Where would the White Sox be now if they had signed Manny Machado?

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JULY 29: San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado (13) celebrates a two-run home run during the Major League Baseball game between the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants on July 29, 2020 at Oracle Park in San Francisco, CA. (Photo by Bob Kupbens/Icon Sportswire)

There’s a fresh edition of P.O. Sox coming later today for Sox Machine supporters on Patreon, but I need to tie up a loose end from last week’s mailbag first.

Two Dog asked a terrific question that I began to answer, only to realize that I would need a lot more time to be convinced of my own thought process. With Prospect Week in the rear view mirror, and with an ice storm giving me nowhere else to go, I had time to fully wrap my mind around it.

Thoughts on what the Sox situation would be today if Manny Machado had taken 10/$300 mill. How that would affect current payroll? Where would Moncada be? What moves wouldn’t have occurred if Machado was in Chicago? How would that affect the extensions that were completed? Would the team be in better shape to win the World Series? Etc.

The closest thing the White Sox have to dealing with a contract that size was more than 20 years ago, so we have to establish an entire context ourselves before figuring out how the Sox might even react to the various courses of action. My attempt:

THE COST

Machado’s contract is easy to digest: 10 years, $30 million per, with the ability to opt out after 2023. The White Sox had already made all significant roster additions before Machado signed with San Diego, so you only have to subtract a league-minimum payroll when adding him.

Machado’s 2019 salary was technically $10 million, but he also received a $20 million signing bonus due 30 days after the contract took effect. This means you can calculate the payroll two ways:

No. 1: Official MLB calculations. Machado earned only $12 million ($10 million plus a prorated amount of his $20 million signing bonus), which would only inflate the White Sox payroll to about $104 million, using Spotrac’s figures. Coincidentally, they’d be replacing the Padres at the 24th spot.

No. 2: RealFeel payroll. Because the $20 million came out of the White Sox’s pockets in 2019, it’s fair to mentally account for it as a 2019 expenditure. That’d push the payroll to $121 million or thereabouts, good for 19th place, one spot behind the Twins and two ahead of the Tigers.

I’ll introduce a third figure:

No. 3: Discounting Friends and Family. There were no pressing baseball reasons to add Yonder Alonso or Jon Jay, who combined to earn $12 million for their “contributions” to the 2019 season. While the White Sox didn’t say they acquired Machado’s brother-in-law and close friend in order to lure him to Chicago for less than his asking price, everybody pretty much saw through the scheme. And it can be called a “scheme” because neither Alonso nor Jay came close to justifying the signings with their play. In fact, both were cut before the end of the season. With no major replacements, the ReelFeel payroll comes down to $110 million.

A Machado-sized contract would only further incentivize the Sox to get the other players locked in, even if they think they might have to shift or offload some salaries as players get closer to free agency.

THE FINANCIAL IMPACT

The White Sox paid the necessary prices to acquire helpful talent the following winter — four years and $73 million for Yasmani Grandal, and three years, $55.5 million for Dallas Keuchel. They also spent $28 million toward the 2020 payroll on four players who didn’t help (Edwin Encarnación, Gio González, Steve Cishek, Nomar Mazara). Without Machado on the payroll, this would’ve put the White Sox on track for about a $135 million payroll under the previous standards (the official 2020 data includes 28-man rosters for a shortened season, vs. 26 players for 162 games).

Either way, the White Sox ranked 20th in payroll. Add Machado’s $30 million to the books — or $12 million after a prorated version of the salary plus signing bonus — and that puts the White Sox around $65 million, which would be $175 million over a full season, and good for 15th in baseball. I’ll argue in a bit that they wouldn’t’ve needed Mazara, so that knocks $5 million off the total.

It’s hard to say the White Sox couldn’t afford that to begin with. While the Padres only improved from 66 to 70 wins, they saw substantial gains in attendance and ratings. Two weeks after Machado signed, San Diego’s president of business operations said the team generated $3 million of additional ticket sales. At the end of the year, the Padres drew 2.4 million fans, up from 2.17 million in 2018.

The growth in TV viewership was even larger:

Not only was its attendance growth the third-largest in Major League Baseball, but its telecasts enjoyed the largest average increase in MLB.

