PREAMBLE
I am not good at math, so would one of you actuaries or data guys run this roster's salary projection? I tend to do alright kind of balancing things in my head and I think I am in the goldilocks zone.
Obviously the White Sox met the expectations we had before the season started but those expectations moved upwards as the season went on and they fizzled out of the playoffs against the Oakland A's. This was largely because our starting pitching was too green, our manager was horrendous we didn't upgrade the bullpen at the deadline and Rick Hahn once again couldn't get it up when it came to pro scouting Encarnacion and Mazara. I hope Steele Walker has a great career in Texas.
My 10- year old helped me with this a bit because he pays more attention to MLB than I do nowadays. I think this is the first serious Off-Season plan I have ever submitted.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Nomar Mazara: $5.6M | $5.9M | $5.7M - Non-Tender and berate publicly in the press.
- Carlos Rodón: $4.5M | $4.5M | $4.5M - Non-Tender. One of the more disappointing draft picks, was so excited he fell to us that I called into the live podcast with jimmy and josh.
- Lucas Giolito: $2.5M | $5.3M | $2.5M - Tender - extend midseason for whatever he'd like
- Reynaldo López: $1.7M | $2.2M | $1.7M - Tender and trade
- Evan Marshall: $1.3M | $1.9M | $1.4M - Tender
- Adam Engel: $1M | $1.4M | $1M - Tender
- Jace Fry: $800K | $1M | $800K - Tender. Jace seemed to get better after he got a haircut. Lefty.
- Yolmer Sánchez: Uncertain - Hell no
CLUB OPTIONS
- Edwin Encarnación: $12M - Decline
- Gio González: $7M ($500K buyout) Decline
- Leury García: $3.5M ($250K buyout) Decline
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
- Alex Colomé (Made $10,532,500 in 2020) - Let go. He has been walking a tight rope since August 2019. His success has been enjoyable but astonishing.
- James McCann (Made $5.4M in 2020) Let go. I told rhub jr. that he sucked at the start of 2019 and he has taken great pleasure in proving me wrong as he thought he was good. Too expensive for our tastes and he doesn't hit enough dingers.
- Jarrod Dyson (Made $2M in 2020) Let go. Not even sure why we got him in the first place because he was never utilized correctly.
COACHING STAFF
- Manager: Sandy Alomar Jr - Loved the Alomar brothers and he has been working closely with Francona. This would be like if the White Sox hired Dave Martinez instead of Renteria. I am skeptical the White Sox will hire someone who hasn't been in the organization before and Alomar Jr has the least Sox stench on him.
- Pitching coach: Kyle Boddy - Owner of Driveline, buy him out of Cincinnati. Driveline is biggest thing in baseball right now, outside of whatever teams are doing that we don't know about.
FREE AGENTS
No 1. - Trevor Bauer - 1 year / 21$ million - Bringing in Boddy as the Pitching Coach will show Bauer we are serious about changing our culture. Boddy could convince him to extend during the season if things are going well. This will attract more free agents in the coming years.
No 2. - Marcell Ozuna - 4 years / 80$ million - This was a no brainer for me last off-season (along with Castellanos but I won't trade for Castellanos now). He is brutal in the OF but he can make up for that by hitting dingers. The lefty/righty split stuff is not a worry for me with this lineup because we will mash regardless.
Tommy La Stella - 1 year /$4 million - Lefty Bench bat, back up for 2B, SS and 3B. Good OBP. Solid player and a tough out.
TRADES
No. 1: Trade Dylan Cease and Reynaldo Lopez to Houston for Jose Urquidy. Astros get two good pieces and maybe they can teach Cease and Lopez some efficiency. Urquidy is just someone I want.
No. 2: Trade Michael Kopech and Luis Gonzalez to the Royals for Whit Merrifield. Kopech might need a change of scenery after opting out and the White Sox might remind him of his baby momma. The Royals can wish cast on a Singer Kopech 1-2 punch for several years.
No. 3 Trade Andrew Vaughn and Jimmy Lambert for Tyler Mahle and Raisel Iglesias - Reds will need a 1B and or DH with the NL going to DH full-time and Votto getting very old. We get another solid starter and a closer who is locked up for years.
SUMMARY
We traded most of the farm but for pieces that we can use next year. We cut a lot of White stench out of the team and added some true competitors to shore up our weak links. This team should win the Central and be able to go deep in the playoffs.
C - Grandal
1B - Abreu
2B - Madrigal
SS - Anderson
3B - Moncada
LF - Jimenez/Ozuna
CF - Robert
RF - Merrifield
DH - Ozuna/Jimenez
Bench
La Stella
Mercedes
Engel
Mendick
Starting Rotation
Bauer
Giolito
Kuechel
Urquidy
Mahle
Bullpen
Iglesias
Marshall
Bummer
Heuer
Crotchet
Foster
Fry
Burdi
