PREAMBLE
Alright let's be serious here for a moment. The White Sox aren't signing Gerrit Cole. They aren't signing Anthony Rendon. They aren't. So rather than try and guess the 4-5 mid-level guys they'll actually bring in, here goes my plan. It is not real, it's not realistic and it's not happening. But anyways, let's see how many old players we can get here.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Alex Colomé, $10.3M, tender
- Yolmer Sánchez, $6.2M, non-tender
- James McCann, $4.9M, tender
- Carlos Rodon, $4.5M, tender
- Leury García, $4M, tender
- Evan Marshall, $1.3M, tender
- Josh Osich, $1M, tender
- Ryan Goins, $900K, tender
So not a ton of surprises here. Yolmer is the only one I wouldn't bring back. $6.2 is a lot to pay for a glove only 2B. I'd rather Leury Garcia and Danny Mendick be your two extra infielders while Ryan Goins hangs out in Charlotte in case of injury. I'm fine with bringing Carlos Rodon under the idea that I know he's working his ass off in rehab right now. There have long been rumors that Rodon has never worked out and if he's legit in the best shape of his life right now, I'm interested in seeing what that looks like. Even if he's not in incredible shape, I think my plan for him right now is as a set-up man. Not what we (and I'm sure he) wants but it limits his innings, which limits his injuries, and lets him throw harder.
CLUB OPTIONS
Write “pick up” or “decline” after the option.
- Welington Castillo: $8 million/$500,000 buyout. Lol I often like players that are unpopular with Sox fans but not this one. It's been a trip, Beef. Buh bye
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
Try to retain, or let go?
- Jose Abreu (made $16M in 2019) Sign 5 years/75 million ($15 mil/year)
- Iván Nova (made $9,166,167 in 2019) Sign 1 year/7 million
- Jon Jay (made $4M in 2019) Let Go
- Hector Santiago (made $2M in 2019 on split contract) Offer minor league deal
Abreu is a lifetime Sox. He gets to break his own record with the highest contract in franchise history and he retires when that deal ends. Nova is gonna be my insurance policy in case Kopech isn't ready, which would be really bad. Hector Santiago will be in the Sox organization for as long as he wants to be because we all love Hector, right?
FREE AGENTS
Felix Hernandez, 1 year/ 5 million: Veteran leadership, am I right? Coop'll fix 'em. He's your #5 on Opening Day and will probably be gone by June. If I could time it perfectly, he's gone when Rodon returns. The King's Court is the new (old?) Shark Cage.
Yasiel Puig, 6 years/ 80 million (13.34/year): Kenny always gets his man. Williams has had interest in Puig for years. Jose's biggest contract record falls shortly after he signs his extension to his countryman. There's always been this idea (from my dad and I know he got it somewhere) that having Abreu and Moncada would calm down Puig's less than good plays and boost his interest in playing. Please ignore that he said he's not going to try next year.
Howie Kendrick, 2 years/ 6 million: The playoff hero! The team needs more veteran leadership and great playoff experience that Felix doesn't have. He will under-perform because almost all White Sox free agent signings do.
Matt Wieters, 1 year/ 2 million: He signed with the Cards for $100k last year so we'll overpay him to be the backup catcher. Maybe they can do it two years in a row with their backup catcher (they can't)
TRADES
Propose trades that you think sound reasonable for both sides, and the rationale behind them. A good example of a bad idea:
Trade Jonathan Stiever and Gavin Sheets for Jackie Bradley, Jr.
It's pretty simple here. Kenny gets his other man, you get someone who can cover for Eloy's defense in LF for at least 2 years or even moves Luis Robert to LF and Eloy to DH. Plus this frees up some money for the Red Sox to pay both Mookie and JD.
Sheets has done nothing in the AFL but hey his second half SLG, right? I got to see Stiever pitch in High-A this year and it was cool but like pitching well in the Carolina League means nothing. His trade value won't be higher.
SUMMARY
Starting Lineup Opening Day:
- C: James McCann
- 1B: Jose Abreu
- 2B: Howie Kendrick (Madrigal is in Charlotte learning that his second season will be shortened due to a labor dispute)
- 3B: Yoan Moncada
- SS: Tim Anderson
- LF: Eloy Jimenez
- CF: Jackie Bradley, Jr.
- RF: Yasiel Puig
- DH: Zack Collins
Rotation is as follows:
- Lucas Giolito
- Reynaldo Lopez
- Dylan Cease
- Ivan Nova
- Felix Hernandez
Kopech is going to start in AAA for reasons and would probably replace Felix or Nova when he comes up.
Bullpen:
- Alex Colome
- Kelvin Herrera
- Dylan Covey (lol)
- Jace Fry
- Ryan Burr
- Tyler Johnson (we don't need to manipulate a reliever's service time, do we?)
- Aaron Bummer
Bench Pieces:
- Leury Garcia (will play 4-5 days a week at 4-5 different positions)
- Matt Wieters
- Danny Mendick (INF utility man)
- Daniel Palka (debated him and Engel but JBJ's OF skills keeps Engel in Charlotte. Palka will be mainly a DH/PH option for a month but if he wants to spend some time this winter learning to play 1B it'd be helpful)
Robert and Madrigal come up and replace Palka and Mendick. They come up a week apart during a home stand to pop the attendance multiple times. Kopech comes up 2 weeks later also during a home stand to pop the attendance a third time and Covey goes down and we figure out who is the worst and send them to the bullpen. Vaughn doesn't come up this year even though he's thrashing AAA and they come up with a somehow worse excuse than being tired.
So that's it. I know what you're thinking. "This isn't a great roster." Well that's fair. I wasn't trying to pull out all the stops. The payroll is only about $90 million. Prove me wrong, White Sox.