The average rating for all Padres telecasts in 2019 was 3.76, the best in Fox Sports San Diego’s eight seasons. That was 76 percent higher than last year and equivalent to about 37,000 homes in San Diego County (where one rating point is worth 9,817 households).

The prime-time numbers enjoyed a similar increase (78 percent). After losing nearly half their prime-time TV audience over a three-year period, the Padres gained nearly all of it back with an average rating of 4.09, equivalent to just over 40,000 households.

The Padres spent money, but they made money. The White Sox also made gains, but by aiming lower, the rewards were smaller:

  • Attendance: From 1.61M to 1.65M
  • TV ratings: From 0.68 to 1.03

The White Sox wouldn’t have had San Diego’s ratings and attendance in one winter. Being the lesser draw in a two-team town, earning greater mindshare takes more time. Would Jerry Reinsdorf want to push the payroll further if he didn’t see immediate postseason-type rewards? He hadn’t taken the necessary steps before following an unsuccessful push, so color me skeptical.

THE POSITIONS

The specific need for a third baseman like Machado abated when Yoán Moncada broke out with the team’s best performance of the 2019 season. He hit .315/.367/.548 with a defense superior to what he did at second base, even if wasn’t yet stellar on a corner. In the process, he bested Machado himself:

PlayerPA2B3BHRSBBA/OBP/SLGOPS+WAR
Moncada5593452510.315/.367/.5481404.8
Machado661212325.256/.334/.4631102.6

The in-house advantage disappeared a year later, partially because Moncada spent the year sapped by the aftermaths of COVID-19, and partially because Machado posted his best year ever, hitting .304/.370/.580. Paired with excellent defense, the package was on pace to clear 8 WAR over 162 games, and he finished third in MVP voting.

That doesn’t mean one still can’t prefer having Moncada at third over Machado going forward. It also can mean that the White Sox could’ve benefited from having both in the lineup. All they needed to do was shift Moncada to right field.

That’s not as easy an ask as I’m making it sound, but the White Sox were already in the process of moving him from second to third, a position he didn’t consider his natural home. Moncada has the speed to play second and the arm to play third, it stands to reason that he could’ve managed right field, especially given the recent defensive standards at the position. The biggest objection is the legitimate fear that he’d immediately test his crumple zones on an outfield fence or sidewall.

That said, if you can buy into the idea of Moncada in right, that’s several million dollars the White Sox would save annually on right fielders that were bad ideas before the ink dried.

THE PANDEMIC

Assuming the COVID-19 outbreak can’t be traced back to the White Sox’s inability to sign Machado — and I’m open to arguments otherwise if you have ’em — the White Sox would still be entering 2021 with the same looming questions about fans and revenue and all that. It’s hard to imagine the White Sox blasting through the hardship like San Diego did.

For better or for worse, the White Sox front office has little in common with San Diego’s. Rick Hahn doesn’t have A.J. Preller’s history of line-pushing and line-crossing, and Reinsdorf doesn’t meddle as publicly and crassly as Ron Fowler has. At the same time, the Hahn/Reinsdorf/Kenny Williams front office is not nearly as transactional in nature as their San Diego counterparts. The Padres’ chairmen (asinwreck points out that Peter Seidler took over this winter) encourage big changes, and Preller doesn’t mind dealing to make it happen. It helps that he’s built a far more robust farm system during the team’s intentional downswing.

Preller didn’t take on any huge financial risks between 2019 and 2020, but he signed Drew Pomeranz, and traded for Zach Davies, Trent Grisham, Jurickson Profar, Tommy Pham and Jake Cronenworth. It resulted in too many outfielders, but then the National League got the DH and it didn’t matter. The Padres made a run at the Dodgers, Preller made more moves to advance deep into October, and when the rotation turned out to be the weak link, he traded for three new starters this winter.

Meanwhile, the White Sox don’t have a salary the size of Machado’s on the books, their future looks just about as bright after snapping a postseason drought, and they didn’t come close to San Diego’s activity. If their additions stop at Lance Lynn, Adam Eaton and Liam Hendriks, their payroll won’t quite reach the Opening Day mark they were on pace for last year.

