Striker’s Offseason Plan

PREAMBLE

The White Sox are in win now mode but have holes to fill in RF and the rotation. Vaughn will fill the void at DH and has a low bar.

ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS

  • Nomar Mazara: $5.6M | $5.9M | $5.7M – Non tender
  • Carlos Rodón: $4.5M | $4.5M | $4.5M – Non tender
  • Lucas Giolito: $2.5M | $5.3M | $2.5M – Tender
  • Reynaldo López: $1.7M | $2.2M | $1.7M – Tender
  • 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, resign at lower cost

CLUB OPTIONS

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

OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS

  • Alex Colomé (Made $10,532,500 in 2020) – Re-sign, 1/$12m. I like having this anchor in the bullpen. I’m not sure there is a strong market for him so he might go with a 1 year deal.
  • James McCann (Made $5.4M in 2020) – let go
  • Jarrod Dyson (Made $2M in 2020) – let go

COACHING STAFF

  • Manager: Fuld
  • Pitching coach: Let Fuld pick

FREE AGENTS

No. 1: Kevin Gausman (3 years, $45m). Gausman is the same age as Bauer and Stroman and has actually performed close to them, though he hasn’t received as much attention. I think he’ll require less $ and less years than the other two so I went with him.

Gausman 985IP, 15.0WAR
Stroman 849IP, 15.9WAR
Bauer 1190IP 19.9WAR

No. 2: Jackie Bradley Jr. (1 year, $10m). I like him over Pederson because of his glove.

No. 3: Jason Castro (1 year, $4m).

TRADES

No. 1: Trade Dylan Cease and Zack Burdi to the Angels for Brandon Marsh. Marsh is a top 100 prospect (#73 MLB Pipeline, #30 Fangraphs with 55FV). He bats LH and can play all three OF positions. I’m hoping he can be a piece to the long term core.

SUMMARY

I figured I could go one of two ways, really push the chips up on the table and go after Stroman/Bauer/Springer or patch holes. Both can blow up in your face, so I took the less risky approach and patched holes.

This payroll lands around $135m, hopefully provides a long term piece in the OF, keeps financial flexibility and adds 180 innings of quality pitching.

SS Anderson
3B Moncada
CA Grandal
1B Abreu
LF Jimenez
CF Robert
RF Bradley Jr.
DH Vaughn
2B Madrigal

BN Castro
BN Garcia
BN Engel
BN Sanchez

SP Giolito
SP Keuchel
SP Gausman
SP Dunning
SP Kopech/Lopez/Flores

CL Colome
LHRP Bummer
LHRP Fry
RHRP Marshall
RHRP Foster
RHRP Heuer
RHRP Ruiz
RHRP Cordero

 

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