.

If Harper turned down the Nats deal the Sox knwo what it will take.

These deals are not a jump in because of a depressed market.  The Padres may hop in for a $200M deal but if it's over $250M you don't just then join in because it's a deal.      

 

 

I think Harper’s going to take some type of 10 year deal that’s incredibly front loaded with the anticipation that he opts-out in 3 years.

Just now, Chicago White Sox said:

The Phillies got outbid for Corbin & Happ, maybe you need to rethink what “Philly ridiculous” means.

Corbin and Happ aren't Harper or Manny. Silly comparison. 

1 minute ago, Soxbadger said:

Boras has a major problem right now, he needs to get Harper $300mil. Anything less and his mystique is gone. The teams he thought were going to be players, havent really stepped up. I know he loves the spotlight, but that press conference (to me) showed weakness. IMO the offers arent there right now.

I don't know. To me, it's more likely he knows what the Dodgers have to offer, knows they have some work to do, and is just waiting for them to get to the point where they can finish the deal. He can also leverage the Cubs as an option in the imaginary world here they can get rid of Heyward's contract. 

1 minute ago, Soxbadger said:

Boras has a major problem right now, he needs to get Harper $300mil. Anything less and his mystique is gone. The teams he thought were going to be players, havent really stepped up. I know he loves the spotlight, but that press conference (to me) showed weakness. IMO the offers arent there right now.

I agree which I think behooves the white sox to get opt outs after 4 years and front loading the contract to say 40M per year. Theoretically the sox could front load Harper and Machado to a combined tune of 75M and still have plenty of payroll flexibility to sign other pieces and lock up our developing core as the window opens.

Oh BTW I'd like to thank the mods....this thread is much much better than the last one. Good discussion this morning so far.