Not the right time for Harper. They should go hard for Machado.

Fuck it, do it and go for broke. Offer Cease, Robert, Basabe, and Collins for Trout.

This

You're going to need a new FO if you wanted smartly.

Nobody should use a 22 year old transaction as evidence to back up an assertion like this. The fact that the transaction in question was terminated after only two years because the team refused to cough up a $4.25 million raise divided over three years makes it even worse.

I do think the Sox will make a sincere and hard push for one of these players. I think the players will say all the right things but ultimately use the Sox to push the offers of teams for which they truly wish to play.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

The fact is that nobody in basketball or baseball wants to play for Jerry Reinsdorf and the same would be true if he owned a hockey or football team.

You can't run one of the best basketball players and coaches out of town after winning six championships for you and not think that the word will get around that your organization is less than a desired landing spot.

The poster who said they will get Granderson and like it was correct. And their trash manager will be here three years from now as well. Until they get Vizquel and have to like it.

Ok. Then lets look at the more recent transactions of Adam Dunn, Adam LaRoche, Melky Cabrera, Matt Lindstrom, etc.

Not saying those players worked, but the notion that JERRY doesn't spend money is flat out wrong.

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They will offer something along the lines of 3 years at 80 Million when everyone else is in the 200-300 million range for 8-10 years.

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Jerry is not afraid to write a check. (50-75 Million)

Jerry is afraid to write the check. (100+ Million)

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

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Dolphinbag...

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Wow.

JERRY has literally wasted millions upon millions of dollars on bad & mediocre ballplayers. Stop saying he won't spend money. That is flat out not true.
Spending it wisely is a different discussion.

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Nobody is saying he is not spending money. He's just not spending money on top tier free agents. None of those guys you mentioned were in high demand when they were signed here.

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None of these contracts come close to what A- or B-Tier Free Agents were getting at the time. The largest of these was $14M AAV. Your Lindstrom example was 1 year at $2.3M, with a $4.0M club option.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I don't expect this is going to go like a run of the mill free agent acquisition for anyone. I expect the agent will state what he will require just to engage. My assumption is 10 years with a 2-3 year player opt out clause. Money will only be discussed if those terms are met.

I think either of these guys would work for the Sox as they are essentially only a 3 year deal (unless you get a Heyward situation of underperformance)

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Machado is an excellent player but I don't like his attitude and the fact that he is a really dirty player. He' be a bad role model for young players.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Albert Belle? That was in the dark ages when Jerry got pissed at baseball for opening its checkbooks for over-paying for players and signed Belle out of spite more or less. That didn't last long. After the Sox won the World Series, Reinny had a chance to win more championships but he didn't spend the money necessary to continue and they only signed over the hill guys like Adam Dunn and company.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Their payroll is among the lowest in all of baseball and has been for years. So they are NOT spending money. Plus the players that they have mostly spent money on have in most cases been below average or worse.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Adam Dunn was absolutely a top tier free agent when he was signed. It was a horrible move and he had one of the worst offensive years ever, but the fact remains that if Jerry thinks the team is in a position to win, he has not been shy about spending money.

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Bingo
I feel like the Belle experiment turned the organization off of big contracts on free agents after the way he jumped ship after 2 years...top it off with the ridiculous Jamie Navarro contract (the reason they won't give long term contracts to pitchers)...as the reasons that the team won't actually take calculated risks on good free agents and haven taken to trying for junk pile reclamation projects that sometimes work (Jermaine Dye) and often times blow up in their faces (roughly every other one), and try to get cheap extensions on their good players. Hell, the only reason they gave Konerko the extension after the World Series is because they realized how awful that would have looked, image wise, when they could easily afford it.

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That's wrong. They traded for Thome and Vazquez. The 2006 White Sox were easily the best Sox team in my lifetime on paper. Yes, better than the 2005 World Series champs and the 1994 fantasyland champs. Unfortunately, you've got to play the games and going deep the year before had clearly taken the starch out of Buehrle and it eventually caught up to Contreras. And of course, the .500 pitcher Vazquez didn't suddenly win 20 games because he moved to a team that could provide more "run support". I'm not sure what you wanted Jerry to "spend money" on, as on paper that team was about as good as you'd want it to be.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

And also resigned Konerko to a 5yr $60million deal, which at the time was quite rich.

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Is Harper/Machado looking for more than that?

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I've heard rumors that Boras might be trying to set a new precedent of 25 year old, multiple time All-Stars getting 3+ years guaranteed.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

The White Sox are a darkhorse for any of these elite free agents IF they decide to start fast-tracking their rebuild OR think they are closer than they showed.

For example, this may not be realistic or even what they are thinking, but what if they thought that a healthy Rodon, Lopez, and Giolito has the makings of a solid rotation. Most would probably disagree, but they could think that getting Kopech back in 2020 is a potential front-line starter plus another top prospect like Cease being close could make this rebuild go quicker.

Offensively, Jimenez will be up in April next year, the infield (outside of 3B) is pretty much set for next season, but the OF is probably where 2 major upgrades can jump-start the offense.

If they were inclined, they could offer Harper a 3-4 year deal for $120M-$160M without impacting future payroll, etc.

I'd be surprised if they did this, but they have always thought big when it comes to acquiring talent - it's just a matter of when they think the timing is.

If the White Sox were interested in either Harper or Machado, why do you think they would make offers that would be 1/2 of their actual value? Any team interested in these two would go in knowing the starting point (which would probably be at least $30M) - the White Sox (or any other team) are not going to make any offers for $15-20 million a season.

Given the lack of money committed outside of Tim Anderson, and Nate Jones (perhaps there is another player or two) beyond next season, they are flexibile to get involved with any free agent they want to consider - doesn't mean the player will sign with them, but the White Sox are set up to jump into the free agent market.

Question is (I haven't looked) - is there another Machado/Harper on the FA market for next season that the White Sox would look at?