Should all the ink dry on Eloy Jimenez's reported six-to-eight-year contract extension, the White Sox will have solved one of their two biggest problems entering the season.
They'll no longer be running out an Opening Day roster to paying customers that's worse than it has to be.
Service-time debates are gross, especially ones that drag out over months and different calendars. It's one thing when a GM delivers BS with a wink and a smirk to get past a two- or three-week threshold. It's another when The Lie becomes the dominant story line, and fans treat stomaching long-running deception and a worse product as a badge of savviness to lord over other fans who have the gall to seek entertainment from their entertainment.
That's over, and while Jimenez might've had to forsake some money in order to get called up on Opening Day instead of weathering more time in the waiting room, he set a precedent for players without a day of service time, and by a significant cushion.
(There is the possibility that Jimenez won't break camp with the Sox on Opening Day because he was already optioned to the minors, but the Sox might be able to use or fudge an injury to get him on an MLB roster before the customary waiting period.)
Jimenez doesn't have a whole lot of comps with this contract, but he blows away the ones we've known about, whether in terms of guaranteed dollars or max value. Scott Kingery agreed to six years and $24 million, maxing out at $66 over nine years if three options are extended. George Springer rejected a seven-year, $23 million contract under similar roster pressure and was smart to do so, because he'll make $24 million over his last two arbitration years.
While Jimenez's deal will be a bargain if he meets his potential, it doesn't immediately resemble outright theft akin to Chris Sale's extension. If he signed for Kingery's deal, sure. That's basically Tim Anderson's contract, and while the Sox are still waiting on Anderson to put his game together, his ups and downs really don't affect their bottom line.
Jimenez's deal ... could. We've seen the White Sox get blocked in previous winters by $12 million for Adam LaRoche, and we saw them pull up short on Manny Machado because of the potential of future obligations. This spring's numbers aside, Jimenez should be a force. Yet between his injuries and his defensive limitations, one should acknowledge the chance that Jimenez's career ends up on the ordinary side, and the Sox don't fare so well when carrying ordinary players getting paid eight figures.
Connecting Jimenez and LaRoche shows you just how thoroughly the White Sox have infected my joy receptors over the years. The Sox are highly proficient in making everything more difficult than it has to be, and their half-hearted pursuit of Machado shows they lack the imagination to think they could ever transcend the restraints they place upon themselves.
Jimenez is the kind of player who can reframe the rebuild -- and thus the franchise -- by himself, which is why I wanted him up for that half-season last year. If he exploded upon the scene last year like Juan Soto or Ronald Acuña Jr., perhaps Jerry Reinsdorf could have been more convinced that Machado gets the Sox all the closer to contention. With Jimenez's talents still largely unknown, any immediate leap was still wholly speculative.
The free agents are missing -- and shouldn't ever be counted upon -- but Jimenez's potential impact and the way it dictates the future remains. If he hits and the White Sox roster falls into place behind him, they could terrorize the AL Central for the foreseeable future and they should never carry a sub-$100 million payroll again. If Jimenez and the rest of the roster never quite materialize, Rick Hahn can tear it all down and start Rebuild No. 3, with Kenny Williams around to get 90 percent of the blame. Jimenez's extension is great for the books, but I don't think it changes the potential courses of the franchise any by itself. Everything was already going to be settled within the six years of his initial team control.
If all goes well, Jimenez's cost certainty will merely protect the Sox against their worst tendencies. As Sale, Jose Quintana and Adam Eaton show, great contracts alone can only do so much. Still, after two years without players of Sale's caliber, Jimenez gives Sox fans a reason to watch again. Whether those Sox fans have the highest of hopes of Jimenez or are prepared for the worst, everybody should agree that it's time to know what we're really looking at.
