2 hours ago, OneDog847 said:

Based on reports, JR was extremely involved in the Machado negotiations. I'm starting to think that JR wanted to finish second all along. He maybe would have done the $175 million for 7 years deal that was leaked by Levine/Olney but he had no intention of ever going above that.  The $250 million dollar deal with incentives was leaked to Nightengale, who is a notorious KW mouthpiece, and could be a complete fabrication. 

Bingo. There's no documentation or transparency at all in the FA negotiation process, yet people take leaked info like this at face value. Consider the possibilities:

(1) The Sox's front office leaked a fabricated $250M guaranteed + $70M possible offer to try to convince the fans that they really, really tried.

(2) Machado's agent leaked a fabricated $250M guaranteed + $70M possible offer to try to get other teams to up their offers.

(3) The Sox's front office made a legit $250M guaranteed + $70M possible offer after Machado's agent revealed San Diego's $300M guaranteed offer, knowing full well that Machado would reject $50M less in guaranteed money.

I agree that the 7/175 offer may have been legit but, given JR's long history as a cheapskate, the idea that JR was going to give any player a $200M+ deal just doesn't make any sense to me.

Edited February 22, 20197 yr by Black_Jack29

3 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

Machado is really an ass for saying that. I have no problem with his friends discussing with him their experiences, and if they loved it in SD, being honest. But, he has to know the situation. That is just going to make them look horrible to White Sox fans.

As a guy who was all in on Albert Belle back in '97 and '98, I can stand having a jerk on the roster if he's an elite offensive talent. But given that I never believed that JR would make a serious offer to Machado and care more about the development of Jiminez/Moncada/Kopech/Cease than anything else, I'm more fine with Machado being elsewhere after reading that.

3 hours ago, heirdog said:

Ron Fowler comes on the radio to do interviews all the time.  He is beyond candid (see: James Shield and Matt Kemp in 2016).  And somehow not only did he unload Shield after that tirade where he basically said he was shit publicly, he got beyond value back.  And now he destroyed the Sox’s 2 years worth of planning in less than a month.  He has made the White Sox his b**** and he’s rubbing it in publicly, which is the norm for him...not anything out of the ordinary.

First there was OF Dustin Fowler suing the White Sox...now this Fowler taunting us.  We might want to steer clear from Rickie Fowler being invited to the White Sox Charities golf tournament the way things are trending.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26056242/padres-gm-aj-preller-thought-being-able-sign-machado-was-pipe-dream

This should get everyone’s blood back to boiling level...

Such a classless comment by Fowler 

Quote

"I think there was one morning at the winter meetings where I woke up and I called (assistant GM) Josh Stein at about five in the morning and said 'Let's just sign Machado. Let's go do this,' Preller recalled

Boy wouldn't it be nice to hear that from the White Sox?

If the Sox were the leakers, every single one of them should be fired 

https://mobile.twitter.com/Friar_Faithful/status/1099001291001409536

3 minutes ago, fathom said:

If the Sox were the leakers, every single one of them should be fired 

https://mobile.twitter.com/Friar_Faithful/status/1099001291001409536

Lol they ended up paying 300 million. I have no idea how they could even say this. 

5 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

Machado is really an ass for saying that. I have no problem with his friends discussing with him their experiences, and if they loved it in SD, being honest. But, he has to know the situation. That is just going to make them look horrible to White Sox fans.

Yep, that is an absolute prick move by Manny there.

Notice the glove. Hahaha oh god.

Edited February 22, 20197 yr by Sockin

5 minutes ago, Sockin said:

Notice the glove. Hahaha oh god.

You can’t convince me that those gloves weren’t made in anticipation of signing with the Sox. Impossible. 

9 minutes ago, Sockin said:

Notice the glove. Hahaha oh god.

I'm gonna be sick...

4 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

You can’t convince me that those gloves weren’t made in anticipation of signing with the Sox. Impossible. 

yep, it will be interesting if he gets new ones.

