The Time to be competitive is now. The Whitesox will hopefully a trendy surprise playoff prediction this year, and lets make it for the right reasons. I'm going to build a team that can compete for a title in 2020. To do so may require an... unpopular move or two. Lets make it happen
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 -- NON TENDER
- Ryan Goins, $900K -- NON TENDER
I hate how easy it is for all of us to cut a gold glove caliber utility infielder at a 1 year 6M price tag. I dont believe its quite as cut and dry as we're making it out to be. At the end of the day though, Reinsdorf is our owner. If we're gonna stay under 120M and compete, Yolmer has to go, and be replaced by Mendick. The rest of these are pretty straight forward, though I dont think picking up Osich is terrible.
CLUB OPTIONS
- Welington Castillo: $8 million/$500,000 buyout -- Decline.OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Jose Abreu -- RE-SIGN - 2 Years/$30M, $12M Club option/2M Buyout
- Iván Nova - Gone
- Jon Jay - lol
- Hector Santiago - gone
Jose is going to get more than 2/25 in my opinion. Is he worth more than that? Probably not. But the Sox cant let him go. the 2M buyout is a sweetener.
I should have about $60 Million to spend to get myself under budget. Lets do it.
FREE AGENTS
Sign Zach Wheeler 5 Years/85M (17M AAV) - We all know the Whitesox need pitching. And realistically I dont see us getting Gerrit Cole. If Reinsdorf is going to continue to refuse to spend anywhere near the luxury tax threshold, I dont think we even should sign cole. Zach Wheeler has 55-60 grade "stuff", will be 30 years old, and has healthily thrown 182 and 195 innings the past 2 years. He will help us. A lot. 43 mil payroll remains
Sign Madison Bumgarner 4 years/56M (14M AAV) - There are a lot of miles on Bumgarner's arm and that can be scary. But we need a guy like this on the staff. Hes not the ace of old, but slotting in at #3 in 2020 and #4 or 5 in future years? This works. 29 mil payroll remains
Sign Alex Wood - 1 year/7M, + 1 year 9m team option / 2M buyout - Greg Nix you stole my swing man! When Alex Wood is healthy, he is very good. Alex Wood has not been healthy at all in his career. Hes a risk add, but if he is healthy would provide excelling innings, and is obtainable on a 1 year deal. Love that risk/reward. 22 mil payroll remains
Sign Tanner Roark - 2 years/18M (9m AAV) - WTF Neat, whats with all the pitching! Uh, We'll get to that later. 2019 has scarred me. I love Alex Wood but we cant bank on him being healthy. Roark gives us that protection. I'm signing him as another swingman/Bullpen piece. 13 mil payroll remains
Sign Corey Dickerson - 2 years /14M (7m AAV)- I have absolutely no idea how much Dickerson will be worth. I'm probably overpaying him. I'm trying to be fair here. Dickerson is Zach Collins DH insurance, he may get 100 games at DH. 6m payroll remains
TRADES
Whitesox Trade Dylan Cease to Dodgers for RF Alex Verdugo - Fortune Favors the Bold. Alex Verdugo can be had for the right price, and i'm gonna be the guy to hand Cease's raw materials to the LA Pitchign Gurus. Verdu Walks in and plugs all our offensive Needs - Left handed RF who will OPS over .800 and has 4 more years of team Control. There is absolutely no good answers at RF in free agency this year. I'm tired of band Aids, give me Alex Verdugo! Payroll Wash
SUMMARY
Lets Lay Out our 2020 Whitesox First:
Starting Pitchers: Giolito - Wheeler - Bumgarner - Kopech - Lopez
Bullpen: Colome - Bummer - Marshall - Cordero - Fry - Wood - Roark - Herrera
1B - Abreu
2B - Madrigal
SS - Anderson
3B - Moncada
LF - Eloy
CF - Robert
RF - Verdugo
C - Mccann
DH - Dickerson
INF - Mendick
OF - Engel
C - Collins
UTIL - Garcia
I believe this roster has the pitching depth to actually sustain an entire season at an above average level, and an offense that has no major flaws, though it does lack depth. I've Fixed both our Left Handed and OF/DH problems with a long term answer (Verdugo) and a Band aid Fix (Dickerson). Catching Depth is a big concern here, as I have left Zach Collins the primary backup Catcher. However, I do have ~6M left in payroll flexibility to bring in a Veteran as Needed. Looking to bring in a defensive oriented Veteran on a Minor league deal, as well as flier bullpen arms on minor league deals, with that money.
I traded Cease. Believe he can be a great pitcher and I believe the Dodgers are the best team to make him that. But as much as I want to be a fan of "get the best guys regardless of handedness" - You cant go into 2020 with Moncada and Collins as your only real Left Handed bats and expect to win. Verdugo fixes that problem long term, and I believe he can grow into an absolute stud for years to come to provide a long term death row of Moncada/Eloy/Verdugo/Robert
Pitching Depth outside the 26th man still brings us Rodon/Dunning/Stiever, so we're not hopeless on the loss of Cease.
If you hate it, let me know! Here sto hoping for another competitive season!
