PREAMBLE
The White Sox are fully in win-now territory for the next few years. My moves are designed to fill the obvious weaknesses without going overboard on Jerry's wallet. I wish this was not a constraint, but I will believe it is until proven wrong.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Nomar Mazara: $5.6M | $5.9M | $5.7M - Non tender. I wouldn't mind bringing him back as depth as I thought he started to heat up late in the season and his defense was less terrible than I expected. But this is way too much money and he can't be the opening day RF.
- Carlos Rodón: $4.5M | $4.5M | $4.5M - Non tender. He seemed shot this year. Let another team pay to see if they can revive his career.
- Lucas Giolito: $2.5M | $5.3M | $2.5M - Tender. Obvious extension candidate but I doubt the finances would work for Giolito.
- Reynaldo López: $1.7M | $2.2M | $1.7M - Tender. One last gasp to see if a new pitching coach can get something out of him.
- Evan Marshall: $1.3M | $1.9M | $1.4M - Obvious tender.
- Adam Engel: $1M | $1.4M | $1M - Tender. Very solid 4th OF.
- Jace Fry: $800K | $1M | $800K - Tender. Need a second lefty in the bullpen and I don't have the payroll room to add someone better.
- Yolmer Sánchez: Non-tender. Possible add on a minor league deal later in the offseason.
CLUB OPTIONS
- Edwin Encarnación: $12M - Decline
- Gio González: $7M ($500K buyout) - Decline
- Leury García: $3.5M ($250K buyout) - Pick up. Still valuable as a utility player.
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Alex Colomé (Made $10,532,500 in 2020) - Let go. Good player but priced out of our range.
- James McCann (Made $5.4M in 2020) - Let go for the same reason as Colome.
- Jarrod Dyson (Made $2M in 2020) - Let go.
COACHING STAFF
- Manager: Matt Quatraro
- Pitching coach: Ruben Niebla
I wouldn't mind AJ Hinch, as the cheating doesn't bother me to a huge degree as I think it's unlikely to repeat itself. On the other hand, Hinch had a poor tenure with the Diamondbacks and you have to at least slightly discount his Astros' tenure given the circumstances.
Quatraro is part of one of the best organizations in baseball that has experience winning under some of the same financial constraints the White Sox impose on themselves. He's been a hot candidate recently and I like the idea of grabbing someone from that organization.
In a similar vein, I'm grabbing the Indians' assistant pitching coach. Niebla has been part of their pitching development team since 2013, and the Indians have one of the best track records in the sport for developing pitchers.
FREE AGENTS
Only one major league signing. We're running it back with mostly the same team as last year.
- Taijuan Walker - 2 years/$28 million plus a club option for $20 million with a $2 million buyout
Walker is still young for a free agent, and his significant injury history should keep his price down. He's coming off a good, albeit limited season and has quality stuff. I'd love to sign Bauer or Stroman, but I think both will be priced out of the Sox range.
TRADES
- Trade Bryce Bush, Gavin Sheets, Luis Gonzalez, and Spencer Adams to Boston for Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Benintendi
I'm assuming Boston is still looking to shed payroll as they retool. There's no way they go for this if they're trying to contend. Benintendi is a nice player who we can slide into RF and expect above-average performance. His arbitration number is $6.6 million for this season and he carries one additional year of control.
Eovaldi quietly had a solid 9 starts in 2020. His contract is likely underwater with 2 years remaining at $17 million and coming off a disastrous 2019 season, which is why we're able to make this trade without giving up anyone of significance. If Eovaldi pitches like he did in 2020, he'll be an effective mid-rotation starter. If he pitches like 2019, he'll be pitching out of the pen in mop-up duty.
SUMMARY
Here's the final 26-man roster
C: Yasmani Grandal and Zack Collins
1B/DH: Jose Abreu and Andrew Vaughn
2B: Nick Madrigal
3B: Yoan Moncada
SS: Tim Anderson
OF: Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Andrew Benintendi, and Adam Engel
UTIL: Leury Garcia
SP: Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Taijuan Walker, Dane Dunning, Dylan Cease
RP: Aaron Bummer, Matt Foster, Cody Heuer, Evan Marshall, Zack Burdi, Jace Fry
Pitching Depth: Michael Kopech, Nathan Eovaldi, Reynaldo Lopez
Total Payroll: $134.5 million
I didn't get the front line starter like I wanted, but I think there is more reasonable depth this year and I'm confident you can find starters 3 and 4 out of the group of Walker, Eovaldi, Kopech, Dunning, and Cease. The relievers could be an issue as there's not a lot of depth here, but given the randomness of bullpens I didn't want to focus my spending in that area.
The lineup should be stacked. I'm nervous about the backup catcher, but I want Grandal playing most days anyway. If Collins can't do the job, Mercedes or a street free agent should be able to spell Grandal 1-2 days per week. DH is obviously left to a rookie, but given Vaughn's pedigree I feel alright with that. Benintendi significantly improves RF. I think this team is the front runner for the AL Central.