Now throw Machado’s $30 million log on the fire, and I don’t see Reinsdorf being any more willing to expand the budget (although Eaton’s salary wouldn’t be necessary with Moncada in right). I’d guess that the White Sox would still need to have the returns from increased TV ratings and whatever attendance over a 162-game season in hand before pushing the payroll higher. Perhaps it all pays off just the same, and nobody has any regrets over a five-year window.

If the White Sox coudn’t immediately capitalize during Machado’s first few years, I could easily envision Machado’s contract being treated as the culprit. That makes me think of the Nolan Arenado situation with the Rockies. While Jeff Bridich and the Monforts make Hahn and Reinsdorf look like benevolent wizards by comparison, we’re still looking at an insular, insulated and entrenched front office that conducts itself as though it’s more concerned with long-term budgetary headaches than immediate results.

Usually the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but I’m thinking it’s more of of a pass/fail proposition. The Sox would either prove they could carry a salary that size, or prove that it was too much of them. Their unwillingness to pursue George Springer at half Machado’s commitment to fill a much bigger concern makes me lean toward the latter, at least until the fans show up.

(Photo by Bob Kupbens/Icon Sportswire)

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asinwreck

One addendum: Ron Fowler is no longer chairman of the Padres. Last November, he ceded control to Peter Seidler (grandson of Jerry Reinsdorf’s least favorite MLB owner ever).

MrStealYoBase

After the podcast interview with Jim Callis, the hypothetical that I found myself revisiting was the “what if Tatis was never traded?” one.

It helps the sting a bit if you accept Callis’ narrative that Tatis was a fundamentally different guy from when he signed as a 16 year old in July 2015 to when he showed up for instructs in Fall 2016. And that even the Padres weren’t expecting anything close to what they ended up getting.

Still, that’s kind of the point of signing 16-year-olds. The idea is that they will mature physically and become much more projectable.

Last edited 3 years ago by MrStealYoBase
HallofFrank

The year before Manny was a FA, he was with Baltimore & there were rumors of a White Sox trade. In a Fangraphs chat, I floated the possibility that the Sox trade for Manny then offer him 8 years, $230m. The response was: “Why would the White Sox do that, though?”

I think about that a lot. It was with Manny coming off a lackluster year, so there was some risk. But they would have gotten him for significantly less investment *and* shifted the contract to him being a year younger. Alas…

mikeyb

My hope at the time was that we would get Harper to stick in RF. If we had gone with Machado, and infield of Abreu/Moncada/Anderson/Machado would have likely been the best in baseball last year, and would be looking like the best in baseball for 2021. Madrigal could be your super sub, as he could certainly back up 2B, could likely back up SS, and could maybe back up 3B.

Alternately, you could have traded him in a package for Lance Lynn and Joey Gallo, perhaps hanging on to Dunning as your 4th starter and filling your RF hole with Gallo. Oh well.

Last edited 3 years ago by mikeyb
Matt Verplaetse

Yeah, it was frustrating to me that they didn’t make a more serious run at Harper. He made all the sense in the world at the time and still does given that an average performance in RF would be a huge upgrade over anything they’ve produced lately.

mikeyb

I think the concern with Harper, and it’s one I willingly accept, is that the variance level in his performance from one season to the next had been so wild over his career. From his rookie season to his second season, his bWAR dropped by 1.5, and that is the SMALLEST change from one season to the next in his career. To me, the upside would have absolutely been worth it, but I can understand an owner being terrified of giving him a long term contract.

Machado has put up an above average or better bWAR every year of his career, other than his rookie year. Even the years he was hurt, he still was worth a minimum of 2.2 bWAR. There was absolutely no reason to be overly concerned about paying him.

HallofFrank

The other day I saw a celebrity (can’t remember who) wearing a Sox cap, and it sparked in me a fantasy world in which the Sox signed *both* Machado & Harper in 2018. Then they trade Madrigal+ for Snell this offseason. Aside from being the class of the AL, that would be such a gregariously fun team. You’d see Sox hats all over the globe for the next decade.

mikeyb

It’s funny, because when I think about them signing both of them, it starts off in my mind as “obviously that’s not feasible.” But damn, they spend so much money on crappy filler every year; if you throw Machado in at 3rd and Harper into RF, you don’t need to spend on Yonder Alonso’s and Edwin Encarnacion’s. Sadly, this organization isn’t likely to be run like a big market team any time in the near future.

