PREAMBLE
I’ve seen quite a few people on social media compare this off season to the Cubs off season when they acquired Jon Lester, who clearly put them over the top as went on to the NLCS that very next season. We are not there yet, as the Cubs had Kris Bryant in the waiting, Kyle Schwarber was incredible, Rizzo was fantastic, Jake Arrieta had possibly the greatest second half from a pitcher the game has ever seen. We don’t have players like I just listed above. But, I still want to see the Sox go all out on this FA class, so let’s spend some money!
Moncada did not progress as well as we all would have liked this past season, but my god is he talented. It seemed like every time Yoan got hot, a minor injury would derail him from having a nice streak at the plate. Tim Anderson still has tons of question marks regarding his consistency both at the plate and in the field (yes, I’m aware he was great in the second half of the season in the field). Avisail Garcia’s season was once again derailed by injuries, so we were unable to see if the 2017 season was a fluke or not. Jose Abreu is one year older and his season was also derailed by many injuries, but he’s mister consistency at the plate. I have not given up on any of our young pitchers, including Giolito, as we saw glimpses of what could be a middle to back end of the rotation pitcher on a contending team, if he gets his control together. So with the Sox, in my opinion, not being near where the Cubs are with their rebuild when they acquired Lester, this is backwards thinking, but I would love to see them go all out and spend money to acquire some veteran/young talent with our inexperienced/young talent.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Jose Abreu, $16M- tender
- Avisail Garcia, $8M- tender
- Yolmer Sanchez, $4.7M- tender
- Carlos Rodon, $3.7M- tender
- Matt Davidson, $2.4M- tender
- Leury Garcia, $1.9M- non tender
- Danny Farquhar, $1.4M- non tender
CLUB OPTIONS
- Nate Jones, $4.65 million/$1.25M buyout- pickup
- James Shields, $16 million/$2M buyout- buyout (Padres)
The Padres have to pickup the buyout on James Shields per agreement when we traded Fernando Tatis for him. Only $2M, but still isn’t our money, so that’s nice and makes the trade well worth it… so the Padres told me at least. I dunno.
I would strongly consider bringing back James Shields, though. Great clubhouse guy who has strong leadership skills according to many of our young pitchers.
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Miguel Gonzalez (made $4.75 million in 2018)- He gone
- Hector Santiago (made $2 million in 2018 — added)- He gone
Let the youngsters try to gain valuable experience out of pen or make some spot starts.
FREE AGENTS
No. 1: Manny Machado (8 years, $320 mil- opt out after year 4). Clearly this would be Rick, Kenny, and Jerry going all out like we have never seen before here on the Southside.With Machado only being 25 currently, he fits right into the Sox plan of acquiring young, talented players. Open up that wallet, Jerry! It’s Manny time!
No. 2: Dallas Keuchel (5 years, $120 mil) Just a few short years removed from his Cy Young season, Dallas Keuchel becomes a free agent. Luckily for the White Sox, he has not kept up with his Cy Young season. The only reason I say luckily is because he will not command the big bucks he would’ve if he would’ve kept up at that pace. Keuchel fits in with the Sox as they need a solid veteran arm who has been on a winning team before. He would bring in that Jon Lester-like sign, like many Sox fans want.
No. 3 Nathan Eovaldi (3 years, $36 mil) Coming off a fantastic season in Boston. What a terrific effort last night against the Dodgers, coming out of the pen and throwing 90+ pitches. An all-time great effort in a world series game for a bullpen arm. He’s finally healthy and it shows. Last night still throwing heat 70+ pitches in, still hitting 98, 99, 98, 97 with consistency every pitch. Brings in another veteran arm to this staff and another mentor to this young pitching staff (hopefully).
