"Room for More"
The White Sox are in a nice place for a transition year. Having a realistic shot at a playoff run should be the goal here, without touching any of the major prospects in a trade. Also preserving depth for future moves to be ready if/when they arise. That being said, RF/DH were ghastly this past year, and any improvement there should significantly improve the club.
Also time should be given to allow players like Robert, Madrigal, and Collins to develop more in situations.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
Alex Colomé, $10.3M - Tender
Yolmer Sánchez, $6.2M - Non-Tender
James McCann, $4.9M - Tender
Carlos Rodon, $4.5M - Tough call but I will tender. Call it a midseason addition?
Leury García, $4M - Tender
Evan Marshall, $1.3M - Tender
Josh Osich, $1M - Tender
Ryan Goins, $900K - Non-Tender
CLUB OPTIONS
Welington Castillo: $8 million/$500,000 buyout - Decline
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
Jose Abreu (made $16M in 2019) - Re-sign for 2/22.5M (10.5M,11M, 13M option with 1M buyout)
Iván Nova (made $9,166,167 in 2019) - Let Go
Jon Jay (made $4M in 2019) - LOL
Hector Santiago (made $2M in 2019 on split contract) - Let Go. He is our pitching version of Gordon Beckham.
FREE AGENTS
No. 1: Zach Wheeler, 4 years, 72M. Similar structure to Arrieta contract where he has a two year opt out, but the Sox retain a 3 year option at 67.5M if he opts out. 4 years minimum guarantee.
No. 2: Yasmani Grandal, 4 years, 76M.
No. 3: Alex Wood, 1 year, 5M. Injury bug bit him last year, but we could really use a left hander.
No. 4: Martin Maldonado, 1 year, 2M.
TRADES
No. 1: Trade Blake Rutherford and Jonathan Stiever to Pittsburgh for Starling Marte.
SUMMARY
Signing Grandal gives the Sox some massively necessary left handed pop. For now, a spot is also included in the lineup for Collins. We need to see if he can develop into what we drafted him for. Between the lack of a daily DH and the 26th man, this allows (and almost necessitates) a 3rd catcher when including Collins. This gives us a bit of mix and match approach.
I still think the Sox sign Wheeler, however after looking at his injury history I think his contract looks more like Arrieta, and the AAV winds up a bit shy of 20M. Grandal gets about the contract he was looking for last off-season and can rotate at DH.
I also do not think Abreu's market will be all that robust, which is why I only gave him 2/22.5.
This leaves with a payroll of around 108-110M, and still allows for a bullpen addition. If we want to add one more arm we can.
I also called this "Room For One More" because with a rotating DH and seemingly a spot open in the bullpen, this allows us to see how the season progresses, and potentially nab a big trade target midseason, or gear up for next year with a little more salary room to go. Potentially Grandal could DH and McCann be behind the plate, Abreu could DH and Collins could be at first. If Madrigal struggles, Leury is still there to step in.
Lineup:
2B Madrigal
3B Moncada
1B/DH Abreu
C/DH Grandal
RF Marte
LF Jimenez
SS Anderson
CF Robert
C/DH Collins/McCann
Bench:
Zack Collins
Leury Garcia
Adam Engel
James McCann
Martin Maldonado
Rotation:
Wheeler
Giolito
Lopez
Wood
Cease
Bullpen:
Colome
Herrera
Fry
Marshall
Fulmer
Banuelos
Cordero
Osich
Payroll around 108M-110M.
