Orajestad9’s Offseason Plan

PREAMBLE

After making the playoffs behind a fantastic offense its time for the White Sox to push their chips in and go for it.  We know that this offseason’s biggest issues appear to be right field, DH and Starting Pitching.  I’ll attempt to fill these holes with the best players on the market while trying to stay within a reasonable budget.

ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS

• Nomar Mazara: $5.6M | $5.9M | $5.7M - Non Tender
• Carlos Rodón: $4.5M | $4.5M | $4.5M - Non Tender and Re-sign ($1.5 million)
• Lucas Giolito: $2.5M | $5.3M | $2.5M - Tender and Extend
• Reynaldo López: $1.7M | $2.2M | $1.7M - Non Tender and bring back on minor league deal
• Evan Marshall: $1.3M | $1.9M | $1.4M - Tender
• Adam Engel: $1M | $1.4M | $1M - Tender
• Jace Fry: $800K | $1M | $800K - Tender
• Yolmer Sánchez: Uncertain – Non Tender

The decision on Mazara was pretty easy given what he provided during the shortened season.  I’d look into extending Giolito and would expect his salary for 2021 to be similar to his arbitration value in such an extension.  Lopez can come back on a minor league deal if he doesn’t catch on elsewhere.  As far as Rodon is concerned I think he was mishandled when he returned from injury and only threw a couple post-injury outings.  I’d bring him back at a lower cost on a 1 year deal with him being a multi-inning reliever out of the pen.

CLUB OPTIONS

• Edwin Encarnación: $12M - Decline
• Gio González: $7M ($500K buyout) - Buyout
• Leury García: $3.5M ($250K buyout) - Buyout

Leury is to injury-prone to be depended on to provide value in a full season.

OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS

• Alex Colomé (Made $10,532,500 in 2020) - Let Go
• James McCann (Made $5.4M in 2020) - Let Go
• Jarrod Dyson (Made $2M in 2020) - Let Go

I’d like to keep Colome but not at that salary given the holes elsewhere on the roster.  I think we all agree that McCann will be getting a starting job elsewhere for more money than makes sense for the White Sox to spend on a backup catcher.

COACHING STAFF

• Manager: Matt Quartaro – This has been a popular name during the offseason project.  For me I want a manager who comes from a team that isn’t afraid to think outside of the box and has had success doing that.  I’d also like a manager from a team that seems to embrace analytics more than previous White Sox managers
• Pitching coach: Matt Zaleski – Rick Hahn said in his year end presser that an internal candidate could fill this spot. Zaleski has had success with the White Sox’s young arms in Charlotte and has familiarity with much of the pitching staff already.

FREE AGENTS

No. 1: Trevor Bauer (1 year, $30 million + $33 million player option) - In 2020 after the first two starters everything went bad pretty quickly.  This is the best starter on the market and has stated in the past that he’d be open to a short-term deal.

No. 2: Kurt Suzuki (1 year, $5 million + $5 million team option) - I’d like a veteran presence in the back up catcher role as opposed to Zach Collins who hasn’t yet proved himself to be a major leaguer.

No 3: Nelson Cruz (1 year $15 million + $15 million team option) - I’m not ready to hand over the keys to DH to Vaughn on the first day of 2020.  Cruz will be looking for a raise after yet another great offensive season.

TRADES

No. 1: Trade Evan Marshall, Jonathan Stiever, and Luis Gonzalez to NYM for Michael Conforto.

Price Tag: $139 million

Rotation: 

Bullpen:

Position Players: 

SUMMARY 

The White Sox are at the point where they just need to go for it.  This plan fills the two glaring holes in right field and designated hitter while also adding a top line starter.  The bullpen concerns me a little bit with all the injury risk and inexperienced arms but keeping within the budget prevented me from retaining Colome or adding from the outside.