PREAMBLE
The 2020 season is one in which the White Sox find themselves in a position to seriously add where they lack depth and prove respectable; all for the purpose of becoming an actual contender in 2021. As the guy who, weekly, makes you try to remember Zeke bleepin’ Bonura, it’d be nice to have a futuristic technology that’d allow me to resurrect some of the older guys, get them into playing shape, show you why they’d fit in, and then insert them into the lineup.
Fortunately, such technology does not exist, and so I am forced to acquire players who are alive, good at baseball, and will slot in nicely at their respective position(s). For this exercise, I’m operating along the lines of what I think the White Sox might *actually* do: avoid the really big-ticket free agents, look for a reclamation project that might be able to help, maybe trade for a guy, and resign Jose Abreu.
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
NOTES:
- The $10.3 million tender for Colomé is a little steep given the closer’s iffy peripherals, but the bullpen needs depth, and he can help provide that.
- Sanchez’s non-tender is a no-brainer considering he’s a glove-only infielder whose offense cratered last season. That $6.2 million can be used elsewhere. We’ll always have fond memories of his Gatorade antics, though.
- Josh brings up good points regarding his non-tendering of Rodon; I’d still like to see how he recovers before making a final decision.
- Osich would have been somebody I’d have tendered a contract to in the past, but the three-batter minimum that’ll be introduced next season puts his utility up in the air.
CLUB OPTIONS
Welington Castillo: Decline-- $500,000 buyout
Goodbye, Mr. Beef. You never did turn out to be as good as actual Mr. Beef.
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Jose Abreu: Chairman Reinsdorf has spoken, but he didn’t say to overpay -- re-sign: 2 year, $22 million deal + club option ($14 million, $3 million buyout). (The 2 years are structured thusly: $10 million in 2020, $12 million in 2021)
- Iván Nova: The Sox can find equal depth for less money-- let go
- Jon Jay: #LOLZ #FakeFoundingFather-- Let go
- Hector Santiago: Let go
FREE AGENTS
- No. 1: Sign Yasmani Grandal (4 years, $60 million)
I’m going to try to entice Grandal with a similar deal as last year, and hope that a year later the price has come down. It’s very White Sox, after all. Anywhoozle, we all know what Grandal brings to the table: good pitch framing, and an OBP that surpasses anything the Sox have. Additionally, he gives the Sox C/1B/DH flexibility. I foresee a rotation of Grandal/McCann/Collins in those roles as they fit the player in question.
- No. 2: Sign Zack Wheeler (5 years, $90 million)
I’ll begin by saying that the injury history is a past concern. The last two seasons have been terrific, and the peripherals are generally in line. The home run rate could be a bit lower, and might give one pause, but Wheeler is one of the best of the free agent starting pitching class not named Cole or Strasburg.
- No. 3: Sign Will Smith (3 years, $30 million)
In my plan, the Sox probably need another left-handed relief option, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s a danged good one at that. On the surface, the home run per nine gives one pause (granted, small-ish sample size), but 6 of his 10 given up this year came at Colorado, Arizona, or Cincinnati. On the other hand, a 2.76 ERA/3.23 FIP/1.026 WHIP works quite well; the home/away splits seem like they’ll ride, too, away from Colorado and Arizona.
- No. 4: Sign Felix Hernandez (1 year, $6 million)
Oh, the mileage on this arm: 2700+ innings through an age 33 season is a heckuva lot. On the other hand, perhaps a change in organization stimulates King Felix, and he commits to a reinvention: he was resistant to much change while in Seattle. One last “Coop’ll fix ‘em” gets the King on the path of C.C. Sabathia. If it doesn’t work out, Hernandez is released, traded, or moved to the bullpen in a swingman role once Kopech is through his rehab.
TRADES
Trade Steele Walker and Dane Dunning to the Tampa Bay Rays for Tommy Pham*.
Tommy Pham is getting into the “too rich for the Rays” arbitration territory. Pham is slotted for $8.6 million in arbitration: it’s time for the White Sox to take that on, and give up some future value in return. The Rays get an outfielder to add depth to their system (Fangraphs has some higher-risk outfielders in the Rays system above Walker) as well as a possible mid- to back-end starter in the near future. If the Rays asked for Stiever instead of Dunning, I’d accept that as well.
For the White Sox, they get an outfielder with a good OBP, decent power, and okay defense. For this exercise, Pham and Luis Robert likely split time between center and right. (And yes, I’ll acknowledge here that Pham has played only 10 career games in right field)
*Using baseballtradevalues trade simulator, this trade was accepted: The Rays receive a total value of 12.7 while the White Sox get 13.7 in Pham.
SUMMARY
This plan takes care of starting pitcher, right field, another high-leverage reliever spot, catcher, and flexibility to move folks around in the DH/1B/C position. While it’d be nice to simply chuck a couple of question marks from last year’s roster and sign free agents instead (Gerrit Cole AND Stephen Strasburg in place of Rodon and Lopez, anybody?), that isn’t how it works with the organization that is currently the White Sox. This is an attempt to work within the constraints laid out: try not to mortgage the future, and still give flexibility to make some moves within the season, as necessary.
Position Players: Starters
- C- Yasmani Grandal ($15 M)
- 1B- Jose Abreu ($10 M)
- 2B- Nick Madrigal ($550K)
- SS- Tim Anderson ($4 M)
- 3B- Yoan Moncada ($550K)
- LF- Eloy Jimenez ($2.33 M)
- CF- Luis Robert ($550K)
- RF- Tommy Pham ($8.6 M)
Position Players: Bench
- C/DH- James McCann ($4.9 M)
- C/DH/1B- Zack Collins ($550K)
- UTIL- Leury Garcia ($4 M)
- OF- Adam Engel ($550K)
- INF- Danny Mendick ($550K)
SP Rotation
- Lucas Giolito ($550K)
- Zack Wheeler ($18 M)
- Reynaldo Lopez ($550K)
- Dylan Cease ($550K)
- Felix Hernandez ($6 M)
- Carlos Rodon ($4.5 M) -- 60-day IL to begin season
Bullpen
- Alex Colome ($10.3 M)
- Will Smith - L ($10 M)
- Aaron Bummer - L ($550K)
- Kelvin Herrera - ($8.5 M)
- Jace Fry - L ($550K)
- Jimmy Cordero ($550K)
- Evan Marshall ($1.3 M)
- Tyler Johnson ($550K)
Total: Assuming my math is correct --never a given, to be sure-- that's $110.08 million, with another $4.5 M coming from Rodon. That still gives a bit of wiggle room for arbitration, or unexpectedly signing other free agents or trade candidates/taking on salary.