TRADES
No. 1: Trade Jose Abreu to the Colorado Rockies for Brendan Rodgers. The Sox are in an interesting situation with Jose Abreu. He is the leader of the clubhouse, especially for top young guns such as Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert, but when do you sacrifice losing that presence in the clubhouse for making your team potentially better? Abreu will be 32 years old next year, his contract year coming up in the near future, when do you capitalize on him being a trade chip? The answer is now. Jose Abreu has been Mr. Consistent since joining the Sox back in 2014. The Rockies have been searching for a solid first basemen since Todd Helton left. IM NOT CRYING! YOU’RE CRYING! I’ll be sad as well, but it needs to be done. Rodgers could be a potential third basemen of the future for the Sox, as he lacks the quickness to be a SS, but possesses the arm strength to maintain the third base job at the ML level. I realize the Rockies are giving up their top prospect in this deal, but that is the price of trying to put together a winning team. With the Rockies being set with Trevor Story at SS and I’m sure they’ll try to resign Arenado, I could see them potentially being willing to trade Rodgers for the right price (Abreu).
No. 2: Trade Nate Jones and Bernardo Flores to the Cubs for Ian Happ. Ya, I might be crazy with this one and that’s fine because I’m not sure that its fair at all lol. Good reason for the Sox, let the youngsters come up and eat innings out of the pen. Get a player that can play multiple positions and hit from both sides of the plate. Bad reason for the Sox, Happ strikes out a ton and we already have a team that strikes out way too much. Happ also has the potential to hit 25+ HR’s/season in my opinion.
Good reason for the Cubs, they acquire a solid bullpen arm who can come in and shut down a 7th/8thinning and leave the 9thup to Morrow. Happ is also in kind of in a “log jam” in the Cubs system. This frees them up from their log jam issue they have. The Cubs are also acquiring Flores, who is a mid to back end starter down the line. The Cubs farm system was stocked with high end bats, that are now for the most part on the ML roster, but they lack the depth in the pitching area and Flores would help boost that area. He is a lefty that has hit upwards of 97mph, but not consistently. He is an interesting piece for the Cubs to acquire for their future.
Bad reason for the Cubs, Nate Jones has been injury prone the last few seasons. Unfortunately, they aren’t just minor injuries either, they’ve been major surgeries that have held him out of play for significant periods of time. They (Cubs) dealt with enough injuries from their pen this past season, so they may not want to take the chance on this. Bernardo Flores for the most part is significantly unknown to the common fan but is an AA pitcher who has some upside. Are the Cubs willing to trade a former first round pick who isn’t an everyday player on their roster for Jones who has a significant injury history and the luck of a left arm who is currently in double-A?
SUMMARY
In conclusion, the Sox acquired a top talent bat, one top of the line rotation pitcher and a middle of the rotation pitcher via free agency. They also sold one of their top bats who is getting old and coming up on an expiring contract in a few years to boost their farm system even more with position they need for their future to be a success (3B). They sold one of their top bullpen arms and a young left-handed starter to allow young pitchers come up and get some MLB experience and got back a switch hitting utility player who is young, controllable, and has a decently high ceiling.
My opening day lineup would look something like this:
- Tim Anderson 3B/SS
- Yoan Moncada 2B
- Manny Machado SS/3B
- Avisail Garcia RF
- Welington Castillo C
- Ian Happ LF
- Daniel Palka DH
- Matt Davidson 1B
- Adam Engel CF
Yolmer Sanchez, Jose Rondon, Nicky Delmonico, Omar Narvaez (Eloy will be up after the however many days it is), hopefully Brendan Rodgers would be ready at some point of the 2019 season as well.
- Dallas Keuchel
- Carlos Rodon
- Reynaldo Lopez
- Nathan Eovaldi
- Lucas Giolito
Bullpen: Jace Fry, Juan Minaya, Aaron Bummer, Jeanmar Gomez, Ian Hamilton, Zach Burdi, Thyago Vieira (Cease will be soon enough, just like Eloy).
Although, I do feel like these moves are maybe a season early, I just want the Sox to capitalize on a solid free agent class. This is way more than the Sox are used to spending, but we also haven’t seen a rebuild and a GM like Rick Hahn before (at least in my lifetime). If the Sox don’t sign Machado or the other top FA’s in this class… PAY NOLAN ARENADO WHATEVER HE WANTS IN THE 2019-20 OFF SEASON. THANKS TO RICK HAHN IN ADVANCE.
As always, GO SOX!
Jr.
