My likely .500 WhiteSox solution (BeefLoaf108)

BeefLoaf’s Plan

The losing needs to be done with, Yoan Moncada is going into his 3rd season (2nd full season) with the team and was supposed to be the centerpiece of this rebuild, I can’t in good faith risk wasting a break out year by the young Cuban.  We need to add to the core in a way that won’t deplete the farm, but smartly deploys assets from the farm and major league team and turns them into valuable pieces.

ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS

Write “tender” or “non-tender” after each player. Feel free to offer explanation afterward if necessary.

• Jose Abreu, $16M – TENDER (medium rare)
• Avisail Garcia, $8M – Non-Tender (don’t let the door hit you in the ass)
• Yolmer Sanchez, $4.7M – Tender
• Carlos Rodon, $3.7M – Tender (even if he stinks, his wife is such a big asset to White Sox twitter I shan’t allow him to leave)
• Matt Davidson, $2.4M – Tender
• Leury Garcia, $1.9M – Tender (maybe he stays healthy for once, probably not, but let’s try it)
• Danny Farquhar, $1.4M – Tender (I dunno if he’ll be ready to pitch, but lets give him a chance to do so)

CLUB OPTIONS

Write “pick up” or “decline” after the option.

• Nate Jones, $4.65 million/$1.25M buyout – Pick Up
• James Shields, $16 million/$2M buyout – BuyOut (Chorizy will be upset, but I have no other recourse here)

OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS

Try to retain, or let go?

• Miguel Gonzalez (made $4.75 million in 2018) – Buh Bye
• Hector Santiago (made $2 million in 2018 — added) – Buh Bye

FREE AGENTS

Andrew McCutchen – 3 yrs $48 million – The White Sox are desperate for outfield production and McCutchen gives it to you in spades, career .378 OBP, last season a .368 OBP, I’d be happy to settle for a .350 OBP, with meh RF defense.  He’ll be asked to fake CF occasionally as well, which will be pretty fun (and not in a good way).

Patrick Corbin – 4 yrs $108 million – Buy a fucking top pitcher already, this staff needs it!!!

Josh Donaldson – 3 yrs $66 million – The goodness is there are tons of reps at 1b for Donaldson with us trading for Suarez.  Or some mixture there of (Suarez used to play SS, and can probably fake it occasionally if we want the super super lineup).  The bottom line is, you need a lot of home runs in this MLB and we are going out in the market and grabbing them.

Cameron Maybin – 2 yrs $10 million – He’s not as good an outfielder as Adam Engel, but he still gets on base.  .326 OBP last year, is a monster upgrade over Engel and we are trying to remake this flippin’ offense.

TRADES

Trade – Luis Robert, Spencer Adams & Laz Rivera to Cincinnati for Eugenio Suarez & Amir Garrett. I heard we have a bunch of OF depth, so let’s trade a big piece and fix an area of need.  Suarez is a stud right damn now, you might have never heard of him because he plays for the Reds, but he hits like a mutha.  He’s also fairly cheap $7.3M in his 2019, age 28 season.  He’s in his prime now and immediately hits in the middle of the order.  Garrett is a bullpen piece, YES, I KNOW, the White Sox have tons of young bullpen pieces, but this one has actually pitched in the majors with a modicum of success, so I want him back in the deal as well.

Trade – Lucas Giolito & Jordan Stephens to Baltimore for Dylan Bundy.  I think Baltimore would be willing to make the sort of deal that sends time / depth their way.  Dylan Bundy has pedigree and has actually been good in the majors.  Last year, was a disaster, he gave up 41 HR’s…..which seems like a lot.  One thing he does okay is strike out hitters, the White Sox need much, much, much more of that.  Let’s gamble.

Trade – Jose Abreu & Yolmer Sanchez to Colorado for Jon Gray. This solves two problems for the Rox that they are desperate for as they look to unseat the Dodgers in the AL West.  Jon Gray is already sort of on the outside looking in as the other young hurlers have sort of passed him at this point.  This is a gamble worth taking by the White Sox.  Also, low key important here, Jon Gray has 3 nice clean minor league options so if he needs reassignment surgery to the bullpen, well, that can happen at Charlotte or thereabouts.

LINEUP
RF – McCutchen
2B – Moncada
1B – Donaldson
3B – Suarez
LF – Jimenez (after April 15th…)
DH – Palka
CF – Maybin
SS – Anderson
C – Narvaez
Bench – L Garcia, Davidson, Castillo, J. Rondon
SP – Corbin, Rodon, Lopez, Bundy, Gray
RP – Jones, Fry, Garrett, Covey, Minaya, Bummer, Frare

SUMMARY
This payroll slides in under $110M, and allows for the growth of the prospects to push guys out of the way and come up and improve this team.  Oh and this team right here becomes one of the best offenses in the AL as well.  Lastly, didn’t have to spend all our money in one shot on Machado or Harper (although I thought about it), this type of plan here seems a little more feasible.  Look, the 108ers can’t watch anymore terrible baseball, it will drive our alcoholism to “Intervention” limits and we all don’t want that, FUN DRUNKS >> SAD, NEAR DEATH, PILLED OUT DRUNKS.

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