16 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Lol they ended up paying 300 million. I have no idea how they could even say this. 

So? Point is, it got them involved. 

4 hours ago, Rowand44 said:

Completely disagree.

This isnt your local fantasy baseball league. The owner should have more class running a billion dollar operation than to take jabs at his fellow owners.

2 hours ago, Black_Jack29 said:

Since they're not necessarily competing this season, I don't have a problem with Palka in the outfield every day. My guess is that Abreu gets traded around the ASB, Alonso moves to 1B, and Palka spends most of his time at DH at that point.

Only problem is Jose is usually a better hitter after ASG so we better hope he has a good spring. 

So Rawlings is owned by Seidler Equity Partners, who also are general partners of the Padres.  Troll job?

24 minutes ago, fathom said:

If the Sox were the leakers, every single one of them should be fired 

https://mobile.twitter.com/Friar_Faithful/status/1099001291001409536

They should be fired regardless of whether or not they were the leakers. Unbelievable though. I never thought I would ever see such level of incompetence.

1 minute ago, CWSpalehoseCWS said:

They should be fired regardless of whether or not they were the leakers. Unbelievable though. I never thought I would ever see such level of incompetence.

I agree, I think the calls for Hahn to get fired will pick up after Harper signs elsewhere.  He was already an awful GM heading into this offseason, and he's having one of the worst offseason imaginable.

7 minutes ago, soxfan2014 said:

So? Point is, it got them involved. 

That was his expected price before the offseason - 300 million. If the Padres were willing to spend that then it makes no sense that they wouldnt have been in from day 1. 

It's all nonsense to me. They jumped in because they thought the bidding was at 175 and then paid 300 which was the expected sign price before the offseason began? Not buying it.

1 minute ago, fathom said:

I agree, I think the calls for Hahn to get fired will pick up after Harper signs elsewhere.  He was already an awful GM heading into this offseason, and he's having one of the worst offseason imaginable.

Doesn't mean anything unfortunately

20 minutes ago, Sockin said:

Notice the glove. Hahaha oh god.

Probably laughing that the Sox blew it.

 

4 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

That was his expected price before the offseason - 300 million. If the Padres were willing to spend that then it makes no sense that they wouldnt have been in from day 1. 

It's all nonsense to me. They jumped in because they thought the bidding was at 175 and then paid 300 which was the expected sign price before the offseason began? Not buying it.

Think theres more to it than that. Once they meet with him and start getting to know him, they change plans, evaluate the budget going forward and decide they can make $300mill work.

5 minutes ago, soxfan2014 said:

 

Think theres more to it than that. Once they meet with him and start getting to know him, they change plans, evaluate the budget going forward and decide they can make $300mill work.

Once again... the 175 has nothing to do with that. He didnt sign for 225 or something. He signed for 300 million. Padres wanna say they got involved because he was in at 175 and then determined after a meeting that he was worth 75% more than that and was actually worth the 300 million? 

It took preller that long to get ownership on board would be my guess. You dont say you got involved because the price was only 175 and then sign for 300. That makes no sense at all. If I see something on sale on accident for $1000 and show up to the store and buy it for $1750 I cant claim I bought it because of the sale. 

Edited February 22, 20197 yr by Look at Ray Ray Run

Is there any way this offseason could get any worse for Hahn...I mean, my god, he's looking 10X worse than Beane and Michael Lewis managed to make Kenny Williams appear in Moneyball.

Maybe we just need to create an over 35 league for the White Sox to realistically compete.  Watching Contreras and El Duque out there again would at least elicit some more pleasant memories, and Bobby Jenks can’t be that old yet.  Although he probably weighs 340, give or take.  Would definitely love to see Buehrle allowed to do what he used to love playing around during rain delays before the front office put the kibosh on it.  Rooney and Hagin could come back.

 

Edited February 22, 20197 yr by caulfield12