And justice for all: Striker's offseason plan

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.
* * *
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?

Position Player Salary Avg SB HR RBI OBP SLG UZR
LF/DH Winn $ 3,000,000.00 0.289 19 9 60 0.345 0.408 12.7
1B Teahen $ 3,000,000.00 0.270 6 11 56 0.330 0.407 12.5
2B Beckham $ 500,000.00 0.290 15 25 100 0.380 0.460 0.0
RF/DH Quentin $ 3,000,000.00 0.280 10 30 100 0.380 0.520 12.7
CA Pierzynski $ 6,250,000.00 0.281 1 13 53 0.317 0.415
3B Beltre $ 8,000,000.00 0.269 12 25 87 0.325 0.468 9.3
SS Ramirez $ 1,000,000.00 0.284 13 18 73 0.325 0.432 2.4
RF Rios $ 9,700,000.00 0.278 24 19 78 0.329 0.451 10.3
CF Cameron $ 5,000,000.00 0.245 14 23 73 0.334 0.453 5.2
$ 39,450,000.00 0.276 114 173 680 0.341 0.446 8.1
2009 0.258 113 184 695 0.329 0.411 -4.4
BN Kotsay $ 1,500,000.00
BN Nix $ 500,000.00
BN De Aza $ 500,000.00
BN Catcher $ 1,000,000.00
$ 3,500,000.00
Position Player
SP Peavy $ 15,000,000.00
SP Buerhle $ 14,000,000.00
SP Floyd $ 2,750,000.00
SP Danks $ 3,000,000.00
SP Garcia $ 1,000,000.00
RP Hudson $ 400,000.00
SU Lowe $ 500,000.00
CL Thornton $ 2,250,000.00
SU Linebrink $ 5,000,000.00
RP Pena $ 750,000.00
RP Williams $ 400,000.00
RP Carrasco $ 750,000.00
$ 45,800,000.00
$ 88,750,000.00
Money to Seattle $ 3,000,000.00
Viciedo $ 1,000,000.00
$ 92,750,000.00

*****************************
Christian Marrero Reading Room:
*MiLB.com has an interesting profile of Bobby Jenks’ minor-league career, including stop-by-stop breakdowns.
*Kenny Williams can’t help but knock the National League:

“A guy going from the American League to the National League, no disrespect, but. … ” […] “There are guys in the American League who go to the National League and don’t do well,” Williams conceded, “but there are not too many of them that I can think of.”

Alan Schwarz cites Javier Vazquez‘s return to ace form, but I’m guessing Williams is more miffed by Mike MacDougal (20-for-20 in save opportunities) and Nick Masset (2.36 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 70 strikeouts in 76 innings).
*****************************
Arizona Fall League:

  • Saturday: Mesa 4, Peoria 2
    • Jordan Danks went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
    • Brent Morel had a single in four at-bats, striking out once.
    • Jacob Rasner threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing a hit and a walk while striking out two.

Also, beware!  Phil Rogers is officially on the Brent Morel bandwagon!

Author

  • Jim Margalus

    Writing about the White Sox for a 16th season, first here, then at South Side Sox, and now here again. Let’s talk curling.

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chiburb2

Re Striker’s “plan”…
And where does Cameron play? I see no mention of Rios here, other than in the salaries.

striker

He’s on that list. RF batting 8th. Though I think the lineup could change since most players are the same offensively.

chiburb2

If he doesn’t play CF (Rios), he’s the most overpaid player in the game. And Kenny ain’t that stupid.

striker

you have a legit argument

bigfun

Most defensive analysis I’ve seen recently suggests that putting a CF-worthy fielder in a corner spot is actually pretty valuable. And Rios could never be as overpaid as the guy who he ceded center to at his old club.

bigfun

Yeah the Rios/Quentin/Winn arrangement makes sense, probably helps keep Winn (age) and Quentin (injury) off the DL.
A few of the projections are pretty optimistic (they look close to Bill James’ projections, which tend to be on the high side) but it seems like a decent plan. I think Beltre would take that deal if it was three years. Winn would probably sign. Cameron might get a bit more.
I think that Konerko trade is a pipe dream though. Konerko was pretty close to league average for a 1B last year – why would Seattle pay $9 million for that? They got better production in 2009 at far less money. Also, not sure Konerko would want to go play in Seattle, especially since it would depress his offensive stats in a contract year.

striker

Good argument from Konerko’s perspective. I know Seattle did great in 09 but their offense sucked, so I thought there might be a chance they make a somewhat risky move to improve their offense.

ceverettsdinosaurs

I think this has some interesting ideas. I like the Winn idea as an older, cheap outfielder with plus defense, especially if Kenny Williams’ position about not having any money is true. However, this plan has 6 outfielders (I know Kotsay can play 1B) and even with them rotating into the DH spot it’d be a little tight with PT. I’m not sure that De Aza would make the team considering how many outfielders they’d have. I think they could use another backup infielder.
Also, Cameron made $10 million last year. I doubt he’d take a deal for 2 years and 5 million considering his generally-recognized good defense and his high OBP.
Overall, I like the think-outside-the-box nature of the Konerko trade and think this plan has some interesting ideas.

knoxfire30

I really like this plan, but it hinges completely on the mariners taking PK for Lowe (anyone remeber seeing Lowe a few times, he has an ELECTRIC arm but sometimes he losses control) and then you would have to find a taker for Jenks and his 7 mil which isnt too hard unless you want back good prospects.

striker

My payroll was only $92mil so we have more money available to offer Cameron or to send with Konerko or Jenks. Not that I would but I would have that flexibility.

striker

White Sox “discussing” 3 day trade with LAA and SDP that would send Adrian Gonzalez to the Sox, Konerko to the Angels.
http://www.fan-exchange.com/mlb/news.asp?franchid=CHW
So much for Konerko to SEA 🙂

striker

You have to love the offseason baseball gossip! You ever think writers might make “some” stuff up or exagerate just to draw traffic? Not that you would ever do that Jim.

bigfun

It’s pretty amazing that the Konerko to LA idea is still breathing after Kendry Morales’ emergence. Naturally this trade makes absolutely zero sense from the Angels’ perspective.
If the Sox just wanted Gonzalez straight up, they would have to give up at least Flowers and Hudson… probably more. He’s a fantastic hitter and his contract is outright theft.

iowaoaks

Wins two, finishes FIFTH in “the big one.”
Sports witters, what do they know?

iowaoaks

No not waiters, writers, though maybe the comment is closer then I thought.

cushinglee

I had a feeling Beckham wouldn’t win, but I thought he’d do better than finish fifth.