Considering he came up with the offseason plan idea, it’s only fair that Striker puts his baseball mind on trial with his own blueprint.

Although it’s not quite fair that he gets the benefit of the Mark Teahen trade, he does go in a different direction with it.

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Contracts:
1. Dotel: Decline, no arbitration.
2. Dye: Decline, no arbitration.
3. Danks: Try and extend. Offer deal between what Lester and Floyd got.
4. Jenks: Sign then trade

Free Agency:
1. Sign Randy Winn to a 1 year $3,000,000 deal.
2. Sign Beltre to a deal that averages out to $8,000,000 annually. I would offer him anywhere from 1-3 years.
3. Sign Mike Cameron to a 2 year $5,000,000/year deal.

Trades:
1. Trade Konerko to the Mariners for Mark Lowe. Send $2,000,000 or $3,000,000 with Konerko.
2. Trade Jenks to someone for prospects. Possible destinations: Houston, Atlanta, Texas, Arizona, Tampa Bay (to name a few)
3. One name I pondered but didn’t make a move for is Eric Byrnes of AZ. If AZ would pickup 1/2 of his salary he could be worth the risk. He is a former Beane player and we all know how KW loves Beane.

Overview:
My priorities are defense and offensive balance throughout the lineup. I averaged each players stats over the past 3 years with the exception of Beltre, Ramirez, Beckham and Quentin. Beckham and Quentin I guessed. Beltre I skipped 2009 since he was injured. And Ramirez I averaged over 2 years. Here is what the team would look like. I’ve improved the team’s defense drastically, improved the team average and have alot of 20/20 potential throughout the lineup. My only concern would be OBP. My payroll is $92mil after sending $3mil with Konerko and paying Viciedo.

My question for you all would be, if you were Seattle would you make that trade? If you were Winn, Beltre or Cameron would you take that contract?

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Before we get to the last offseason plan I have lined up, a couple of quick notes:

*Akinori Iwamura, whose name was brought up a couple times in discussion, is heading to the Pittsburgh Pirates for reliever Jesse Chavez. Nice move for Pittsburgh.

*U-God at South Side Sox has been swept up by the craze and has a plan of his own.

That said, let’s take a look at some ideas from sars:

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MUST-MAKE DECISIONS

1) Octavio Dotel: Arbitration, or not?

In the best year of his life he was barely worth $5mil. If you told me he’d strike out 122 batters like he did that season, I’d sign up for $7mil without question, but he’s just not that good anymore.

2) Jermaine Dye: Mutual option, arbitration, or not?

It’s been pointed out already, but Jermaine Dye is hands-down one of the worst right fielders in all of baseball. It’s kind of hard to believe, but he’s been worth negative dollar value for two years in his five spent on the South Side. Regardless of what Hawk tells you, this is attributed entirely to his inability to field. Turning 36 next year with a Line Drive % reaching a career low of 16.9% screams an even sharper decline is coming.

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The Phillies extended the baseball season at least two more days, so we’ll have to wait a little longer to see if the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo has a legitimate idea here:

4. Johnny Damon, LF, Yankees – If the Yankees don’t bring him back, the White Sox look like a good fit. They need a leadoff hitter, and while they’d love to sign free agent Chone Figgins and move him to the outfield, he may get too pricy. While Damon has been a No. 2 hitter for the Yankees, he could easily go back to the top spot and give the White Sox some leadoff power.

Damon’s had those “good at-bats” Ozzie Guillen craves, so it’s not a ridiculous notion by any means.

At any rate, let’s take a look at an offseason plan courtesy of Paul:

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MUST-MAKE DECISIONS

Octavio Dotel: Walk

Jermaine Dye: Buyout

FLEXIBLE DECISIONS

John Danks: At least a 1 year contract.  If extended, he deserves more than Floyd (~4 mil per year) and less than Lester (~6 mil per year).  I’ll go 4 year, ~20 million.

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Now that we’re back to a lack of news, let’s get back to the offseason plans. This one is courtesy of marshlands:

MUST-MAKE DECISIONS

1) Octavio Dotel: Arbitration, or not?

Do not offer arbitration to Octavio Dotel. He’s been serviceable throughout his career (even excellent at times), but given the volatility of relief pitchers, it’s not worth the money. Dotel’s a strikeout machine, but also a home run machine, which isn’t very helpful in The Cell (or in high leverage situations). The Sox would be just as well to try their hand at a similarly aging veteran free agent for a much cheaper price.

2) Jermaine Dye: Mutual option, arbitration, or not?

Buy out Dye. Fact is, he’s a horrible RF. UZR isn’t completely dependable yet due to some pretty wild year-to-year fluctuations, but I’m not so fond of Dye falling on the bad side of -18 UZR for four straight years. This, combined of course with his magically disappearing bat in the second half of 2009 only points towards a potentially steep decline.

It wouldn’t be terrible to buy him out and then try and re-sign him at a discount, maybe as a DH (“hey we’ll cut your salary in half if you don’t field next year!”), but clearly it’s a touchy situation, and I doubt Dye would be into that, you know, given the kind of contracts some OF way worse than him have gotten in the past few years.

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Four years ago, the White Sox gave fans the greatest day in the history of their baseball-loving lives.

Therefore, it’s only fitting that we take a look at a fourth plan of attack for the 2009-10 offseason.  This one comes all the way from Singapore courtesy of theghostofmansoolee, whose living entity served as the bullpen catcher for that 2005 team:

MUST-MAKE DECISIONS

1) Octavio Dotel: Arbitration, or not?

No arbitration. He’s supposedly a Type A free agent, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. But it’s probably not worth the risk of having to pay more than what an aging reliever is worth in the current market.

2) Jermaine Dye: Mutual option, arbitration, or not?

Buy Dye out. Then you can try to see whether he’ll come back for cheaper. I honestly don’t know if there are any significantly better options in the FA market than him, and Dye sounds like he might come back for a lower price tag.

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