If he signs with the Sox we have seen the brilliance of Reinsdorf. He got his man at a relatively bargain price through starting low, very publicly, but deflating the market by letting everyone know that any offer they made, he could and would match.

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

If that happens, Baseball needs to make a rule change. I think at this point, they should make some changes with the winter meetings and FA signings as it is.

I think every day that passes and Machado doesn't sign, the odds get better and better for him signing with the Sox.

At this point, I think the only thing that would make some team come in with a "blow the Sox out of the water" type offer is an injury when Spring Training starts.

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I could see the 1 year $30 million offer from a team like the Yankees or someone.

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Agreed, Frank. No one has disputed the Sox have a legit offer on the table. Numerous attempts have been made to lure in a bigger offer and they've all failed. He'll sign at some point during spring training.

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Harper graduated high school early to go to a community college to speed up his road to MLB. That was a hell of a gamble, too.

any contract for harper or machado will 100% have a player option(s) with CBA up in a couple of years.

In 2035...

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was this whole thing just a ploy to get the media off their backs about the struggling rebuild? pretend to dabble with big name FA's so the off-season narrative isnt about the injured or underperforming kiddos?

It's possible the market gets even worse next year for older guys though.

Everyone acts like the MLBPA can somehow strike and stop this kind of stuff. It's very possible they can't. They can get rookies paid more but why would 30 year olds get paid even more from that? If anything that means you can't afford to pay those massive deals still.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I don't really understand this. Almost all reports have the White Sox making the best pitch to both of them for the whole offseason. Even teams with nearly unlimited budgets haven't been able to sign either or have chosen not to.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I don't see that (from Manny's perspective)...too much risk of injury and/or poor performance.

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I wouldn't say it's an age issue. It's a first contract issue. These guys didn't mind the up/down games and 6 years of control because they were getting that huge 1st contract. Now that's not even happening.

Not getting huge contracts? Reports were Harper turned down $300 million, and Machado has been offered somewhere between $175 and $220 million. Those are definitely "huge" deals. If the players don't sign, that is on them.

Its a stupid thought. Outside of Moncada, the "kiddos" are yet to even play in an MLB game.

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Agreed. That's why guys like this shouldn't really wait. The rookies who are likely MLB players will benefit but the last group of guys who don't get the money as a young player and then don't get it as an older player will be pretty screwed.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Manny Machado is 26 years old.

_________________
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

outside of the guy you traded chris sale for who looks to be swinging blindly bad at the plate... way to gloss over that one. was tim anderson just a guy they threw $21M at and had no plans of him being part of the rebuild? carson fullmer was a 1st round pick but he's doing A Ok right? It's ok that giolito had an ERA above 6 over 173 innings of work right? none of those guys were part of the rebuilt though right? insert everything is fine gif.... i want to be interested in white sox baseball again... hopefully improvement is seen this year and a few of the kids show up and make an impact

Yeah, but what makes anyone think he's more likely to get 10 years at 27 when he couldn't at 26?

_________________
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

Carson Fulmer and Tim Anderson were draft picks. Giolito has had one season as an MLB starters. Most of the guys acquired in trades- Kopech, Rutherford, Dunning, Eloy, Cease, etc, have NOT played in an MLB game yet.

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Agreed. their egos are getting in the way of generational wealth. They both think they deserve to be the highest paid player in MLB. Harper failed the Nationals in the playoffs when they needed him and Machado couldn't help the Orioles from losing 100 games or help the Dodgers beat the Astros in the WS. Dodgers are not even trying to re-sign Machado.

IMO they are overrated and the owners and GM's know they are not worth 300MIL. If we are talking about M.Trout instead of Machado and Harper teams would be making it rain 300MIL contracts like it was a Saturday night at the local strip club.

I'm just correcting Rick on the "older guys" and "30 year olds" language in his post. That's not what Machado is, and that's exactly why all of this is kind of a big deal. If Machado was 30 I don't think there would be much backlash or collusion talk.

_________________
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

Yeah, Harper and Machado are younger than the typical first time free agent has been. I do think we'll see more guys starting younger. In the steroid era a "prime" was 26-35. In all other eras it's been about 22-30.

_________________
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

I hope so also. Usually there are a few ball players on the team that I have fun watching. Not so much lately which is why I miss Sale being gone so much. I do think that Moncada has a legit future but want no part of Machado. Pray that some of these kids ay off for them and then make a couple of free agent moves next year or the following year.

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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

That is true. Paying them that kind of money is insane. They aren't even the best players in the league at their respective positions.

_________________
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

Giolito and Lopez played the entire 2018 season.

The reason for taking a short term deal is because this may be corrected by the next round of labor disputes. That would take place in 2021 and put Manny right around the range of a 30 year old player. I know he is 26 now but a strike would only help him when he is around 30 and I think it would be very unlikely that something happens by next offseason to drastically change the market for players like him.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I think the MLB player's union knows better than to ever strike again.

_________________
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

The point is that even a strike won't help either of these players get better deals than they are being offered now so taking a short term deal doesn't really benefit them but could really hurt them.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Too much money for the owners and players to have a strike.

Kopech played four games and they blew a year of service time.