John SF

I don’t think it would have been Tim Anderson’s preference — but I do think TA would be a gold glove outfielder by now.

Moncada still moves to third, Machado takes over short, Madrigal still comes up to play 2nd.

Timmy has the arm, reaction time, speed, durability, and even outfield-wall-clearing jumps to be a gold glove CF.

And now he has the bat to support a corner outfield job.

As a Zobrist type super sub who can cover all three outfield positions, puts up incredible defensive numbers in RF on the daily, and can still come in to play SS in a pinch— the Sox would both be much better (adding Machado’s bat to the lineup instead of Eaton’s) and they would be much deeper (able to withstand any single injury to a starter without sacrificing much on lineup strength).

I was banging the drum for Moncada in RF after the 2018 season— but in retrospect I don’t think his legs can handle it.

roke1960

I think the real answer to that question is “They wouldn’t be owned by Jerry Reinsdorf.” I’m pretty sure Reinsdorf had no intention of signing Machado, otherwise he just would have guaranteed the last 2 years. Looking at what he’s done this winter and throughout most of his ownership, I can’t believe that he would have approved a $300M contract for Machado.

knoxfire30

THIS! Cant be understated at the time, sox brass could say stupid things like we thought we had the best offer, this offer proves jr is serious about contending, the money will be spent, we have a seat at the big table ect ect, those excuses and statements are gone now, as you are headed into a prime contend year with large holes in the lineup and rotation crying poor at a 130 or so mil payroll.

roke1960

You’re so right knoxfire. The fact that their payroll is actually less than it was at the start of last season tells us all we need to know that Rick’s claim that the money will be spent was a lie. And if somehow Machado would have taken their offer, they would probably have more holes than they have now. I doubt Keuchel or Grandal or Hendriks would be with the Sox.

asinwreck

This. Rick Hahn’s empty promises about competing for top-of-market free agents were as empty in 2018 as they are in 2021.

Could the Sox compete for the Machados or Harpers or Coles? Yes, possibly, but that possibility is only once Jerry is gone.

karkovice squad

What’s most mindboggling is how they cut themselves off from the top of the market, overspend at the bottom of it, and then allocate maximal resources to just about the only spot on the roster where they’ve had an easier time finding affordable answers than the rest of the league.

Willardmarshall

If I were ever gonna bail on the Sox it’d have been over Machado….

dongutteridge

You know that if Machado chose the Sox offer, for some reason, then today’s team would have more holes than it currently does and even less depth.

I don’t think that’s possible. You might still have McCann instead of Grandal, which is a downgrade but not a hole. The only other acquisition they might have cheaped out on is Keuchel, but hopefully without the pandemic as an excuse they would have still made that move.

To Err is Herrmann

This is not apropos to the discussion, but I am out here in the West and usually a day late and a dollar short to these posts anyway. MLB.com has a feature today titled “These 7 Teams Are Better Than You Think,” and the Sox are number 7. While noting that the Pale Hose might be the best in the league, MLB.com made the startling observation that “This roster has no holes.” Of course by roster MLB just meant the starting lineup. Jerry Reinsdorf may be obsessed with the bottomline after seeing actual and projected losses for 2020-21. Or he may share MLB.com’s optimistic assessment of the team. Maybe JR thinks Tony LaRussa is genius enough to win it all as the team stands now. There may not be a lot of critical realism going on in the same office that underbid on Machado by $50 million.

shaggy65

This roster has no holes?

So did MLB rule that there’s no DH in either league this year? I thought that was just for the NL.

Holland23

“This roster has no depth.” Fixed.

rexwaller

The Sox need a kick-ass DH. That’s it. They could give Yasiel Puig a chance and have him play left field. They could then use Eloy Jimenez as a DH half the time. I’m not sold on Andrew Vaughn. He probably needs a full year in the minors. Vaughn looks like he will average .270, with 18 HRs, and 70 RBI for his career. Not bad, but we had that with James McCann.